5DMKII - Will they replace it for me?

[mbwakali]

<p>I am about at the end of my patience with Canon. Almost 2 months ago my 5D Mark II began freezing up while writing to the CF card. The red light would blink and the lcd would say busy and it would stay this way until I removed the batteries and put them back in. After having this happen during 4 weddings, twice during one, I called Canon to have the camera sent in for service. Just under two weeks later I received my camera back after Canon replaced a circuit board.<br>

<br /> That following weekend I had the same problem happen again AND the camera was starting up very slowly, aprox. 4-5 seconds from startup/sleep till it was useable. I called Canon again and explained that the original problem still exists and there is a new problem. I sent my camera back. Again, around 2 weeks, I got my camera back.<br /> <br /> About 4 days after that I decided to do some work with the video mode and found out that it didn't work at all. Extremely frustrated I called Canon again, sent in my camera again, and just recently received it back last Thursday.<br /> <br /> Yesterday I was working a wedding, the camera went to sleep, and when I picked it up to grab a shot of the bride walking down the aisle it took 4-5 seconds for it to come back, and I missed the shot. All evening the frequency with which this happened continued, sometimes it would come back from sleep/being off right away, most often or not it would take 4-5 seconds, which I'm sorry to say is not factory conditions for this camera.<br /> <br /> So, needless to say I'm pretty irritated at this point and I honestly can't use this camera for work. I've contemplated a switch to Nikon after having to deal with different Canon customer service reps and promises from head technicians that the camera will be in working order. I am planning on calling them, again, on Monday and asking for a new camera. What are my chances?</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>Funny--not your problem--years ago I switched to Canon because of similar issues with Nikon Service. So I know how you feel. Turns out I liked Canon better once I switched so maybe it was meant to be. Obviously you somehow got the rare lemon and your problems are not typical of the 5DII.</p>

<p>I'd say calling Canon service and asking for a new camera will fall on powerless ears. Escalte your request to service center management and Canon Corporate. If you have the patience, you'll eventually get it fixed.</p>

[alan_green4]

<p>would put it in writing. phone calls are easy to brush off (unless you manage to speak to a supervisor -- that can work).<br>

otherwise, send emails. once it's in writing it often gets bumped up to management. they have a hard time ignoring emails. nobody wants to be on the hook for doing the wrong thing should the brass find out.<br>

if it was me i'd ask to speak to a customer service supervisor or manager, and, search for canon email addresses and start giving them something to talk about.<br>

ps -- it wouldn't hurt to post your story on as many discussion boards as possible. see if there is a canon-dedicated site with a board. someone from the company will get it gear sooner or later.</p>

[jamie_robertson2]

<p>I would persevere. Keep sending it in but write letters instead of phone calls. Try and remain polite and calm whilst stating your frustration. If you lose your temper and get nasty it will have the opposite effect.</p>

<p>If you switch to Nikon you will regret it if you ever need to use their customer service. It's widely accepted that Canon's after sales service is actually quite reasonable.</p>

[tudor_apmadoc]

<p>What is the brand name / model of your memory card? Have you tried another card? (Preferably a UDMA card)</p>

[dcstep]

<p>Not that you shouldn't persist and get the problem fixed, but you might consider using a card reader to download the images rather doing it direct from the camera. Using the camera, mine will occasionally go to sleep if I get distracted looking at the jpegs in the session (I shoot RAW + jpeg for ease of previewing).<br>

Dave</p>

[mbwakali]

<p>I use two kinds of cards, sandisk and kingston. I never use the camera to dl images to my computer - I have a lexar firewire 800 reader and a sandisk usb reader that I use. I am going back and specifically labeling each card to test and see if one card is bad, since they all look the same.</p>

<p>I can set the camera to go to sleep after an hour of inactivity, right now it is at 8 minutes, but I don't feel like I should have to do that. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice with writing/posting, I'll be doing that for sure.</p>

<p>It just cracks me up that each time it comes back there is a note saying "the camera has been returned to original factory specifications" which is obviously not true, unless out of factory the camera doesn't work as stated :)</p>

[greg_mckinney1]

<p>Check your CF cards. I have heard of similar problems (slow writes / camera freezes) with cards that turned out to be counterfeits. I am very careful where I purchase cards. eBay is famous for being a source for counterfeit cards.</p>

[angel_bocanegra]

<p>They should replace it sooner or later if you keep sending it back and writing angry certified mail letters to them. Dont give up and I do hope you have a backup. </p>

[mbwakali]

<p>All my cards were purchased from Adorama, so I hope they aren't fake :)</p>

<p>Thank goodness I do have a backup, which has saved my life the last couple of months. It's just extremely frustrating to be without it for the last 2 months and then when it comes back to have it not work again.</p>

