eos 5d mark ii determine if opened or not for prior service

[malcm]

Hi all,

I am trying to find out if there is a way to determine if an eos 5d mark ii has been opened or not for prior service repair.  I would like to know if the camera has been previously opened for service of any kind.  Would there be indicators like a colored seal on the screws or a numbering scheme on the parts in side that represent a family of parts or some other clever approach?

Regards,

malcm

[Nick2020]

Hi malcm,

Thanks for checking in with us!

The packaging won't indicate whether a camera has been in to us for service or not.

To ensure that you are getting a new item that has not been previously serviced, I recommend purchasing a new item from one of our authorized dealers, which you can see listed in the link below:

http://downloads.canon.com/dealer/canonauthorizeddealer.pdf

You can also mention the serial number on the camera, and we can check to see if we have a prior record of it in our repair database.

[malcm]

Hi Nick2020,

My situation is not typical.  The camera is previoulsy owned and I do not know who owned it so I am looking for evidence in the camera itself to determine if it has been opened and if any of the parts are not the original parts.

Regards,

malcm

[wq9nsc · Accepted solution]

If Canon repaired or serviced it, then a record from them would prove that it had been repaired at some point.  If there are obvious signs of an amateur repair attempt then you would know that an owner or incompetent third party shop has been inside.

But proving to your own satisfaction that it hasn't been repaired is impossible.  Rarely is a repaired item marked with paint or special hardware.  When I was involved with high spec electronic test equipment, I had calibration fixtures that allowed me to calibrate gear traceable to NIST standards.  When I did a repair and/or calibration on a piece of gear it got dated anti-tamper stickers over several access fasteners but that was for test gear that cost far more than a box filled with 1DX Mark III cameras.  There is neither need nor reason to do that with consumer or prosumer visual gear so without repair records you just won't know.

Rodger

[malcm]

great explanation - thank you

[wq9nsc]

you are welcome!

I would just enjoy your camera and not worry.  With a used piece of gear, be sure to test it thoroughly in a wide range of situations during any return window. 

Everything breaks at some point so don't worry even if it was repaired because sometimes repairs result in a piece of gear that is better than new.  I remember in the early 2000s when a firm in Ohio did the engineering design work for an advanced communications receiver which was produced and sold by a global firm.  The engineering design firm was also the U.S. warranty station and smart buyers sent the gear in during the warranty period and it came out with better performance and calibration than what it exhibited coming new off the assembly line.  In my experience, Canon professional service has the same level of quality.

Rodger

[malcm]

Hi Rodger,

Good encouraging words.  My situation is not what it sounds like, so I should explain.  I wanted to know if there was a way to determine if any of the parts of an eos 5d ii had been replaced or if the insides of the camera in question still had all of its original parts because my daughter has a complaint against a local camera repair shop that has convienced the AG's office that the repair shop typically swap parts which they claim they did in "repairing" her camera.  The truth is that they gave her someone else's camera and battery instead and did not return her camera.  This past January, I talked with Canon USA legal and technical support and they have been great with their answers.  Since then I thought of this line of questioning and thought I would join the Canon Forum and see what advice I could get.

Regards,

malcm

[wq9nsc]

Malcom,

The camera body number is in the metadata for the files.  If she has RAW files (or jpg files which were processed to keep all EXIF data) from before the repair, she can compare the camera body number from those files to what the current camera shows.

Rodger

[malcm]

Rodger,

Yup, we did all that and have her serial number from pics from her original camera and the serial number from the substituted camera.  The substitution is blantent and Canon technical has provided what we consider to be enough info to prove the substitution, yet it doesn't seem to be a smoking gun to the AG's office, so I am trying to demonstrate that none of the internal parts in the substituted camera came from her original camera.  Yes, the repair shop moved her external serial number tag from her original camera to the substitute.

Regards,

malcm

[wq9nsc]

Wow,

That is a really strange repair shop.  Nothing really surprises me anymore but that is one from the Twilight zone.  I could see games being played with an expensive rare import sports car but not a commonly available camera.

It sounds like the AG doesn't want to bother but if you ever get the full story on this one, I would love to hear it!

Rodger