1DMk3 Purchase?

Hi folks,

I've been mulling over the thought of moving my primary body to a 1 series for the past month now for motorsports work and managed to find one at a decent price used that is local to me. The catch is the serial number falls within the range of 52xxxx and there is no visible dot on the bottom of the camera or box (or battery box) to show it has seen the submirror fix. The firmware shows it as 1.1.3 and frankly as much as I'd like the camera I'd rather not get a total lemon as I know that's the range the first problems arose in.

My question is, if the camera is beyond the 1 year warranty period and has not had the sub-mirror fix done to it will Canon still honour the repair? Tried contacting Canon Canada about this but they won't make a statement to me until I actually own the product and give them a serial number & purchase date.

-s

smcclelland wrote in post #6631699
Hi folks,

I've been mulling over the thought of moving my primary body to a 1 series for the past month now for motorsports work and managed to find one at a decent price used that is local to me. The catch is the serial number falls within the range of 52xxxx and there is no visible dot on the bottom of the camera or box (or battery box) to show it has seen the submirror fix. The firmware shows it as 1.1.3 and frankly as much as I'd like the camera I'd rather not get a total lemon as I know that's the range the first problems arose in.

My question is, if the camera is beyond the 1 year warranty period and has not had the sub-mirror fix done to it will Canon still honour the repair? Tried contacting Canon Canada about this but they won't make a statement to me until I actually own the product and give them a serial number & purchase date.

-s

That's a hard question. I believe they will honour the repair. Why? well, I sent my old 20D for repairs a few months after the warranty had expired. They fixed it and didn't charge me for it. Same deal with a lens I used to have. They calibrated more than a year after I bought it. I was living in Canada back then.

I have had very good experiences with Canon Canada.

I'm hoping that is the case if I do go forward with the purchase, I'd hate to get caught between a rock and a hard place having to pay for a known problem that the original owner neglected to do.

I bought a 1D III about 3 months ago(new from B&H) and also looked for the so called "DOT". Could not see anything, I do not know if there is supposed to be a actual "DOT". I think it is more related to the serial number. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this. Maybe you can also get some kind of arrangement with the seller and if the camera have issues that you can return it. Depends of course what you're paying for the camera. You know the old proverb "you get what you pay for". Anyway I am very happy with my 1D III body and it seems that all the problems that was a issue with earlier serial numbers have been addressed.

Well, I went ahead and bought it. So far the AF seems good, I'll be calling Canon Canada to inquire if it has gotten the sub mirror fix and also update to the latest firmware. The retailer said that if it does need the sub-mirror fix then they will cover it under the warranty as well so I am pretty pleased as I got it for a great price.

Congrats and welcome to the club!

congrats on the purchase. It's an awesome cam.

Anyhow, if the submirror hasn't been fixed then that's an ADVANTAGE. You're supposed to get 1 full year warranty after the submirror fix so it'll be like you just bought it.

Nice! Thanks for that info Lloyd!

You are right to be cautious, But you've bought it now and the store is guaranteeing it ~ you did well ...

Ah, yes...and I believe since the submirror fix is a recall, there's not an issue if the camera is outside of the 1 year warranty period.

Nice!

picturecrazy wrote in post #6641908
congrats on the purchase. It's an awesome cam.

Anyhow, if the submirror hasn't been fixed then that's an ADVANTAGE. You're supposed to get 1 full year warranty after the submirror fix so it'll be like you just bought it.

Goshawk wrote in post #6632789
I bought a 1D III about 3 months ago(new from B&H) and also looked for the so called "DOT". Could not see anything, I do not know if there is supposed to be a actual "DOT". I think it is more related to the serial number. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this. Maybe you can also get some kind of arrangement with the seller and if the camera have issues that you can return it. Depends of course what you're paying for the camera. You know the old proverb "you get what you pay for". Anyway I am very happy with my 1D III body and it seems that all the problems that was a issue with earlier serial numbers have been addressed.

The blue or yellow dot is a Canon USA thing. The blue dot is found on the box next to the serial number. Blue dot refers to cameras manufactured with the sub-mirror fix. The yellow dot was subsequently used to indicate firmware 1.2.3 installed. If there is no dot, it may be a pre-dot version (pre sub-mirror fix) or it may be a grey market body (and there is nothing wrong with that other than no Canon USA warranty). The affected serial number range can be found here:

http://www.usa.canon.c​om …999&keycode=211​2&id=39707

You can also check in your battery compartment. At the bottom (inside) is a date code (should be OV or OW followed by 4 digits. The O is the factory designation, the V or W is the build year V=2007, W=2008. The first two digits are the build month. I believe OV12xx or later (certainly any of the OW models are built with the fix in.

BTW, I've had 5 1D3's (both pre and post fix). No problems here but I shoot primarily wildlife and portraits and not much sports.

Thanks for the info madog, I checked the battery compartment and the code is OV0904 which I assume means October 4, 2007? Looks like it falls within the recall range so I'm just waiting to hear back from Canon about the status of whether it had received the fix or not.

Success, the camera has been in for the sub-mirror fix and Canon has it noted on their records. Now to just update the firmware

madog wrote in post #6642404
The blue or yellow dot is a Canon USA thing. The blue dot is found on the box next to the serial number. Blue dot refers to cameras manufactured with the sub-mirror fix. The yellow dot was subsequently used to indicate firmware 1.2.3 installed. If there is no dot, it may be a pre-dot version (pre sub-mirror fix) or it may be a grey market body (and there is nothing wrong with that other than no Canon USA warranty). The affected serial number range can be found here:

http://www.usa.canon.c​om …999&keycode=211​2&id=39707

You can also check in your battery compartment. At the bottom (inside) is a date code (should be OV or OW followed by 4 digits. The O is the factory designation, the V or W is the build year V=2007, W=2008. The first two digits are the build month. I believe OV12xx or later (certainly any of the OW models are built with the fix in.

BTW, I've had 5 1D3's (both pre and post fix). No problems here but I shoot primarily wildlife and portraits and not much sports.

Thanks for clearing that up, was always a bit of a mystery to me.
I checked my box again and there is no "DOT". The date code is OW0308 which should put it in the clear. Bought from B&H so I presume it is not a "Grey import". I can only presume they have stopped to put the dot on the box.

Goshawk wrote in post #6642624
Thanks for clearing that up, was always a bit of a mystery to me.
I checked my box again and there is no "DOT". The date code is OW0308 which should put it in the clear. Bought from B&H so I presume it is not a "Grey import". I can only presume they have stopped to put the dot on the box.

If you call Canon service, they will tell you right away when you give them the serial #. I got placed in a call queue and just used the call-back feature, when I gave the guy my serial number he told me it had been back in for the sub-mirror fix.