Help! Canon Service Center Refuses to Give Info

[erphoto]

I bought a Canon 1Ds Mark II on ebay. The seller stated that the camera had approximately 9,500 actuations on the camera, and that he had sent it in for service May '09 and that they had cleaned the camera along with updating the software. He stated that the camera had some minor wear and took pictures of said wear.

I received the camera today, it was extremely dirty, and wear was more than minor along with dust on the sensor viewable in the viewfinder and actual actuations exif data is 24,148.

I called Canon to see what the reading was back in May of '09 and they informed me that they had received the camera on a dealers account and that they would not release any information to me. The rep even compared it to medical confidentiality for the canon repair record. All he would tell me was that it had been sent in twice and he could give me no other information.

Nice right?

 

[gsgary]

24,000 is nothing and you can't see dust on the sensor through the view finder what price did you pay ?

 

[matfoster]

very sorry to hear of your predicament but i think it's quite correct that Canon have that policy. what's the benefit to you of establishing actual activations in May 2009? do you have reasons to doubt the accuracy of the current 24K figure?

 

[Dao]

I think the the shutter life for 1D is at least 100,000. Take a photo of a bright sky or wall with your camera with a small aperture (like F/22) and see if the sensor dust shows up on the image.

 

[cirekoy]

Go back to the seller...threaten to give him negative feedback for misrepresenting his product. A lot of time that prompts e-bay sellers into action, especially if they do it for a business. Before you resort to threats, I'd suggest asking if you can get a refund if you send the camera back, since it wasn't the product you were expecting.

I don't think you can blame canon for being reluctant to release any information. It certainly isn't bank or medical level security, but all companies are a little bit cautious about data security.

 

[erphoto]

Trust me when I say that I understand that on a camera that is good to 100,000, 24,000 is nothing. However, when you sell something on ebay, or really any site, it's expected that you accurately describe the product. It wouldn't surprise me if the actuations are not actually 24,000 but a lot more. The wear on the camera is not consistent with 24,000 unless they didn't take care of the camera at all.

I just thought it was a bit extreme that they wouldn't tell me ANYTHING about the camera being sent in. I OWN the camera now, I would think that I am privied to knowing what the heck it's been sent in for. Thanks for all your input.

 

[Montana]

you can see dust on the sensor in the viewfinder? :lmao: How do you see the shutter actuations in EXIF?

 

[Dwig]

... along with dust on the sensor viewable in the viewfinder ...

No dust on the sensor is every visible in the VF of an SLR, period. Also, no dust visible in the VF of and SLR, film or digital, can every affect the picture. Further, dust on the lens is never visible in the VF except under extreme conditions and then only with a few types of extreme wide angle lenses. Dust on the mirror won't show in either the picture or the VF.

The dust you see in the VF is in the VF, most likely on the focusing screen itself.

 

[Dao]

you can see dust on the sensor in the viewfinder? :lmao: How do you see the shutter actuations in EXIF?

Isn't that the Canon EOS 1D series camera put the shutter actuations on the ExIF?

 

[erphoto]

Thanks for clearing that up Dwig. And yes, for the EOS 1d series you can view the actuation count in the ExiF data. (At least according to several items of information online.) And Montana, you might as well have called me a da. thanks.

 

[Montana]

Thanks for clearing that up Dwig. And yes, for the EOS 1d series you can view the actuation count in the ExiF data. (At least according to several items of information online.) And Montana, you might as well have called me a da. thanks.

Do you have to use an EXIF veiwer to see the actuations? I just opened one of my 1DmkIV images in windows and right click to properties and don't see it that way. how do you view it?

 

[KmH]

I bought a Canon 1Ds Mark II on ebay. The seller stated that the camera had approximately 9,500 actuations on the camera, and that he had sent it in for service May '09 and that they had cleaned the camera along with updating the software. He stated that the camera had some minor wear and took pictures of said wear.

I received the camera today, it was extremely dirty, and wear was more than minor along with dust on the sensor viewable in the viewfinder and actual actuations exif data is 24,148.

I called Canon to see what the reading was back in May of '09 and they informed me that they had received the camera on a dealers account and that they would not release any information to me. The rep even compared it to medical confidentiality for the canon repair record. All he would tell me was that it had been sent in twice and he could give me no other information.

Nice right?

Caveat Emptor. Particularly when buying on eBay.

 

[Derrel]

I would _DEFINITELY_ severely downgrade the seller on his eBay feedback. I was reading a Ken Rockwell article about eBay vendors, and his experience is that an eBay feedback rating of only 99.5% positive is actually NOT GOOD...as in not reliable, not trustworthy...whereas in any other field, 99.5% positive feedback would be considered good. He noted that a seller's feedback rating is a better indicator of the kind and quality of item you will receive than either the photos or the verbal descriptions of the item.

The entire eBay thing is slanted towards giving bad vendors positive feedback...last month I lodged a complaint after having rec'd FOUR dead, as in dead-on-arrival flash units and I left extremely negative feedback. EBay and the seller were asking me to leave a revised, positive feedback simply because they refunded me my money after I insisted, vehmently, that I would not pay one cent to return four defective items. I revised my comments about their shipping time and price, but the transaction overall was a negative. Moral of the story with eBay: leave negative feedback when somebody screws you over, like this Canon 1Ds Mark II seller did. Over 24,000 vs 9,500 actuations is a substantial misrepresentation and would be worth a much different price.

 

[inTempus]

With the 1D3 and 1D4 the number count is nothing more than a file number and it doesn't necessarily mean the actual shutter actuations. Heck, looking at my brand new 1D4 it shows 10167 as my "count" and I know I've not even shot 1000 images with it yet.

I did a quick check and the tool found here should give you a good idea of what the actual shutter count is:

Download Archives - CameraBits.com

 

[Montana]

I always have a fresh in camera formatted card to keep track of shutter count via image number. Was just curious if it was in the exif somewhere on the mkIV.