Rebel SL3 - Circuit Board Failed

[WoNkaOompa]

Has anyone had a camera's Circuit Board fail?  It was only 9 months old and after fighting with Canon, multiple times, they finally fixed it for free.  But it failed during a once in a life time trip and now I cannot trust the camera, or the brand.  Wanted to know if anyone else has had the same experience or was this kinda like lighting striking and I should be good.  Also, does anyone have a tip on how to get a hold of Customer Service?  I really want to speak to a rep about my poor experience. 

[John_Q]

Hello WoNkaOompa. Any repairs done do have a 6-month warranty, so you can rest assured that Canon will take care of it if you continue to have problems. You can contact support at 1-800-652-2666, Monday through Friday between 9:00 am to 9:00 pm ET and Saturday between 9:00 am to 7:00 pm ET.

[Tronhard]

I am sincerely sorry to learn that you have had issues.  You ask if anyone has had issues, or if this is an isolated incident.  For my own experience, I have used Canon equipment without fault for over 40 years and have used around 38 Canon bodies, many of which I still have and use without a problem.  In most of that time I have used my gear on a professional basis, where trust in equipment is absolutely critical and have not had that trust broken.

In any production run, no-one can guarantee 100% function, and there are inevitable faults that occur for many reasons.  I know this does not help your situation, but it does (I hope) put the issue into context that Canon make gear that is reliable within normal limits.

[jaewoosong]

I had the top circuit board on my Canon R5 fail on me (video record and m.fn buttons would stop working after a few min).  I think the top board was broken when I bought it new but since I didn't record videos often, it was hard to replicate the issue until 6 months later I was able to figure out how to consistently trigger the problem.  Sometimes when you can't replicate the problem, it's hard for Canon to fix the issue but what helped with my issue was being detailed as possible in the problem and how to replicate the issue.  This was the first time after owning 6 different Canon bodies and Canon repair service did repair it within warranty.  Was I disappointed that my $3500 body was broken after rarely being used on a new camera?  Sure.  Did Canon fix it?  Yes they did.  That said, I've used the Canon repair centers multiple times over the years for my Canon gear and they've always given me great service.  I found some other minor issues (stuck/hot pixel in low light video recording) on my R5 after my warranty expired which doesn't make sense on a rarely used body (compared to my 5D mark IV which I've used much longer with no hot/stuck pixel issues).  I've thought about sending it to remap the sensor but I've found other work arounds to the problem.  Hopefully you won't have any more issues with your SL3 but you're not alone in experiencing issues.

[WoNkaOompa]

Thank you for letting me know about the 6 month warranty.  

[WoNkaOompa]

thanks for the reply.  So I know that, in production, everything is not made equal.  Kinda why I decided to post this question…to see if my issue was rare or if it’s very common.  Sadly, there is nothing Canon can do to replaced the lost chance of taking photos of zebras, giraffes, lions, rinos and much more.  I was left using my cell phone, which even though they have come a long way, zooming creates a grainy photo.  

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Like Tronhard, I've had 40+ yrs of solid experience with Canon products.  (very fortunate, and plain good luck).  All electronics can fail.  Age or frequency of use are not always relevant.  Cameras are something we use and hold.  They can be subject to bumps, drops, environmental hazards, weather, etc.  What's my point.  CarePacks.  I may not buy one for an SL3, but for an R5, yes I would.  Accidents happen and unfortunately so do electronic failures.   Each situation and use case is different.  Finances also play a role.   I believe CarePacks are worth the price for higher dollar items that are subjected to risks, and also for electronics (even if used infrequently) which are prohibtively costly to repair.