Gear just arrived back from Irvine, slightly surprised.

I was getting a bit of inconsistent focus and really could not point a finger at one thing after a whole lot of testing. I was leaning towards my body and/or the 17-50. I said eh, screw it. I'll send everything in since I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks. Tamron is a 15-20 minute drive for me and their wait was longer than Canon so that got dropped off first, then I sent my 30D and 70-200 f/4IS in to Canon. All I had left was a Canon 1.4 Extender all by itself so I sent that in for the hell of it too. All three Canon items went out to Irvine together. I just got them back today (1.5 weeks round trip) and was surprised at the repair comments considering all three Canon items are no older than six months.

1.) 30D:

"We have examined the product according to your request, and, it was found that the adjustment of the pcb assembly was incorrect the focus did not operate properly. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the pcb assembly. Other electrical adjustments and inspection and cleaning were carried out."

2.) 70-200 f/4IS:

"We have examined the product according to your request, and, it was found that the adjustment of the lens assembly was incorrect causing rear focus. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the lens assembly. Other electrical adjustments, inspection and cleaning and mechanical adjustments were carried out."

3.) 1.4x Extender:

"We have examined the product according to your request, and, it was found that the lens assembly was out of place causing rear focus. Other inspection and cleaning were carried out."

Well FFS. All of my stuff had a problem? I'm pretty surprised. Very surprised actually, unless Canon likes to make us feel as if there was something wrong and now it's right for some sort of false piece of mind, or maybe so we feel as if sending in for repair/calibration is worth it.

So are we to assume that every piece of Canon gear we buy must go in for repair?

"Honey, don't bother opening that box FedEx dropped off, it has to go straight to Canon.. it's gonna need to be focus calibrated and electrical adjustments carried out".

I can't wait to see what Tamron has to say.

I won't say for sure YET, but from some preliminary testing I'll be damned if my lens/body are front focused now.

Anyway... ...I don't quite know yet.

If it's ok to ask -- what did they charge you for those three"repairs"?

And - is your equipment performing better? (after you have had some time to test it properly of course, I note the Front Focus comment)

Don't posts like this make you want to send in all your equipment

wow, thats crazy.. i sent my 30D to canon NJ and it came back good as new.

Richard_Miami wrote in post #4043281
If it's ok to ask -- what did they charge you for those three"repairs"?

Nada. All items are under 7 months.

I'm going to see if I can catch some ducks now and later today I'll further test under a controlled environment with tripod, focus chart etc.

Back in the olden days I sold cars. Hated it.

So I'd sell a nice 2-3 year old car to some Dad and his daughter, says she needed it for college. Then 3 months down the road the Dad would service the oil and take it to a lube joint. Not the dealer. Our safety inspection would have listed all the things replaced since new on it. The "lube joint" would say the differential oil is muddy with metal shavings in it. There is no differential. Secondly on trucks or cars with a diffferential they are filled for life %99 of the time. Metal shavings are the norm. Then they'd say the fuel filter was never replaced and that it badly needed replacing. Then on a car with a live axle they'd list the CV boots as "ok". There are no CV boots on a live axle vehicle...

In the end the lube joint bills them $550 and they freak out, wanting $550 refunded to them since they were sold a car that needed all this stuff. Uh, no you were sold a fraudulent service by the lube joint and they are made to look like knights in shining armour where the seller looks like a fraudster. Sad, very sad when peopel don;t see themselves being soaked.

Now how does this relate to Irvine? Irvine is in the business of selling service. It's a different business unit than sales. They want to sell you a service.

I got a bill from Irvine once. It was $1200. I had just got the camera back from Calgary where they could not FIND what was wrong and nailed me $200+ for it. Irvine just elected to replace the mirror box due to "impact". Camera was never dropped. They replaced EVERY PCB, a couple dials etc. $1200. I then go to the Caribbean with said camera literally a few days after it's returned. 4 days in, camera does the same thing. Irvine has replaced $1200 worth of parts and has not fixed the problem. I send the camera BACK to Irvine and after lengthy discussion with some upper management no money is refunded to me. Camera is properly fixed under repair warranty and sold by me. I moved on to another set of bodies as I had to make money, not spend it frivolously with Irvine.

Did Irvine soak you on 3 repairs? I don't know. But beware that "service" is sold to you just like everything else is. Whether you "buy" it is up to you.

I gathered it was all FOC, as it was 7 month old

Yes. they bill sales for it and the price of your camera goes up a couple cents next time.

I was speaking to others that will read this, not just the OP. Beware what your sold in a service anywhere.

It's called the short stick method.

My experience with Canon service has been generally positive. I live about fifteen minutes from the Irvine service center. I've had...
-Free sensor cleanings whenever I feel like it
-Kit lens replaced free under warranty
-24-105L f/4L IS replaced free under warranty even though I didn't have a receipt and I bought it used (didn't mention the second part; they never asked for a receipt. They just looked at the date code--and no, it wasn't one of the recalled lenses)
-70-200mm f/2.8L IS calibrated and back to me the next day, free under warranty
-1D Mark II circuit board replaced, $180, had it back the next day.
I'm not a CPS member but they get my stuff ready really fast (I didn't even have to ask for it). I wouldn't expect next-day turnaround from any large company.

Lani, do you just 'walk-in'?

I'm further away than you are, but I'd go down there just for the sensor cleaning.

gorby wrote in post #4047795
Lani, do you just 'walk-in'?

I'm further away than you are, but I'd go down there just for the sensor cleaning.

Yeah, just walk in and tell whoever is at the counter that you want your sensor cleaned. They'll tell you anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on how busy they are. Then you just come back and pick it up.

That's so cool, thanks

Updating this thread...the 70-200 is definitely front focusing. Not only is it front focused, there's a whole lot of CA. This lens had near zero CA before. I got the 17-50 back today and see no problems at all. Considering I'm going away next weekend, I'm taking a drive over to the NJ facility tomorrow (because I can and I can't chance not having my stuff back in time). Supposedly my case is high priority...yada yada... I guess I'll see after a 97-ish mile drive.

Here's one example, this is the worst one I've gotten so far:

Not to make you feel worse, but I suppose the lesson here is to not ask Canon to fix things that work perfectly. You run a fair chance of having it adjusted out of range for you.

Agreed, but the reason it went in - in the first place was due to a MINOR front focus. Now I have a MAJOR front focus. Figures