Reeda,

Just a thank you note for offering your Canon 350D when I gestured to you that my 20D died. Though I decided on Rano's 400D over yours which was essentially an opportunity to field-test that model, in no way did I consider your generousity any less!

Turns out the persisting shutter firing phenomenon you saw had been a known problem and been dormant till it reared its ugly head at an inopportune moment. Camera returned to Interhouse and in its place is now a full frame 12.8MP EOS 5D.

Jan Shim
http://www.janshim.com

Hey there Jan, no worries mate and the offer still stands in the event your brand spanking new 5D gives way too! Heheh! Seriously thought your 20D was possessed the other day man!

Hmmm what happened? Sounds like the shutter went on a machine gun like rampage?

Some research of the problem led me to interesting discoveries about the phenomenon. It seems others in USA had encountered the same and attributed the issue to a faulty shutter button. While the camera is looked at by Canon I'm getting the shutter assembly replaced too and would be interested in the actual shutter count, something apparently only Canon engineers can extract! We shall see.