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My 5D just self-destructed today :-(

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Howard102273

Howard102273

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I don't know what to say ... when I was taking pictures, its mirror just shattered and fell off (see picture below).

Details: it was on a tripod, had the 17-40L lens mounted on. I was taking picture of a waterfall but I did not have my cable release with me, so I used mirror lock-up. Now, let me say that I have been using a SLR for 13 years, and generally I know what I am doing. I did not change lens when the mirror was locked up or anything (in fact I did not change lens during this whole time). the camera did not fall from the tripod, the tripod did not topple over, etc. After taking some pictures, I decided to put on a polarizer (I also did not have my ND filter with me today). The camera was on the tripod the whole time. I took off the lens shade and put on the polarizer. I am certain at this whole time the mirror was not locked up (it took me some time to fetch my polarizer from my bag; even if it was still exposing (which I am pretty sure it wasn't; I finished taking the previous picture before looking for my filter), it would have been done once I found my filter.

Then I noticed the viewfinder became very dark and the image became very blurry. At first I thought I put the lens on MF. But it was on AF. I tried to manually focus, but the image still looked very blurry -- there was no way that I could get it in sharp focus. I tried to expose a frame anyway, then the viewfinder went dark and never brightened.

Eventually I took off the lens and to my horror, the mirror broke and fell off!

I am speechless. I've used 6 SLRs (3 film and 3 digital) and have never seen anything like this. What could have happened?



--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

 
There was an issue withe the 5D classic, the mirror box sometimes just would fall off the glue used was not strong enough to hold it, I had mine reinforced at Canon in Irvine, Ca. for free. Call them I am sure they might repair this also at no charge if indeed is the mirror box. I dont think this was a recall issue but more or less a volunteer thing. Good luck.
 
I hope they can fix this! (and so much the better if they can fix it for free!).

A side story: I have been saving for a faster super-tele, and I may either get the EF 300 f/2.8 IS or the Sigma 120-300 OS. Otherwise my line-up was "complete": I usually go out with the 17-40 or 24-105 on my 5D, and 100-400 on my 50D. And toss in a few "specialty" lenses I got all my uses covered. I really like the FF which gives me good wide angle coverage. Now if I had to buy the 5D II I will not have enough funds to buy a tele-photo! :-(

--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

 
No worries, they still fix it for free, at any Canon repair center. In Sydney it took them 3 working days and they cleaned the camera too.

T.

--
http://www.flickr.com/people/klbw/
 
Ouch:(

You're not alone though. I've heard a very similar story from a friend photog of mine who had his mirror fall off in a midst of shooting a wedding. Seems like an issue with some 5Ds and his was repaired free of charge too despite having more than 100K actuations!

--

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Omne solum forti patria est.
 
You might want to check out:

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/629-sigma120300f28oseos

I have ordered mine for 5D MKII and waiting but already have used it for Sigma SD14.

It might not have the reach of 100-400 but it is sharper and faster. Also AF speed is great.

--
'It could be worse but I dont know how'

'It doesnt matter that you are sitting on the right track, you're still going to get hit by train!'
 
Thanks for the info! Did you get the estimate from Canon after you sent in the camera?

I initiated a repair request from their website, but there is no estimate and they did not ask for credit card info or anything. It just says to send in the camera to a list of service centers. Will they give an estimate (which in this case should be free) after they receive it?

Thanks,
Howard

--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

 
Howard said:
I don't know what to say ... when I was taking pictures, its mirror just shattered and fell off (see picture below).
Click to expand...
Why didn't you send your 5D to a Canon service center for their free 5D mirror fortification? They will send you a free overnight shipping label and return it to you for free overnight shipping. It's a well publicized recall.
 
I didn't get an estimate... the main Canon repair place for Australia is North Ryde which is just up the road from me so I took the camera in rather than send it.

They took one look at it, saw that the mirror had fallen off, checked their computer that it hadn't been serviced since the recall and then took it in for repair without doing a quote.

I guess you should ask them directly if your camera has been serviced since the recall.

cheers
Dan

--
My flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danack/
 
... because in the USA, "recall" has a certain legal connotation that simply doesn't exist here. Recalls are nearly always due to some defect or condition that can cause serious injury.

This is a "service issue" ... and if you stay calm, you may find that Canon will still cover it, tho' the camera in question hasn't been sold for years.
 
and so very appropriate to falling of mirrors in the 5D, which is just absurd for a reflex camera. :-)

--
- -
Kabe Luna

http://www.garlandcary.com
 
Ken Phillips said:
... because in the USA, "recall" has a certain legal connotation that simply doesn't exist here. Recalls are nearly always due to some defect or condition that can cause serious injury.
Click to expand...
It was a voluntary recall they conveniently waited to issue until a few months after the 5D2 came out to not give the 5D-series a bad name even though Canon knew about the issue within a year after the 5D came out! Having to send a product to the manufacturer to repair a design flaw surely is a recall! aka products must be called back in!
Ken Phillips said:
This is a "service issue" ... and if you stay calm, you may find that Canon will still cover it, tho' the camera in question hasn't been sold for years.
Click to expand...
Yet the 5D is still a widely used camera and will be for years to come it is so good! And "service issue" is just a nicer term for a recall, sorry! :D

Here's the info, official info on Canon's website is "difficult" to find now, but this sure sounds like a recall to me!:

Thank you for using Canon products.

