D30 Flash Started Under Exposing

[mjordan]

My wife took over my D30 when I got the 10D a year and half ago and in that time she hasn't had any problems. Last week she took some indoor pictures and even though the flash popped up and it went off, the pictures were under exposed. I played with it to make sure something wasn't set wrong, but nothing I did got it to expose correctly, even though the flash was going off.

Last night I had a chance to really look at it and take some test shots. What it looks like is that the flash is not syncing with the shutter as I get pretty much the same under exposed picture with and without the flash. It is going to 1/60th of a second shutter speed when I put it in green or P mode when the flash is up. I tried it in both front and rear curtain and with a 70-200 4.0L lens and a 28-105 USM lens, same on both. The flash is going off but it's just not lighting the picture.

Does this sound like just the flash or is maybe something else starting to go wrong with the D30? It seems to still do ok exposure wise without flash but I was wondering if maybe something was starting to go out with the shutter. It's probably not worth it to fix it but I'm not quit ready to buy a 1D Mk II so my wife can have my 10D, either.

Does anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Thanks

Mike

[RBarr]

Not to insult your intelligence, just wondering: You have checked the FEC setting, right?

[Cadwell]

I have heard that flash synchronisation going wonky can be an early sign of shutter mechanism failure.... :(

[mjordan]

Rbarr, there is nothing so simple that it can't be overlooked. :lol:

Although I didn't check FEC specificly, that is why I tried using the flash in both P mode and the Green mode. FEC isn't available in Green mode. You have to be in the creative modes if I remember correctly.

But after you asked above, I did go back and check it and FEC was set for 0, but I did run it up to +2 and down to -2 and no real difference.


Cadwell, that is what I'm afraid of. My wife could probably live without the flash as long as that is the only problem for awhile. Maybe someone else has had this happen and knows that the result was the shutter going out.

Thanks to both of you for your comments.

Mike

[EoSD30fReAk]

cadwell is right!

the contacts for flash synchro on the shutter are broken when this happens!

the only solution for this is getting the shutter replaced! or like you said, working without flash.

it's a very comon problem with the older D30 and the D60
:wink:

[mjordan]

That's what it's looking like. I did some google searches on D30 and shutter replacement and found a few threads that indicated they started having sync problems before they had to replace the shutter.

I guess I should get an estimate from Canon on the cost of this. I've seen people mention in the $250 to $300 range. I've had the camera about 3 years and probably put over 30K clicks on it before I passed it to my wife. I did mention the 20D and cost though and she didn't blink. She didn't blink when I mentioned the 1D Mk II and cost either... humm, come to think of it, I've not seen her blink in years. Maybe I shouldn't use that as a sign to buy something. :lol:

Thanks for the info.

Mike

[EoSD30fReAk]

:lol: :lol:

why not? :lol: :lol: :lol:

if it gives you a mkII :lol: :lol: :lol:

[mjordan]

Because when she catches up with me about it, I don't think she will accept the excuse "but hon, you didn't blink." :lol:

I really would like to get one, but as I told her when I brought it up, I'd have to get serious about making money at this again before I could justify buying the Mk II. But at least she is getting more into photography, although she is more into things she can digitize for her embroidery work. Hmm, I wonder if I can convince her that the Mk II would really improve those macro shots of her flowers and plants? :wink:

Thanks for all the comments. I did talk to Canon Service and I'll be packing up the D30 and sending it off to them tomorrow. If the quote does come back at around $250 I'll go ahead and get it done.

Mike

[CyberDyneSystems]

30K shots though... thats pretty damn nice.

[mjordan]

CDS, yes, for about a year and half, mostly in the summer and fall, I was shooting anywhere from 1500 to 2500 images almost every weekend with the D30. One 7 day period I shot over 5000 images. I did a lot of shooting for historical, evaluation and speculation during that period with a lot of multiple shots in series. I've slowed down a bit since then as I don't shoot as many of the same type events. Now that I'm getting more into scenic, waterfalls and outdoor stuff, I rarely even fill up one 1 gig CF card with my 10D during a days shooting. Learning to slow down was the hard part of making the change. :lol: But that D30 did get the workout until I upgraded to the 10D.

Mike

[mhiser]

I'm not sure how many "clicks" were on my D-30 before I sent it in for repair, but I've been using it to shoot a wedding every weekend for 7 months for the last 3 years... the repair bill for the my shutter addjustment was $180... If it goes south again... Canon will get it back.
I suggest you send it in to them for the estimate... even if the repair was $300, I still feel it's worth every penny.... it's still a better camera than the consumer stuff their selling today... worth keeping :D

[mjordan]

I did send it in to them and they should have it tomorrow. I'll probably hear from them sometime next week with the estimate of what they have to do. That would be great if it was the same cost as you had, but I agree, even if it's closer to $300, it's still a good camera.

Mike

[mjordan]

This is a followup on my D30. I just got it back today and they replaced the shutter, cleaned and checked it and sent it back 2nd day UPS. The cost for this was $185. From the tests I ran on it after I got it out of the box, it's working like new again.

I'm real happy with the service although I can't say I'm looking forward to having to send a camera in again any time soon. :D But 4 Canon cameras in almost 9 years and first one that has had to be sent in isn't bad.

Mike