300d cf door switch problem

[jburt]

I have been really impressed with my t1i over the past few years and recently had the chance to pick up an old 300d.  It was the body only so I ordered some batteries and used a cf card I already had.  

I went to turn it on and nothing happens.  I have read about fuses going bad inside the camera and I started disassembly.  I took a break after getting the back panel off and then researched a little more and found the suggestion to check the micro switches for the cf door and battery door, so I reassembled the body.  The battery door worked fine, but when I depressed the cf door switch it fell apart.  I think it is safe to assume that that is my problem.  Any thoughts?

I think I have all the switch components, but nothing clips back in, and being inside the battery compartment I can't get a good view of everything.  Does anyone know how to fix this or have a schematic or diagram of this particular part?  Thanks.

-Jeff

[Richard]

Hi Jeff,

While the service life for this camera has expired, you may be able to obtain the door switch from the Canon Parts Department.  You may call them at (866) 481-2569 between 9:00 AM and 7:00 PM ET, Monday through Friday.

Please note that spare parts sold through the Parts Order Center are not supplied with installation or set up instructions.

[amfoto1]

Before spending too much on it, you might try to test the camera further... perhaps by temporarily wiring around the broken switch.

I have a 300D I bought for a song at a second-hand store... I could tell that someone had bent one of the pins on the CF socket. However, upon closer inspection it was obvious it had shorted out some of the circuitry, so I won't be trying to repair it.

You can pick up working copies of the 300D - or even better, 10D - for very little cost. The specs of 300D and 10D are pretty similar.

Either camera generates the old *.CRW raw files. Be sure your image software can handle that.

The 300D and 10D both use BP511 batteries, which are widely available cheap. That's good because both cameras are rather hard on batteries. They are slow ot wake up from sleep mode, so if shooting a lot with either one you need to keep them set to stay on most of the time, which drains the batteries more rapidly and leaves less power for things like, oh, shooting photos.

10D is a very nice camera, had available one of the nicest battery grips ever offered for a Canon DSLRs (IMHO). But keep in mind it can't be used with EF-S lenses... The original Digital Rebel/300D you've got was the first model to be able to do so and one or two EF-S lenses were introduced at the same time as the camera. There are third party crop-specific lenses that can be used on the slightly earlier 10D, though.

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM 

[jburt]

Thanks for the reply guys.  That is some great information.  I hadn't even thought about a 10d.  I do have several ef-s lenses but still...   I might pick up one that I know is working then I'd have almost a whole spare camera worth of parts.