Focus issues? Try no AF

[pgosu]

Less than 2 months old, my 10d appears bound for the Canon service center.

It has, for the most part, completely lost autofocus capabilities. I'm not talking backfocus or soft focus issues. Flat out won't focus at all!

This is happening with a 28-80 USM, 70-200 "L" 2.8 and Sigma 300 2.8. On some occasions, I'll have AF for a few shots, other times it's gone from the get-go.

I bought the 10d for college football season. My fear is that the damned thing will be tied up in NJ or Cali well past the August 30 Oklahoma State-Nebraska opener.

Anyone have any experience on how long it's taking Canon to fix things? I realize that every problem is different and that can effect the time period...any chance I get it back in 20 days or so?

[martcol]

Hmm just a thought but can't you practice with manual focus for a bit and then send it to Canon after August 30. I know, I know, it doesn't fix the AF and if it was my lil' beauty I'd be sooooo gutted. It might be better than not having the camera for the "opener." Is that an important game or do you mention that because it's the beginning of the season. If you want to shoot every match thereafter then, I suppose you have to send it back now and pray!

[pgosu]

An update if anyone cares...

Camera flew to California tonight (wallet=$72 lighter). Canon support has assured me their "normal 5-10 business day" turnaround should be no problem. I sure hope so!

[Longwatcher]

If you are supporting the Oklahoma team, send it to Canon for repair, The Oklahoma team will understand if you don't get pictures of them, if supporting Nebraska, you can't risk not having it ;-)

This from someone who spend 7 years in Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

[thumper]

Bought a 10d in the beginning of July. In a UPS box 5 days later heading back to Canon to fix a terrible rear focus issue!!! Expectations were set by my sales person that I would get the camera back 3 1/2 weeks later. Surprise! It was back 2 weeks later and absolutely is spot on regarding the a/f issue. No explanation about what was adjusted but my last 500 bird images have been as good as my EOS 3 and 1n. I hope yours works out as well.

[pgosu]

Thumper, I hope my experience goes like yours.

Assuming the worst, I just purchase a used Kodak DCS-520 (Canon D2000) on eBay. Needed a back-up anyway, though I wasn't exactly ready financially to do it.