Error 20 then error 30 - black plastic things on the sensor of my EOS 550D

[Sevy]

Hi guys!

I've had a problem just yesterday with my Canon EOS 550D. It is still under warranty in France, but I'm in Australia at the moment so I was hoping to find a way to understand what's the matter, see if I can repair it myself, and without voiding the warranty.

Here's the issue, please find the pictures below. Thanks for your time and for any insight or help!

Yesterday I was shooting as normal and all of a sudden, "Error 20" displayed, impossible to shutter. I tried to power off / power on several times, remove the battery several times, leave the camera alone, try again etc., still the same message at power-up, preventing me from shooting of course but also to even display the menu or navigate through the pictures already taken. Looking through the viewfinder did work though, and the touch of the shutter button seemed as usual.

Yesterday evening, I tried to remove the lens, dust the lens electrical contacts just to do something, put it back, and then, I turned the camera on and yeay, no more error message. However, my picture looked like this :

Lens removed, looks normal:

This morning, I removed the lens again and found the issue. When with my finger I flip the mirror, there is a couple of plastic somethings that cover the sensor, hence the black on my pictures.

This is how I flip the mirror manually:

It doens't show on the pictures, but at the top left end of the let plastic piece there is a kind of small, flat metallic hook, which I guess should be hooked to something at that may be the problem.

Then I tried to switch Live view on and it displayed, after the small noise of the mirror trying to flip, "Error 30". Sorry it's in French, it reads "Error 30. Shooting impossible due to an error. Power off then power on the camera or reinstall the battery".

So, what are these 2 black plastic bands? Can I try to move them, how, to what position, and do you think this problem might reappear afterwards, and that me trying correcting it would void the warranty?

Thank you very much for your help. As I'm travelling at the moment, I'm looking for a fix, but I also don't have internet all the time - so pardon me if I take maybe a day to respond. Thank you for any help. Cheers!

[jrhoffman75]

I suspect a failed shutter. 

[Sevy]

John, Peter,

Thank you very much for the quick response. 

Seems that is it then...

Scott, yes, I'll probably take taht as an opportunity to upgrade. I was starting to feel a bit limited anyway.

TTMartin, well, that's good to know, when it happens to my next camera I won't touch anything. I was just too curious and hurried...

I'm disappointed of course, but that being said, this camera has really lived a long life (5 years now) and I took litterally thousands of pictures, I tried to protect it but when you visit Australia you go through desert, then damp rainforests etc. so it has been very brave. I just mention that for other readers who would want to conlude that they are not quality cameras 🙂

Thank you for your help everyone. Cheers!

[Sevy]

Hello everyone, 

I just came back to give you some news. 

My camera has been repaired, it was the shutter indeed. I'm very happy the warranty covered it. It wasn't the Canon warranty though, but an additional 3-year warranty extension I had purchased with the camera. 

So, I've been lucky 🙂

Thanks again for your help. All the best! 

[Peter]

Yes, broken shutter. If you are able to use your warranty at Canon service center, well, then you should send it for repair. If you have to pay for it maybe it is better to pay for a used camera. Anyway, don't use your camera anymore until it is fixed.

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

Definitely your shutter has died. Those plastic things are the shutter curtains. 

If warranty covers that, great, but if it doesn't, I would not invest money to fix it. The 550d is quite old and you'd be better off getting a new camera than spending the money to replace the shutter. 

[TTMartin]

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@Sevy wrote:

Hi guys!

I've had a problem just yesterday with my Canon EOS 550D. It is still under warranty in France, but I'm in Australia at the moment so I was hoping to find a way to understand what's the matter, see if I can repair it myself, and without voiding the warranty.

Here's the issue, please find the pictures below. Thanks for your time and for any insight or help!

Yesterday I was shooting as normal and all of a sudden, "Error 20" displayed, impossible to shutter. I tried to power off / power on several times, remove the battery several times, leave the camera alone, try again etc., still the same message at power-up, preventing me from shooting of course but also to even display the menu or navigate through the pictures already taken. Looking through the viewfinder did work though, and the touch of the shutter button seemed as usual.

Yesterday evening, I tried to remove the lens, dust the lens electrical contacts just to do something, put it back, and then, I turned the camera on and yeay, no more error message. However, my picture looked like this :

Lens removed, looks normal:

This morning, I removed the lens again and found the issue. When with my finger I flip the mirror, there is a couple of plastic somethings that cover the sensor, hence the black on my pictures.

This is how I flip the mirror manually:

It doens't show on the pictures, but at the top left end of the let plastic piece there is a kind of small, flat metallic hook, which I guess should be hooked to something at that may be the problem.

Then I tried to switch Live view on and it displayed, after the small noise of the mirror trying to flip, "Error 30". Sorry it's in French, it reads "Error 30. Shooting impossible due to an error. Power off then power on the camera or reinstall the battery".

So, what are these 2 black plastic bands? Can I try to move them, how, to what position, and do you think this problem might reappear afterwards, and that me trying correcting it would void the warranty?

Thank you very much for your help. As I'm travelling at the moment, I'm looking for a fix, but I also don't have internet all the time - so pardon me if I take maybe a day to respond. Thank you for any help. Cheers!

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You should not have manually moved the mirror. You should have used either mirror lock-up or sensor cleaning mode to move the mirror. I suspect you may have damaged the camera by manually moving the mirror.