Need repair advice (EOS 5D Mark III)

Hey guys, I sent my 5D3 in to Canon because it was producing images with pink/purple stripes across the pictures (see attached example). This happens about 5 out of every 100 pictures (it started at 1-2 out of every 100 and has gotten worse over the past few weeks).

I received my quote from Canon for the repair and the total cost is $967. I am flabbergasted at this high cost. I'm trying to figure out if my expectations were just way out of line, or if the cost is actually very high. What do you guys think? This is my first experience with CPS.

I've e-mailed them asking for more information on the repair, as it currently just says "Customer states there are pink and purple stripes across the pictures.Unit is subject to an update estimate if additional repairs or calibrations are needed". I'll post back with any new information they send me.

I need some advice in the meantime. Do I suck it up and pay the $967 to repair my 3+year old camera and hope it won't break again in the near future? Or do I sell it broken and put that money towards a different camera? (ie. 5DS or another newer 5D3?)

Have you tried a different memory card?

It's probably your memory card reader or the cable connected to it. Try a different card reader and cable and see if the problem goes away.

Scott

Eliminate card, reader, and cabling before spending any money or repairs. If you have to PAY for repairs, don't send it to Canon.

looks like bad memory card and/or cable.

Holy crap. Are you kidding me?

I was recording RAW to the CF card, and JPG to the SD card. If it's the CF card (the RAW images are what I've noticed the problems with) or the reader, the JPGs still on the SD card should be flawless, right?

As soon as I get home I will check the SD card (i use it as an archive, so it has all of my pictures still on it)

I'll use a different reader to pull the JPGs off, but even if i use the faulty one, different pictures should be ruined, right?

Thanks guys!

If you still have the RAW files on a card, try transferring them again with a different reader or USB cable. I had that EXACT problem and it was the USB cable. I replaced it and everything was fine.

Best of luck!

Scott

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone. I declined the Canon repair. Hoping they will get it back to me quickly.

I was able to verify that the JPGs of the pictures were all flawless, so it obviously was not an internal camera issue, as both files should be identical.

Canon convinced me they replicated the issue by saying "As of right now, the technician has only confirmed your original issue does actually exist, but they have not started the repair."

So I pressed them more and asked directly if they could recreate my issue and they responded "After reviewing the service status, I have found no information stating that the problem was recreated."

Yikes. I'm so glad I posted here. I would've been convinced they replicated the issue and that they could definitely fix it. How frustrating it would've been to pay $967 only to still have the same issue, caused by my $5 USB cable or $15 card reader.

Just out of curiosity, what brand of CF card? I have 2 Lexar cards that do this in multiple Canon cameras but they have never screwed up in a Nikon. I've also had a really cheap CF cards mess up like this as well. I forget the brand, probably Billy-Joe-Bob's CF memory card.

gjl711 wrote in post #18018570
Just out of curiosity, what brand of CF card? I have 2 Lexar cards that do this in multiple Canon cameras but they have never screwed up in a Nikon. I've also had a really cheap CF cards mess up like this as well. I forget the brand, probably Billy-Joe-Bob's CF memory card.

Ah, the fond memories of my youth in Baltimore. Many a fine evening spent at BJB's Transmission Repair, Memory Cards, and Crab-Shack!

gjl711 wrote in post #18018570
Just out of curiosity, what brand of CF card? I have 2 Lexar cards that do this in multiple Canon cameras but they have never screwed up in a Nikon. I've also had a really cheap CF cards mess up like this as well. I forget the brand, probably Billy-Joe-Bob's CF memory card.

SanDisk 32 GB Compact Flash Memory Card SDCFX-032G-A61 60MB/s.

I bought it off of another member here in 2013. Once I get the camera back, i'll troubleshoot whether it's the card/reader/cable. I'm hoping it's the cable, as that's the cheapest/easiest to replace

This is the reader I use: http://smile.amazon.co​m …er-TS-RDF8K/dp/B0056TYRMW

I'm open to other suggestions if anybody knows of a similar, comparable reader for similar price i really only use it for CF, SD and microSD.

I'd bet it's the USB cable you're using. When I replaced my cable the problem went away.

Here are the two readers I use:

http://smile.amazon.co​m …ds=modular+cf+c​ard+reader

http://smile.amazon.co​m …ords=lexar+cf+c​ard+reader

Scott

Maybe I'm missing something here......they say they have not replicated the problem, yet they know what it will take to fix it. How can you know what it takes to correct any given problem if you have not been able to duplicate it?

"Why, yes, Mr Customer, we are going to take a thousand dollars of your money and we are going to throw a whole bunch of parts at your camera and hope like hell the problem goes away."

Sounds like an excellent troubleshooting and repair method to me.

Sounds like Canon's repair service to me.

saea501 wrote in post #18018948
Maybe I'm missing something here......they say they have not replicated the problem, yet they know what it will take to fix it. How can you know what it takes to correct any given problem if you have not been able to duplicate it?

"Why, yes, Mr Customer, we are going to take a thousand dollars of your money and we are going to throw a whole bunch of parts at your camera and hope like hell the problem goes away."

Sounds like an excellent troubleshooting and repair method to me.

Exactly what I was thinking! Definitely a lesson learned.