Saying goodbye to Canon?

Argh. After sending in my 7D and 300 prime with Canon 1.4x TC, I'm being charged close to $400. The 7D has a stuck zoom button, and the IQ is pretty bad. Focus is inconsistent. Because the 7D is under warranty, the repairs are free. Cool, sort of. A new camera should work properly.

Not so for the 300 prime. When I first bought the lens, it had to be sent to Canon three times to get the focus repaired. Three times. Brand new. When I purchased a Canon 1.4x TC II, two didn't work correctly out of the box. So I returned them and bought another 1.4 II. This one worked okay, but not satisfactorily. So I sent the 300 and 1.4x back into Canon. After two tries, they were able to make the combination awesome. I mean, really, really good. I loved it. Fast forward a couple years and now they're telling me the lens needs to be repaired again *and* the TC? And they want me to pay $400 for it. I get the feeling that I don't really own the 300 prime, that I instead made a $1300 down payment, and just pay Canon a few hundred bucks every couple of years to rent the lens. My gear is absolutely babied. None of it even has a nick or a blemish.

The funny thing is the 300 prime and TC were incredible on the 50D. Not a single problem. The only thing that changed was the body. That's it.

I recently owned a 15-85 that seemed to be decentered. My 17-40L was in for focus repair (inconsistent 50% of the time past 28mm) that canon never fixed properly (an adjustment of plus 10 on the 50D solved the problem so I never took it back). My 70-300 IS was sent in for a recall. The 10-22 I tried misfocused at 20mm. All of this gear was purchased brand new from reputable dealers such as Amazon and Adorama.

I have to say I feel like a beta tester, not a photographer at this point. I'm a Canon tester of equipment more than anything. I love the Canon "look" and their UI's, and I have nothing but respect for those who work for Canon. But man, maybe it's time to switch. I don't know. Has anyone explored "crossing over"? At this point I feel I may need to move to a company with a longer warranty for peace of mind.

I don't think it should be like this. Buy a camera, and it should work. Swap on a lens, take in-focus pictures. We shouldn't have to worry about warranties on a $1000+ object that is designed to do nothing but focus.

Anyone who's jupmed ship, I'd be happy to hear your story. I just don't trust Canon gear at this point. I had better faith in my Rebels and the 50 prime.

Thanks for reading my rant, if you made it that far, lol.

I should also add that I've had nothing but great luck with Canon bodies until the 7D. The XT, XTi, 40D, and 50D were all wonderful, robust bodies that I enjoyed greatly.


EDIT: I am not switching to Nikon. The lens lineup is less than desirable. I just want to enjoy photos again and not worry about the camera working right.

Mike55 wrote in post #13694042
Argh. After sending in my 7D and 300 prime with Canon 1.4x TC, I'm being charged close to $400. The 7D has a stuck zoom button, and the IQ is pretty bad. Focus is inconsistent. Because the 7D is under warranty, the repairs are free. Cool, sort of. A new camera should work properly.

Not so for the 300 prime. When I first bought the lens, it had to be sent to Canon three times to get the focus repaired. Three times. Brand new. When I purchased a Canon 1.4x TC II, two didn't work correctly out of the box. So I returned them and bought another 1.4 II. This one worked okay, but not satisfactorily. So I sent the 300 and 1.4x back into Canon. After two tries, they were able to make the combination awesome. I mean, really, really good. I loved it. Fast forward a couple years and now they're telling me the lens needs to be repaired again *and* the TC? And they want me to pay $400 for it. I get the feeling that I don't really own the 300 prime, that I instead made a $1300 down payment, and just pay Canon a few hundred bucks every couple of years to rent the lens. My gear is absolutely babied. None of it even has a nick or a blemish.

The funny thing is the 300 prime and TC were incredible on the 50D. Not a single problem. The only thing that changed was the body. That's it.

I recently owned a 15-85 that seemed to be decentered. My 17-40L was in for focus repair (inconsistent 50% of the time past 28mm) that canon never fixed properly (an adjustment of plus 10 on the 50D solved the problem so I never took it back). My 70-300 IS was sent in for a recall. The 10-22 I tried misfocused at 20mm. All of this gear was purchased brand new from reputable dealers such as Amazon and Adorama.

I have to say I feel like a beta tester, not a photographer at this point. I'm a Canon tester of equipment more than anything. I love the Canon "look" and their UI's, and I have nothing but respect for those who work for Canon. But man, maybe it's time to switch. I don't know. Has anyone explored "crossing over"? At this point I feel I may need to move to a company with a longer warranty for peace of mind.

I don't think it should be like this. Buy a camera, and it should work. Swap on a lens, take in-focus pictures. We shouldn't have to worry about warranties on a $1000+ object that is designed to do nothing but focus.

Anyone who's jupmed ship, I'd be happy to hear your story. I just don't trust Canon gear at this point. I had better faith in my Rebels and the 50 prime.

Thanks for reading my rant, if you made it that far, lol.

I should also add that I've had nothing but great luck with Canon bodies until the 7D. The XT, XTi, 40D, and 50D were all wonderful, robust bodies that I enjoyed greatly.