We have discovered that, in rare instances, the main mirror of some EOS 5D Digital SLR cameras may detach due to deterioration in the strength of the adhesive. Accordingly, we would like to convey the details and our service policy concerning this phenomenon.

We offer our sincerest apologies to those customers who have been inconvenienced by this issue. Canon always strives to provide the highest quality products to our customers and we will spare no effort in our quality management to make sure our customers can use our products with confidence. We hope our efforts will earn your understanding.

Phenomenon

The main mirror of the camera detaches and images cannot be viewed through the viewfinder.

Affected products
EOS 5D Digital SLR cameras whose main mirror has detached.

User Support

We will repair and reinforce the mirror portion of the affected products free of charge. If you own one of the affected products, please contact our Customer Support Center.

We appreciate your patience, and we offer our sincerest apologies to the customers using these products who have been inconvenienced by this issue.

This information is for residents of the United States and Puerto Rico only. If you do not reside in the USA or Puerto Rico, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region.

Contact Information for Inquiries
Customer Support Center
1-866-422-2965 (toll free)
8:00 a.m. - Midnight, EST (M-F)
10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., EST (Sat.)
Email: [email protected]
from: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=648242
 
It happened to mine about 6 weeks ago. I'm in Canada, and I bought the canera as refurbished from an online dealer in NY. They fixed it for free, no questions asked.

I have to say that I have never experienced such a vast polarity in customer service as I did when I first called the Canon customer service line and then called the technical support line. The customer service representative could barely speak English and was openly argumentative regarding the mirror fix. He had no record of the advisory notice. So, I called tech support instead - they were immensely helpful and assured me that if I filled out the service request form and sent the camera in, it would be dealt with free of charge in approximately 1 month's time.

Well, I did, and it got back to me in less than three weeks. I sent it via Canada Post, and due to an impending Canada Post strike they sent it back to me via courier.

I couldn't be happier with the Canon tech support service. If you need to deal with the issue, I'd suggest skipping the general support line and starting at tech support first.
 
Here is the link to the "recall"

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248004cd94

Mirror coming off on the 5D is a known issue especiially if the camera is used in a hot and humid environment. I had that problem last year. Canon sent me an UPS label to ship the camera back. UPS lost my camera but Canon replaced it with a 5D2. I couldn't be happier.

Shii
Howard said:
I don't know what to say ... when I was taking pictures, its mirror just shattered and fell off (see picture below).

Details: it was on a tripod, had the 17-40L lens mounted on. I was taking picture of a waterfall but I did not have my cable release with me, so I used mirror lock-up. Now, let me say that I have been using a SLR for 13 years, and generally I know what I am doing. I did not change lens when the mirror was locked up or anything (in fact I did not change lens during this whole time). the camera did not fall from the tripod, the tripod did not topple over, etc. After taking some pictures, I decided to put on a polarizer (I also did not have my ND filter with me today). The camera was on the tripod the whole time. I took off the lens shade and put on the polarizer. I am certain at this whole time the mirror was not locked up (it took me some time to fetch my polarizer from my bag; even if it was still exposing (which I am pretty sure it wasn't; I finished taking the previous picture before looking for my filter), it would have been done once I found my filter.

Then I noticed the viewfinder became very dark and the image became very blurry. At first I thought I put the lens on MF. But it was on AF. I tried to manually focus, but the image still looked very blurry -- there was no way that I could get it in sharp focus. I tried to expose a frame anyway, then the viewfinder went dark and never brightened.

Eventually I took off the lens and to my horror, the mirror broke and fell off!

I am speechless. I've used 6 SLRs (3 film and 3 digital) and have never seen anything like this. What could have happened?



--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

Click to expand...
--
Shii

Five D2, 24to105, Fifty1.4, EightyFive1.8, 70to200, 100Macro
 
same happened with me just a couple of weeks back! luckily i found a canon service advisory link which acknowledges the problem and offers a free service. i took a printout of it and along went the camera for service to master service center in kolkata, india. they respected the service advisory notice from canon worldwide and even if my camera was out of warranty, they fixed (changed mirror assembly) the issue free of cost! now again, my 5D is taking beautiful photos as before...

and here is the link: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/eos_5d_mirror_repair.do

btw, i notice you use 5D/50D combination bodies. thats the same that i use too :-)

--
Cheers,
Soumya
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soumya_b5/
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/soumyabandyopadhyay
 
5D2? That's sweet! I envy you!
--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

 
free of charge (even the shipping was paid by Canon) ... hoping for the best ... thanks for the helpful info.
--
-----
cameras: 5D, 50D, D60, R2K
lenses: 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24 f/3.5 TSE, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, Tamron 90 f/2.8 Macro
http://www.imagereservoir.com

 
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