[hawkman]

<p>Paul,<br>

Are you contacting regular Canon technical support or CPS?<br>

Try 1-877-CPS-8122. Mention your business and use of Canon gear and ask for a replacement camera. Do mention that if camera is not fixed/replaced you will switch to Nikon and share your experience with your colleagues.</p>

[alexander_c1]

<p>Paul,</p>

<p>I'd think they would replace the camera but that is in an ideal world. I had a problem with a faulty dell laptop and they sent a tech out about 10 times before I got a new one. So keep on sending it in. Eventually, I hope they will give you one that works. You'd think that since we shell out so much money for this camera they would just replace it. It is sooooo irritating!</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>I, and several other photographers I know , have had problems with Kingston cards not working properly in their cameras. You might try just using the Sandisk for a while to see if that helps.</p>

[thomas_hoffmann]

<p>Hello,<br /> I had the same problem as you had: a very slow start up from sleep or off, AFTER a repair.<br /> And I got a new camera last week.</p>

<p>The story of my 1st 5DII:</p>

<p>Bought in December 2008 in Germany, as a kit together with the 24-105L.</p>

<p>Intermittend failure of the shutter from the beginning, a buzzing sound after several changes of camera orientation from vertical to horizontal and back and following a freeze of the camera. Additionally write errors to several CF-cards, where the camera froze up during writing to the card and the card would not be detected by the camera afterwards. Only a reformat of the card did help. Repaired in May 2009, took nearly 6 weeks. New circuit boards.</p>

<p>Focus failure of the 24-105L in June, it did focus to 3-5m instead of infinity in wide angle. Repaired, took 3 weeks.</p>

<p>Well visible "Labyrinth" artifacts in ISO100 images in August. Prints of A3+ and A2 not possible. Looking back, they were there from March and got worse and worse. Repaired in October, took 3 weeks. New sensor and PCBs.</p>

<p>Start up problems following the repair in November. Took up to 5 seconds to wake up from sleep or to switch on.</p>

<p>My dealer, Hirrlinger in Stuttgart, did convince Canon to exchange the camera, as I will travel to India next weekend.</p>

<p><strong>BUT</strong> : I exchanged the camera for a new one last week. Got the new camera, left the shop and tried it out immediately. <strong>This new camera died after 5 to 10 images and failed to detect the CF-card</strong> . This error happened with several cards. I went back to the shop immediately and the error could be reproduced with a brand new Sandisk card.</p>

<p>They had another 5DII, which I got in exchange for the second brand new dead camera.</p>

<p><strong>I am now on my third EOS 5DII</strong> . This one works until now. But I do not trust this camera anymore. So, now I have to figure out, how to pack my old 10D as a back up together with charger and batteries into my small backpack for the trip to India. It will be dead weight for the journey. I hope so. If not, my 5DII will be dead weight. Crap, I don´t know how to fit it into the luggage yet, I want to travel light and don't want to carry around another kilogramm.</p>

<p>Photography should be fun and a camera, especially as enormously expensive as this one, should simply work as advertised. The 5DII is my 3rd Canon EOS in the last 10 years and I hate it, until now it was one year of frustration. Maybe it will get better, when I come back from India with tons of good photos.</p>

<p>I hope your dealer can convince Canon to change the camera too.</p>

<p>Regards,</p>

<p>Thomas.</p>

[mbwakali]

<p>Mike - I bought a Kingston card because the SanDisk cards were having issues. Now they both have issues :)</p>

<p>Arash - great idea, I'll give them a call today and see what they have to say.</p>

<p>Thomas - that is less than encouraging to hear :( I'm sorry for your experience but I am glad to know that you have experienced similar issues with your 5DMKII</p>

<p>At this point I'm just not sure what the best course of action is. A switch to Nikon would be quite costly as their lenses are always more expensive and I'm pretty invested in Canon glass. Unless new, my 5DmkII is unsellable as is. Beyond that I feel that the camera is unreliable, but what other options are there in the Canon line at that price-point with those features? I have used the original Rebel, a 20D, 30D, 1DmkIIN, all without issues what so ever, and I keep hearing of 5DmkII issues - so I have to wonder what is wrong with this line of EOS bodies? </p>

<p>To top it off, I recently worked with a friend on an architecture shoot, and since my camera was with Canon at the time (go figure) he rented a 5DmkII from a local shop. The first day of the shoot the camera froze up while writing to the CF card...</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies and encouragement guys.</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>Paul, why not get a used 5D. I've never heard of them having these kind of problems.</p>