30D CCD failure ?

Hey all,

my 30D just "died". I have it for one year now, about 30 000 shots taken, everything went fine...

A the end of an event (a lot of pics in a short amount of time) I suddenly got a totally black picture, and am just getting them since then.

I tried every lens, same thing. Auto mode, manual mode, flash, long exposure, high iso ... The only difference is that I get some sensor noise @ ISO 3200, apart from that it's pure black.

Replaced CF card, batteries, upgraded firmware to 1.0.5...

Any ideas but to send it back ? (I'm not sure if it's still under warranty or not) ...

Try doing a long exposure with no lens on, does the shutter open?

Yes, I do see the sensor like in "sensor cleaning" mode, evrything mechanical seems fine, everything works but the result

the files read on the PC, not corrupt, i do see the AF points in the file, the only failure seems the contents of the pic

It's probably not the CMOS sensor (not CCD as you indicated), but more likely a failed shutter. As aLFaDaRK suggested, take the lens off, set the camera for a long exposure (M mode - T = 1 sec) and look into the camera to see if the shutter actually opens. That will tell you more.

Well, in that case, reset everything to defaults (remove both batteries and leave them out for a bit), try it with another CF card, if you're still getting the same results, then I think it's time for a trip to Canon.

Yea like I said I have already done all that

Is it just over or just under one year? If it’s just under a year, call Canon service right away for a warranty fix. If it over a year, then your decision is ,ore complex. But if the shutter is working as in it opening exposing the sensor and a picture is being written out to the CF card even though it’s black, than it can be that the sensor has died, or maybe the supporting electronic have died, or some software glitch is causing the pics to be written out as all black. Again Canon will be able to tell you what the cost of repair will me. Maybe it’s cheap, but your going to have to call them and work it.

it's just over a year, but i'm not sure if in Belgium it's 1 or 2 years of warranty. Plus I bought it online so I'll call and see, thanks everybody

Sometimes when you use a credit card, you get an extra year warranty from them as well... You'll have to check with your credit card company...

very interesting, do I have to ask Mastercard or Canon for that ?

How about removing the compact flash card and setting the camera menu to "Shoot w/o card" and set the "Review Time" to "hold", then take a picture. Is there an image displayed on the LCD? What does the histogram show?

tried also, still plain black, RGB histogram shows absolutely nothing at all, but if I set ISO to 3200 and shoot long exposure pic, I get a very very small thing on the histogram and when I crank everything up on the PC on that raw file, I just get regular sensor noise (as with a lens cap on)

Sounds like it will need to go to Canon then. In the UK we have a sale of goods act, that is between the vendor and purchaser (and is independent of the manufacturers warranty) and just over 1 year would not be an acceptable period before failure for such an expensive camera, perhaps you have something similar where you are?

Don't think so, I think Canon just offers the minimum warranty required by law. and mastercard does NOT extend any warranty (I asked). Guess i'll have to send it back to Canon

mm, looks like there's an european text stating that 2 years is the minimum warranty period for any consumer goods bought within EU :

http://eur-lex.europa.eu …=CELEX:31999L00​44:EN:HTML

and also here

http://www.consumenten​informatiepunt.nl/page​/en/themes/Kopen-in-de-EU

The Directive applies to anything bought by any private consumer in a shop or from another professional seller in an EU Member State. With the exception of:

* Real estate.
* Goods which are sold under execution or otherwise by authority of law.
* Water, gas and electricity in unpackaged form.


You are entitled to repair or replacement of your purchase free of charge, if a defect becomes apparent through no fault of your own within a period of 2 years. Repair or replacement must take place within a reasonable period and without any serious inconvenience to you.





The period of 2 years is a minimum requirement which every EU Member State must comply with.