Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

[Jon B]

Hi
I recently bought a canon eos 1200d. I love it and it is my first DSLR.
I got the standard 18-55 lens kit with it.
My dad used to have an old canon 35mm, and still had the lenses, so some gentle persuasion meant I now have a sigma 70-210 lens in my bag.
I put this on tonight and was shooting through the open window at night. I got the error message in the title of this post. It still appears to take the shot but doesn't.
Strange thing is, when I use the lens inside, it works?
Is this lens compatible? Is it broken? Am I going daft?
I've wiped the contacts etc but no joy.
Ive read somewhere about resetting, and taking pics with no lens etc to reboot, but in don't want to muck about too much.
Has anyone else had this, and what do I do?
If it isn't compatible then fine, but would really think it should be?
I've tried different settings to rectify it but nothing works. Shooting Inside is fine though?
I'm a complete DSLR newbie, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jon.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

It must be a case of the "new" with the "old"- the lens may not be compatible with the modern DSLR. However,this is not a big problem as I am sure that Sigma UK can always "re-chip" your 70-210 to "talk" to your 1200.

[Jon B]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

Thanks for the rapid response. That makes sense. I would imagine the lens must be 20 yrs old....
If its cheap enough then I might consider re-chipping, but not sure its worth it considering the age of the lens.
At least I know I haven't broken anything, was starting to panic......
Thanks again, and looking forward to posting my first shots on here soon (with the 18-55 lens obviously).......

[the black fox]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

If it's working inside but not out and in the dark ,it sounds like a problem with the chip and shutting down of the aperture blades ,I would try it a bit more in normal daylight shooting ,it's possible that's it's just sticky due to lack of use .if it still plays up I would be inclined to bin it as the repairs can be expensive if they even still have spares at sigma.
B.t.w you can get a very good I.s 55-250 canon for a little over or even under £100 before you attempt to fix a old lens

[Jon B]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

That makes sense actually thanks. Truthfully I wasn't sure whether it worth anything, but looking online, you're right, there are some good lenses around for £100.
I'll percevere for now and begin the process of justifying the new lens to the wife......
Thanks again

[Nathaniel]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

Sigma lenses are very good- some are even better than Canon lenses. I would give Sigma a ring and check out the re-chipping costs. I don't think it would cost that much.

[the black fox]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

Sigma lenses are very good- some are even better than Canon lenses. I would give Sigma a ring and check out the re-chipping costs. I don't think it would cost that much.

It's still a very old lens nat ,and not really configured for digital use ,the newer sigma lenses that are worth saving are marked as DG I.e digital glazed ,it would be a case of spending to achieve very little for it image quality wise and could put him off for life .

And these were never a good lens even when new ,the design is probably 20 years plus old

[Alan_H]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

when I bought my Canon 50e 35mm, I bought the Sigma 28-210 which worked fine, then I upgraded to the 10D when it first came out and found that it gave the very same error, I sent the lens to Sigma as I had read about lenses being re-chipped only to have Sigma ring me and say that they could not do it with this lens, but they did offer to give me an option to upgrade the lens but I did not take up the offer

Alan

[El Sid]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

Thanks for the rapid response. That makes sense. I would imagine the lens must be 20 yrs old....
If its cheap enough then I might consider re-chipping, but not sure its worth it considering the age of the lens.
At least I know I haven't broken anything, was starting to panic......
Thanks again, and looking forward to posting my first shots on here soon (with the 18-55 lens obviously).......

This issue is common with older Sigma lenses. I have four of similar age and while they are OK with most of my film bodies they won't work on my digital bodies at anything other than maximum aperture - this is probably the cause of your Error 01 (mine come up Err99).

I doubt it could be rechipped now, I did enquire about one of mine (70-210mm f2.8) but they no longer had the parts.

I'd second the 55-250mm, I have one and it's really rather good.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Error 01 - lens cannot communicate with camera - I'm new please help

If it's working inside but not out and in the dark ,it sounds like a problem with the chip and shutting down of the aperture blades ,I would try it a bit more in normal daylight shooting ,it's possible that's it's just sticky due to lack of use .if it still plays up I would be inclined to bin it as the repairs can be expensive if they even still have spares at sigma.
B.t.w you can get a very good I.s 55-250 canon for a little over or even under £100 before you attempt to fix a old lens

That's exactly right. I had the same problem with a 350D and Sigma 70-210 that I'd used on my old EOS 650 film camera.