No Image in Viewfinder - New EOS 1D

[bostonte]

Hi-

Brand new EOS-1D -- FedEx just dropped it off a few hours ago. The problem is -- I can't get an image in the viewfinder!

The camera's green LED information panel shows fine in the viewfinder, nothing through my lens shows though.

It's always very dark and I can never see anything. The camera won't take a picture on auto. If I put the camera into Manual and force it to take a picture, the picture that it takes is fine -- but I still can't see a thing in the viewfinder. Barely any light -- settings have no effect.

If I take the lens off, I get plenty of light in the viewfinder and everything's as it should be. Lens works fine on an EOS-1V.

Lens: Quantaray 19-35 1:3.5-4.5 for Canon AF

Help me please! I can't image that the camera is broken, I'm assuming I just didn't do something and I need a smack on the side of the head and someone to point it out to me.

Thanks!
Joe

[bostonte]

Just in case anyone's wondering, it turns out that somehow my mirror was damaged in shipping. (Even though it appeared to be packed quite well)

I told the man at Canon (when I called tech support) that the mirror position looked "off" -- he assured me that this model had a "different build that any other camera I've ever seen before" and that this was correct.

I brought the body to a local camera shop and the guy and I looked at it and compared it to one in his stock. The mirror didn't drop back down into the correct position.

I did a body swap and everything's great now....

FYI: I had a TERRIBLE experience with Canon tech support about this. I made the mistake of telling the rep that I was not using a Canon lens on the camera. He kept saying that by using a non-Canon brand lens that I had damaged the camera.

Umm, duh....

[lazoj]

What other lenses are you shooting with? A 179.00 lens on a 5000.00 body? Seems a little odd.

[bostonte]

Yep, it's quite weird.

I went into my bag of goodies, and that was the only lens I had that had a Canon AF mount on it. (I don't own any other Canon cameras).

And, to be honest, I'm still having trouble with the focal length conversion factor. So, I thought I'd play around with the lengths on a cheap lens before I throw down the money for an expensive one and am not happy with the range.

It's "different" that I'm used to. The 19-35 and the 70-300 are great for what use them for on my standard SLR... but I don't like them on this camera.

Any suggestions?

Joe

[John Boyes]

bostonte wrote:

Lens: Quantaray 19-35 1:3.5-4.5 for Canon AF



Isn't this a bit like buying a Ferrari and putting remoulds on it? At least give it some L glass or trade it for 2 D30's - you won't see a difference! :-)

[bostonte]

I always do it this way.

There's almost no question that this body is worth the money. So, I bought it.

The "L" series lenses (and others in the same class) on the other hand are not always set in stone if they're worth their cost.

I buy the cheap lens, work with it during my free time for a few weeks - find what I like and don't like about it.
Then I'll sample the expensive equivalent. If it's almost 8-9 times the money and I don't notice a difference in my first few shots -- it's not worth it and it goes back.

This way every lens that I spent a lot on is worth every penny to me and I know it's worth every penny. I want to pay for a lens that's worth the money, not one that has a name that means it SHOULD be worth the money.

Yes, it's dumb. Yes, it's probably not the most productive thing to do. But it's a mental thing. This way I don't have any second thoughts about my equipment -- I know I got what I paid for.