5D MK IV service question/opinion

[cityjack]

Afternoon all,

First time here and just looking for some opinions maybe a shoulder to cry on.
I just bought my wife her dream camera a few weeks back. Basically, while in the living room, she just took it in and out of the camera bag I bought her and snapped some pics inside the house and basically just read the manual.
While on vacation down to Georgia last week and as mentioned after only using it briefly in the house, one night while downloading some pics in the hotel, she noticed some dark/black specs (3 of them) through the viewfinder. The camera as I said is brand new and the lens had never been off. None of the three specs could be seen on any photo taken after downloaded to her pc. I then figured since the spots could not be seen on the photos, the sensor was clean. I could not find a camera cleaning kit anywhere while on vacation, so I bought one of those little "booger suckers" from the infant section at Target to get me by.
First I took the lens off, cleaned the rear with the "Target tool" and visually inspected front and back. Reassembled, and specks were still there. I took the lens back off and while holding the body down opening towards the floor, tried the air tool again. Reassembled, and still, the specs you could see clearly in the same exact spots through the viewfinder. I also used air at the eyecup on the back of the camera, still no results.
I called Canon on a Saturday night and made plans to send it back to Newport News VA for service. I paid 67 dollars for their "Sensor cleaning maintenance" option. Clean mirror, verify firmware, clean body, clean external LCD surface, clean external viewfinder, clean focus screen, and clean image sensor.
I paid the 67 bucks for maintenance, 95 bucks for shipping insurance, and another 15 bucks for shipping.
I sent the camera, a copy of the original receipt, and a decent typed letter of exactly what I'm saying here to Canon. They told me on the phone if the could not get the specks to disappear with the 67 dollar cleaning maintenance option, they may have to disassemble the camera further to get to the prism and/or the inside of the viewfinder. If this was the case, this would be covered under warranty. I said fantastic and thanked the man for his help.
I received an email from Canon once they received my camera and it described the service process and how they'd keep me informed during the complete process up to the point of shipping. They even included a little youtube video of some Canon guy telling me all the nice things they were going to do for my camera and how it goes from their expert qualified technicians then over to their quality dept. for reinspection of the work completed.
I received the camera back just this past Friday. The camera still has three specks in the veiw-finder, although, now they are in different spots. Yes, I drew pictures for my reference. Not only this, there is now a slight off color circular smudge smack in the middle of the black lined framed viewfinder.
How does this get past not one service team but a quality dept. as well. I am more times than not a patient person and I know stuff gets missed, but two separate teams for something so obvious. Especially with me laying out exactly what I see and discussing with Canon before I even send the camera.
I know some of you are probably saying, "Its only a few specs. It doesn't affect your photos". I paid nearly 4K for this camera/lens combo. I want perfect. I do not think thats unreasonable to ask. Especially since I have never taken the camera apart and its basically 3 weeks old.
I plan on calling Canon first thing tomorrow morning to get their remedy.
I'm curious to know your guys' thoughts please. I apologize for the novel but wanted you all to have all info.

Have a good night.

Sid

[jrhoffman75]

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@cityjack wrote:
Good morning,

Just sneaking in from work. With my 20D 50mm lens, whats the difference to my newer 5D lens? I mean one is a full frame and the older one not. Do the electronic interface pins all match up?
If my newer lens, the 24 - 105 F4 lens is a fixed F4 aperature, when I change Fstop on the camera, the lens remains stuck at F4? Does the camera have an aperature of its own that I am changing? I am confused.

Thanks

Sid

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None of this is getting to the issue of the "blob".

But, the 24-105 lens does not have a "fixed" f/4 aperture - it has a maximum aperture of f/4.

The 50mm lens would have a maximum aperture of f/1.8.

Both are EF lens, which means they can be used on a full frame camera without vignetting.

Both lens will stop down as necessary for correct exposure when the shutter is depressed to take an image.

Neither lens will change aperture when you change the f/stop on the camera - only when you depress shutter fully or press the DoF preview button.

[jrhoffman75]

See here:

Canon U.S.A., Inc. | EOS 5D Mark IV Tutorials

[cityjack]

Thank you for this tutorial link Mr. Hoffman

[ebiggs1]

"I took the lens (24 - 105 IS L) off the camera, cleaned with a ZEISS lens towelette front and back, reassembled, ..."

I would stop doing this. At least until you know what is going on. BTW, does this "ghost" show up in your photos? Check this critically.  What you are seeing may be the lens coating.  It is there for very specific reasons.  It can have a ghostly appearance at times.  Otherwise, I hate to say this but the lens may need to go to Canon with the entire story.

[cityjack]

Sir, I understand for the time being NOT to clean the lens, but are you saying ever? Is there a better way to clean the optics?

It is only seen looking right up atthe blue sky.  You cannot find it while looking at clouds or its VERY hard to see against some white background.  I will have to look better at a photo once I download.

Thank you again sir.

Sid

[cityjack]

I will check with the 50mm, look at the lens at an angle as Mr. Hoffman suggested and also take a couple pics at the sky and download.

I'll report back tonight.

Thank you again and have a great afternoon.

Sid

[ebiggs1]

" I understand for the time being NOT to clean the lens, but are you saying ever?"

My best advice is to use protecto filters and to clean them. Never to very rarely clean the lens if possible. Use the rear lens cap when the lens is not in use, too. The best advice is to take some, general, shots and give them a critical look over.  If it does not effect the photo, you are golden. Do nothing and stop looking!  I have lenses, actually most of them, that have never been "cleaned". We are talking years of service.

[cityjack]

Understood. I will do this when I get home.

Sid

[cityjack]

Evening guys,

Well first off I need to apologize.  The lens from my 20D is an EFS 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6II lens NOT an EF.  Its a white dot so using this lens to troubleshoot is out of the question.

Back to the 24 - 105 lens that came with the 5D, the one I'm seeing the small discoloration in.  I took this lens and held it an an angle to a light source and looked for any scratches, fungus, dirt, finger prints, anything I could see.  The lens is immaculate to my eye front and back.  I took several pictures of the blue sky this morning.  You can only see the slight spot if you really look hard for it through the viewfinder.  When pics are downloaded, its nowhere to be found.  I did not try the "LiveView experiment like you said Mr. Hoffman.  I'll try that tomorrow.  My wife and I talked about this, and we think quite possibly it was there on the lens when we bought it.  Its just we never took the camera outside of the camera store to look up at the sky.  Its the only time you can see it barely.

This camera store is by no means a B&H.  It was probably the only 5D they had and was probably handled by the clerks and customers more than once.  Frankly, I am tired of sending my camera back and forth to Canon.  I'll call them Monday to see what they say.  But its getting expensive with shipping and insurance and chasing FEDEX.

Like I said, I want to try LiveView tomorrow.  I think my time is probably better vested at this point learning our new camera and getting better at the craft of photography as a whole.  I am going to start a new thread on apertures and lenses because I do have some questions.  I'll update you guys tomorrow on the LiveView.  But the pictures look flawless and afterall, my black specks are gone.

Thanks guys

Sid

[jrhoffman75]

"the pictures look flawless and afterall, my black specks are gone."

Thats success. Stop fretting and move on to learning. Forget the LiveView test.