alui00
10th of July 2001 (Tue), 17:33
Hi everyone,
I bought a Canon G1 5 months ago, and it has been nothing but trouble. The trouble doesn't relate so much to the camera, but the poor customer support from Canon USA.
I discovered 1 faint green spot at the middle and around 1/3 from the top of the frame in 3-4 indoor shots after using the camera for 3-4 weeks. Originally I thought it was a bug in the software that I used to save my JPG files, but after referencing newsgroups and discussion forums like this one, I discovered that I had a hot pixel in my CCD. I took the camera back to Canon the next day in person, and Canon made adjustments right at the spot. Pleasantly surprised by the speediness of service from Canon, I was a happy customer.
5 weeks later another green spot appeared along the left side of the frame of my shots. At that point I was a bit annoyed. Hoping for customer service from Canon coming to rescue, I took the camera back the next day. This time the customer service rep. refused to adjust my camera on the spot and insisted that I have to leave the camera there. After debating back and forth with the senior manager of Midwest Factory Service Center (details to follow), I gave up and checked in the camera.
About 5 days later, I was went back to Canon to pick up my unit. I performed a quick lens-cap test (Tv Mode, 1 sec shutter, IS0 50, lens-cap covering the lens) at the counter to make sure that my problem was fixed. It wasn't. The same green spot glared back at me on the LCD screen when I put the camera into playback mode. I requested to talk to the technician who performed the repair. During my discussion with him, he derided my lens-cap test and repeatedly affirmed to me that that my camera passes all his tests (in JPG mode, even after I told the technician that I exclusively shoot in RAW mode) and meets standards of Canon. Putting insult to injury, he brought up couple of point about my camera, which echos those from the manager I meet during my previous visit, Mr. Steve Sauer:
1. Hot pixels are common and acceptable defects of digital camera. (Quoting the technician, '... this camera is not the first to have this problem, and is not the last.')
2. My Canon G1 is not an expensive camera, and with the money I paid, I cannot expect perfect pictures.
3. There are software available that fixes hot pixels in pictures.
4. Canon will not replace the camera nor the CCD component because there's nothing wrong with them.
By that time, I was furious because I knew from then on I will _have to_ manually re-touch every image I send out to people. (I have a 340MB and a 1GB microdrive. Shooting in RAW mode, they total almost 600 pictures that potentially I need to work on after every outing.)
Two weeks ago, the 1st hot pixel came back. Now, there is also a faint green spot on the _LCD_ screen, approximately where the 2nd hot pixel appears in the image files. I am preparing to bring my package again back to Canon. I need your advise on these following questions. I promise to keep you posted on the results of my repair(s).
1. What is your recommendation for me to convince Canon that my camera is indeed defective and the unit/CCD needs to be replaced?
2. Is there a guideline used by camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Minota... etc) to determine whether a CCD unit is defective and should be replaced under warranty? If so, what is it?
3. What is your overall experience with hot-pixel related services with Canon and other maufacturers? Do all manufacturers have the same too-bad-so-sad attitude to their customers? Have you been refused by Canon to fix hot-pixels in your digital camera?
If the next repair does not fix the hot pixels on my camera, I will consult a lawyer to take legal actions. I believe Canon has mis-represented the capability of their G1. None of the sample shots in their website have green spots on them, and at no place in my copy of the manual and sals brochure mentiones 'the acceptable' hot-pixel problem in the CCD of G1. As the G1 being the 2nd highest model in Canon's digital powershot line and 3rd highest in Canon's entire digital camera line, I see no reason why I can't expect defect-free images from the camera. (No, requirement/recommendation to learn photo-processing software was not on the package.) I think we as consumers need to understand and defend our rights on this matter. If 1 big company can get away taking advantage of consumers by selling defective merchandises and conjuring up excuses after the sales (ref: Floating-point defect in Intel Pentium chips in 1994), the others will follow. If you have experience handling consumer disputes with manufacters, I would like to hear from you as well.
I'd will really appreciate your input on this matter. I plan to return the unit with some supporting test result at the end of this week after gathering your input.
This article is cross-posted in this forum as well as Usenet newgroups alt.comp.periphs.dcameras, rec.photo.digital and rec.photo.equipment. Please excuse the duplications.
