Good evening, I am having some problems with my equipment and I hope that you can help me figure this out. I have a Canon EOS 800D, that I have been using a lot for about 5 years. I also use the lens Sigma 150-600mm contemporary, I had this one for almost 2 years. I have used this body and this lens together for almost two years now, with no problem. A few weeks ago, I had the Err 01 for the first time "Communications between the camera and lens is faulty. Clean the lens contact". My sensors are very clean and I even took my equipment to a camera shop for proper cleaning but it did not fix the issue. The weird thing is that my body works perfectly with other lenses, and that my lens works perfectly with other Canon bodies. So I am not sure where the problem comes from. If I use my equipment with different bodies/lenses for a while, then they work together again for a little while until I get the error again. Now the error is showing more and more often, to the point where I can not use it anymore. I don't know if that could be a reason, but I use my camera for work all day long on the beach. I protect it as much as possible, but it is exposed to the elements (heat, cold, humidity and salt). I was wondering if it could be a firmware issue. But because my body and lens have been working together nicely for the last two years, I am a bit afraid of doing an update. What do you think? Do you think that this problem can be solved? Thank you for your help. Marie
There is the very small probability that one of the small interconnecting pins in the cameras lens mount is sticking but this is a very rare fault (although more likely as you use the camera near sand and salt spray). The most likely fault is a crack in the flexible cable inside the lens, this sort of fault is usually intermittent in the early stages and will happen at one end of the zoom more than the other. The fact that the lens appears to work on another body is probably just a coincidence, used long enough and it will fail on any camera body. Don't start messing about updating firmware you could be just compounding the problem.
Like Ray-UK said, I suspect the flexible cable. I had the same problem with my EF 24-70L. It was an internal cable that the glue dried out on that was holding it to the inside of the lens tube. The cable (flexible circuit board-type) gets loose and when the lens is zoomed, it gets caught and breaks the cable. The cable controls the aperture. The test for that lens is to shoot wide open so that the aperture is not commanded to move. If the error goes away, that's the problem. I bought a new Sigma Art 24-70 and it works great. My lens is too old to send for repairs and I don't have the time to fix it myself. There is a $50 kit, but lots of work. Not sure if your lens has the same issue, but it is worth trying wide-open aperture shots on the original camera.