Hi All....
I have to just write a few lines to congratulate Canon Australia for their integrity and professionalism in dealing with an issue that was of my own doing and could have been a costly excercise. I use a 5D Mark III for landscape shooting and as I live by the sea there is alot of salt spray in my work.
Two weeks ago I noticed small spots appearing in my photos... After changing lens's I quickly found the camera's sensor to be the issue in that it needed to be cleaned. I purchased a cleaning kit from ebay which was sold with some fluid specifically made for cleaning full frame sensors and read the instructions. I also googled and read posts relating to cleaning sensors. Whatever possessed me to think that I was a camera technician I will never know.
As I progressed to cleaning the camera's sensor I noticed that the issue of the marks and spots only got worse and all I actually did was to move the spots around the screen. I also attempted to clean the prism as well but only made things worse.
Noticing the effects only getting worse I bundled the camera up and sent it to the Canon Service Centre for them to fix. After dismantling the camera this is what I received back for Canon....
Upon inspection unit found that an unauthorised person tried to clean the
CMOS sensor and has badly scratched it. Focusing assembly found scratched as
well and foreign particles found inside prism assembly. * This type of
repair is not covered by the terms of warranty. Quote to dismantle unit,
supply and fit listed parts to repair. Adjust the unit as required.
Reassemble, clean, check and test all functions.
CY3-1656-000 CMOS SENSOR ASS'Y W/O FB DATA $919.36
CY3-1655-000 SCREEN, FOCUS $6.03
Labour $314.00
Parts $925.39
Freight $13.00
Sub Total $1,252.39
GST $125.24
Quotation Total $1377.63
I had no other choice but to authorise the work and put the experience down to a lesson well learnt.....
The following day I received a call from Canon to say that after dismantling the camera and working on the sensor the technician had been able to polish/save it?? and all I was up for was a new prism and labour....total $286
Canon could have just gone ahead with the work and billed me for the $1377 but actually saved me nearly $1100.... thanks so much Canon. All this I might add wilst keeping me in the picture with what was going on and in a two day turn around period.
I just thought I would put this up to congratulate Canon on being honest with me and in doing so showing their professionaism and integrity... attribultes sadly missing by some other companies..... In future I will be leaving this type of cleaning to the experts...a lesson well learnt...
Ray