Thank you for your attention.
I bought a Canon G1 5 months ago, and it has been nothing but trouble. The trouble doesn't relate so much to the camera, but the poor customer support from Canon USA.
I discovered 1 faint green spot at the middle and around 1/3 from the top of the frame in 3-4 indoor shots after using the camera for 3-4 weeks. Originally I thought it was a bug in the software that I used to save my JPG files, but after referencing newsgroups and discussion forums like this one, I discovered that I had a hot pixel in my CCD. I took the camera back to Canon the next day in person, and Canon made adjustments right at the spot. Pleasantly surprised by the speediness of service from Canon, I was a happy customer.
5 weeks later another green spot appeared along the left side of the frame of my shots. At that point I was a bit annoyed. Hoping for customer service from Canon coming to rescue, I took the camera back the next day. This time the customer service rep. refused to adjust my camera on the spot and insisted that I have to leave the camera there. After debating back and forth with the senior manager of Midwest Factory Service Center (details to follow), I gave up and checked in the camera.
About 5 days later, I was went back to Canon to pick up my unit. I performed a quick lens-cap test (Tv Mode, 1 sec shutter, IS0 50, lens-cap covering the lens) at the counter to make sure that my problem was fixed. It wasn't. The same green spot glared back at me on the LCD screen when I put the camera into playback mode. I requested to talk to the technician who performed the repair. During my discussion with him, he derided my lens-cap test and repeatedly affirmed to me that that my camera passes all his tests (in JPG mode, even after I told the technician that I exclusively shoot in RAW mode) and meets standards of Canon. Putting insult to injury, he brought up couple of point about my camera, which echos those from the manager I meet during my previous visit, Mr. Steve Sauer:
1. Hot pixels are common and acceptable defects of digital camera. (Quoting the technician, '... this camera is not the first to have this problem, and is not the last.')
2. My Canon G1 is not an expensive camera, and with the money I paid, I cannot expect perfect pictures.
3. There are software available that fixes hot pixels in pictures.
4. Canon will not replace the camera nor the CCD component because there's nothing wrong with them.
By that time, I was furious because I knew from then on I will _have to_ manually re-touch every image I send out to people. (I have a 340MB and a 1GB microdrive. Shooting in RAW mode, they total almost 600 pictures that potentially I need to work on after every outing.)
Two weeks ago, the 1st hot pixel came back. Now, there is also a faint green spot on the _LCD_ screen, approximately where the 2nd hot pixel appears in the image files. I am preparing to bring my package again back to Canon. I need your advise on these following questions. I promise to keep you posted on the results of my repair(s).
1. What is your recommendation for me to convince Canon that my camera is indeed defective and the unit/CCD needs to be replaced?
2. Is there a guideline used by camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Minota... etc) to determine whether a CCD unit is defective and should be replaced under warranty? If so, what is it?
3. What is your overall experience with hot-pixel related services with Canon and other maufacturers? Do all manufacturers have the same too-bad-so-sad attitude to their customers? Have you been refused by Canon to fix hot-pixels in your digital camera?
If the next repair does not fix the hot pixels on my camera, I will consult a lawyer to take legal actions. I believe Canon has mis-represented the capability of their G1. None of the sample shots in their website have green spots on them, and at no place in my copy of the manual and sals brochure mentiones 'the acceptable' hot-pixel problem in the CCD of G1. As the G1 being the 2nd highest model in Canon's digital powershot line and 3rd highest in Canon's entire digital camera line, I see no reason why I can't expect defect-free images from the camera. (No, requirement/recommendation to learn photo-processing software was not on the package.) I think we as consumers need to understand and defend our rights on this matter. If 1 big company can get away taking advantage of consumers by selling defective merchandises and conjuring up excuses after the sales (ref: Floating-point defect in Intel Pentium chips in 1994), the others will follow. If you have experience handling consumer disputes with manufacters, I would like to hear from you as well.
I'd will really appreciate your input on this matter. I plan to return the unit with some supporting test result at the end of this week after gathering your input.
This article is cross-posted in this forum as well as Usenet newgroups alt.comp.periphs.dcameras, rec.photo.digital and rec.photo.equipment. Please excuse the duplications.
Thank you for your attention.