I've owned Canon DSLR gear for 4 years with no problems. Before you say goodbye be sure to check out the other forums, e.g. DPreview, photo.net, Nikon forums, etc. and read the other DSLR manufacturers sob stories.
The good news: In the future there won't be reflex mirrors, penta prisms, focusing screens, electromagnetic shutters, etc. The number of moving parts will be reduced so presumably repair problems will decrease

I just jumped to Canon from Pentax. You think you have problems? How about misaligned viewfinders on K10Ds, loosening of single hinged mirror causing consitently deteriorating back focus issue on K10D and K20D, shutter induced blur on K-7, stained sensors in K-5 (even limited silver edition). Frequent SDM (Pentax take on USM/HSM) failures in * line lenses (Pentax take on L series). Only 1 year warranty. Sticking dials on bodies, decentering issues here and there and such...

I loved their glass but couldn't live with stuff like above..

So if you want to switch, maybe look at Nikon, but I'm sure if you'll dig deep enough, you'll dig up some dirt too..

My 2p

Btw: the list of bodies is last 4 generations!

axl_kollar wrote in post #13694242
So if you want to switch, maybe look at Nikon, but I'm sure if you'll dig deep enough, you'll dig up some dirt too..

Oh I'm sure I will. That's the problem.

Thanks for the warning on Pentax.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I know you asked to hear about problems with Canon, but my experience has been nothing but excellent. I use a 5D in my profession, so may not be a fair compo, but I do use a T3i for personal shooting and it has been excellent in all respects. I have never used the 7D, but have heard many problems with it and am not impressed as a result. I wonder if a change of model might not be another choice, rather than jumping ship? At any rate, best of luck in your choice.

30D great. 50D even better. 7D = big learning curve, focus issues, Canon repair. 5D nothing but perfect. 5D2 same. There is something about the 7D camera body and you, like others, have had issues with it.

Do you have another body that you can test your current lenses on and isolate for 100% certain that it's the 7D body and NOT the lenses? For example, I went from the 50D to the 7D with known good lenses. This is why I was able to blame the random focus issues on the body and not the lenses. Soon after I bought a 5D and the lenses that wouldn't focus on the 7D did beautifully on a new-to-me and plenty-used 5D.

My gut says it's your 7D body and probably not the lenses.

dave

The 7D has a zoom button???

As for the lens, all products are made within tolerances; your original 300mm + 1.4TC was calibrated to work with your 50D. However your new 7D must have slightly different tolerance out of production; its not broken nor is your lens, but when put together they are at opposite ends of the tolerance scale - thus the glass has to be re-adjusted to match the new body to give best performance.

Most gear hits the middle of the tolerance ranges - so most people never have a problem; and small shifts away from the optimum don't give massivly poor results so go undetected by most.


Chances are your 7D is just different, recalibrations should solve the problems (this is why the AF calibration tool was put into new bodies so that users could make this calibration adjustment themselves rather than cost canon as they send things in under warranty to be fixed).

Overread wrote in post #13694521
The 7D has a zoom button???

Yes. When previewing images.

The prime was never adjusted to the 50D. It was simply calibrated to within spec at the service center with the 1.4x II.

MFA is not the problem. All of those options were tested before sending in.

snyderman wrote in post #13694520
30D great. 50D even better. 7D = big learning curve, focus issues, Canon repair. 5D nothing but perfect. 5D2 same. There is something about the 7D camera body and you, like others, have had issues with it.

I think you may be right. I'm investigating going to full frame (5D II) and not having the 300 "repaired" because it worked fine on the 50D. I think there's something very wrong with the 7D (at least my copy), and it seems I'm not the only one who's experienced it.

I'd rather lose reach and gain IQ, although I know I'll gripe about it in the field, lol. What did you do with your 7D?

So did I.

Good to hear. I'm pretty sure that no matter what route I take, the 7D is going bye-bye. The 5d II kit with the 24-105 is looking mighty sweet. I'll pick up 2x and a 14mm to round things out. I'm not expecting the 7D to come back working as I envision.

that does seem like a lot of problems, but i'm sure every system has problems...if you think you'd be happier with another system...go for it...i'd probably only look at nikon though...

DreDaze wrote in post #13694714
that does seem like a lot of problems, but i'm sure every system has problems...if you think you'd be happier with another system...go for it...i'd probably only look at nikon though...

Since I posted this I looked at Nikon, and it's not very tantalizing, that's for sure. I think I'll give the 5D II a shot before doing anything rash. I'm about 40% landscape 40% wildlife 20% portraits.

I will have to agree that Canon's warranty is not adequate considering how premium the gear (and the prices) are.

However, I didn't have any trouble with any Canon gear yet, except for a 50mm f/1.4 that I had to send back until I got a copy I liked.

My solution is buy most things used so that warranty isn't an issue. Makes life easier.

I hope you find something that works well. The search is fun, just keep that in mind.

Mike -- you've had nothing but problems and complaints about canon gear for all the years i've read your posts. i think you should sell everything and go to nikon, and maybe give us an annual report on how that turned out!

ed rader

ed rader wrote in post #13695159
Mike -- you've had nothing but problems and complaints about canon gear for all the years i've read your posts. i think you should sell everything and go to nikon, and maybe give us an annual report on how that turned out!

ed rader

You break me up man!