Is it true that Canon no longer offers technical support on the Canon 40D?

[ScottS]

Is it true that Canon will no longer repair issues on a Canon 40D? 

I am truly surprised! I've heard of so many wedding photographers and others who have the 5D Mark III, and a back-up 40D. My Canon posted the "ERR 99" yesterday. It was working great just before that. Suddenly it all went south.

I surfed web sites, forums, including this one, and tried the protocol below my message. Nothing.

So I sent Tech support a message, and he replied that my camera is "out of date for service" and Canon Tech Support could do no repairs any more on my camera.

Is this common knowledge? 

Thanks for your input!

Sincerely,

Scott S

Canon DSLR Error 99 Fix To isolate the cause of the issue, do the following: 1. Turn off the camera. 2. Remove the lens, battery, and CF card. 3. Allow the camera to sit without power for approximately 20 minutes. 4. Insert a fully charged battery, and turn on the camera. 5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture. Does the “ERR 99″ message appear? If it does, then the camera should be serviced. If it does not, then please proceed to the next set of steps: 1. Turn off the camera. 2. Insert the CF card. 3. Turn on the camera. 4. Format the CF card in the camera. 5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture. Does the “ERR 99″ message appear? If so, then the CF card is the most likely source of the issue. Try using a different card. If the message does not appear, please complete the following steps: 1. Turn off the camera. 2. Clean the lens contacts by gently rubbing them with a pencil eraser or soft cloth. Be careful that you do not let any debris fall into the camera body. Detach the lens from the camera, hold it so that the lens’ gold contacts are pointing down and lightly erase their exposed surface, cleaning them of any hand oil that might have gotten on them. You can use a regular old pencil with a red rubber eraser. Do the same thing with the gold contacts inside the camera body. This is a bit harder but it’s doable: just hold camera so lens opening points down so no gunk falls in. Erase lightly inside the camera. 3. Reattach your lens. 4. Turn on the camera. 5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture. If the “ERR 99″ message only appears when one particular lens is attached, then that lens should be examined by a service technician. If you see the “ERR 99″ with a different Canon lens attached, then the camera should be serviced.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston,

"I've never used a 40D, but I assume that it had an IR sensor ..."

I have never owned any xxD but I have used many of them.  I can't remember if any of them has IR.  But since you could count on the fingers of one hand how many times I use IR remote, I am not the person to ask.  Needless to say that feature isn't on the top of my list.  Perhaps it is to Scott.

From xxD to xxD there are small new features. Skip a model or two and it becomes a real upgrade.  IMHO, the metal body would be important.  It depends on how you look at it if the 50D to 60D is a decent upgrade or not.

If I do remember correctly the two standout models was the 20D and 40D.  But what do I know?

[diverhank]

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The 50D was a fine camera, and I agree that it would be a significant upgrade. But it does have one annoying omision: It has no IR sensor, so it can't be fired remotely. (It does, however, have AFMA, while the 60D doesn't.)

I've never used a 40D, but I assume that it had an IR sensor, since even my XTi had that.

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Are you sure? I had the 50D for several years and had no problems using the IR remote control. I think the IR Port is in front and partially blocked by the lens.

[RobertTheFat]

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@diverhank wrote:

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The 50D was a fine camera, and I agree that it would be a significant upgrade. But it does have one annoying omision: It has no IR sensor, so it can't be fired remotely. (It does, however, have AFMA, while the 60D doesn't.)

I've never used a 40D, but I assume that it had an IR sensor, since even my XTi had that.

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Are you sure? I had the 50D for several years and had no problems using the IR remote control. I think the IR Port is in front and partially blocked by the lens.

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Yeah, pretty sure. I still have my 50D, so I dug it out and looked. I couldn't find an IR receiver, nor could I find any mention of it in the instruction manual. But it's shown, and plainly described, in the XTi manual.

The IR receiver in most (all?) Canon DSLRs is easy to spot, because it's always in the front of the grip. Presumably that's done so that a finger of your right hand will cover it up when you're not shooting remotely, thus reducing the probability that extraneous light will cause the shutter to fire accidentally. (But I think you also have to turn on the self-timer, which should also make accidental firing very unlikely.)

Mine was an early example of the 50D (I was on B&H's pre-order list), so I suppose it's conceivable that an IR receiver was added later in the model run. But that seems rather unlikely.

[TTMartin]

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@ScottS wrote:

Yeah I'm looking at 60D's as well.

My next big purchase in December is the Canon 6D.

But I really, REALLY wanted my trusty 40D with me as a "back-up" APS-C sensor camera.

The Midwest site you recommended already got back to me on a quote. $240.

They suggested that I might consider used for less money than repair. KEH has a 60D for $438, and a 40D for much less than that.

So I might go used.

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I would go with a 40D or 50D and pass on the 60D. In my opinion the 60D was a step down from the 50D, and really isn't much of an upgrade over the 40D. The 50D has MFA which both the 40D and 60D lack. And once you get close to $500 you're in  used classic 7D territory, and it is by far the best of the group. The four big jumps in enthusiast APS-C cameras were the 20D, 40D, 7D and 7D Mk II.

[ScottS]

Thanks Ernie, Robert, TT! 

I love the insights. And clearly, you ALL know way more than me. That's why I love this forum. I'm all ears and eyes and learning. 

I'll tell you how I resolved this today: I ordered a used Canon 40D from KEH Cameras. I really felt the need to get it now. Perhaps I'll still get my 40D repaired one day. I won't trash it or anything. But I have two new lenses crying to be used that I bought at Canon refurbished, especially for my Canon 6D in January.

Thanks for your input, Gentlemen. The 40D just feels so GOOD in my hands. The balance, the weight, the IQ when I hit it: just right 🙂

[TTMartin]

I think the post that said the 40D was a warmed over 30D was confused. 

The 30D was a warmed over 20D.

The 40D was a big jump over both of those.

The 40D went to 14 bit CR2 files from the previously used 12 bits.

The 40D went to 10 megapixel from the previous 8 megapixels of the 20D and 30D.

The 40D uses a Digic III processor.

The 40D had 9 cross type AF points the 20D and 30D only had a single center cross point AF sensor and 8 non-cross type.

The 40D has a center AF point sensative to f/2.8

The 40D added Auto Sensor Cleaning

The 40D offered interchangeable view screen the 30D did not.

The 40D offered 6.3 fps to the 30D's 5 fps

The 40D added the AF-ON button for BBF or reprogrammable to AF-OFF.

The 40D was a revolutionary camera that held its own for years against many newer cameras.

[ScottS]

Thanks for all those stats, TT :)!

[ScottS]

Diverhank,

It's funny that you mentioned this WHEN you did. Because I've been doing some searches on KEH, and just came to that same conclusion. Maybe buying used IS cheapter than repair.

I'm now certainly considering that option!

Thanks!