Got my (new) 7D back from repair

[CharlieB]

Not tested yet...

Paperwork says - tried to adjust AF unit, ended up replacing AF unit, shutter/focus button, main dial, and CF card slot assembly.

Jeeze thats a LOT to replace!!??  Never took a "non-testing" shot with the camera... going nuts getting it working.

Problem was - it couldn't focus at either close or far without radical (-15 or +15 depending on near or far) AFMA.
Also the camera would fire bursts on single shot, and... the lenses would not "drive", they'd be out of focus, the focus light would confirm "in focus" but the shutter would not release.  Canon says thats due to a faulty CF card slot assembly.   They did a nice write up on it.

We'll see how they did in a little bit...

[RLPhoto]

When I had my 7D, It was awesome. Its AF was fast, accurate, and a solid hit rate. The only problem is it wasn't FF.

Then I discovered the 5D3... 

[CharlieB]

I've got a 5D2...   would have been a 5D3 ONLY, or 5D2/7D combo...  As it was, I was able to get both bodies for $2800, so thats what I went with.

And... preliminary testing shows... whoohoo... the camera actually focuses.  I'm gonna have to do some critical testing for close focus... but close is already delightfully "on" while infinity is also "on".

Before... it would only work well in that 10-20 foot range.  Closer and it went huge backfocus (like two feet back at 8 feet, worse closer), and at infinity, it would be about 40 feet actually.  That part corrected.  Shutter button is now a lot stiffer, as also is the main dial.  Card insertion feels more "snicky" as the card seats.

And... the camera is clean inside (one little spot above the screen, no biggie for me, as more will no doubt follow it).

[PeterJ]

Paperwork says - tried to adjust AF unit, ended up replacing AF unit, shutter/focus button, main dial, and CF card slot assembly.

Jeeze thats a LOT to replace!!??

That just sounds like someone starting with the most obvious bits to replace and moving onto the less likely things. It's probably just not worth their time to go back and reinstall the bits that turned out to be OK. Interesting it was the CF card assembly, guess something must have been bent or out of tolerance and mechanically interfering with the AF. It reminds me of a joke:

A field service engineer turns up to a maintenance job almost two hours late and apologizes saying he got a flat tire. The angry customer replies, "how long does it to change a tire, 15 or 20 minutes tops???" to which he answers "I'm sorry but I had to remove and re-install 4 modules to isolate the problem".

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Its often the case that individual parts are not stocked, but rather repaired assemblies.  The old assembly is then sent to the repair depot (which does stock individual components) for rework and becomes a spare for the next camera.
The Canon repair station replaces assemblies because its the fastest and most economical way to get a camera repaired and back to the user.  This is the same process used by many electronics companies. The repair depot repairs them in batches, most likely they mostly fail the same way, so you can fix 500 of them in the time it might take to fix 50 when troubleshooting on a case by case basis.

[CharlieB]

I believe the CF card slot assy was making the camera "think" no card was there... or some other function that prohibited lens drive.  That was REALLY weird... lenses just would not try to focus, even though they were in AUTO... its like they were in Manual, ..and... the AF light would come on, but... no shutter release could happen.  Can't say about servo mode...

I'd have to remount a lens, or take out the card, or sometimes take out both batteries to reset things.  Apparently card slot related. 

The problem is... the camera still goes burst mode on me... when its set to single shot. 

Since they obviously changed the release... its gotta be.... something else!

Good news - with very slight errors, focusing is not bad.  Honestly... hate to go against the grain here, but the 5D2 I've got does a better job of it, but this is acceptable.  Shooting the 28/1.8 at f/2.0 or the 50/1.4 at f/2.0... just on the cusp of perfect focus at close ranges....much better than before.

[PeterJ]

That sucks on the burst mode, it sounds like you still have a problem. I've owned both and can't think of any situations that should cause that especially when it sounds like you know what you're doing with settings etc.

The 5D2 does focus well on the center point, probably even better than the 7D in a lot of situations so that bit doesn't really suprise me. The main 7D advantages are the better spread, selection choices and servo also seemed better as well.

[CharlieB]

Well....

I'm ok with the camera - so far - as it is from repair.  Spent most of the afternoon calibrating things.  The camera will do what I want - I got it for long lens work mostly, some macro work.  And to be a little smaller/lighter than the 5Dmk2

The real problem lens - the 28/1.8, dialed in fantastically, with -4 AFMA.   This was not a surprise as it did the same setting on the 5Dmk2.  FWIW, the AFMA adjusted the close end, and pretty much left infinity alone - which was a major concern, since the 7D previously had linearity issues.  So far so good.

The 50/1.4 needed zero correction.  Close close to infinity.  Perfect. 

The 20/2.8 was a mystery... on the 5D2, all the lenses needed -4 to -10 correction, including the 28/1.8 and 50/1.4..... but on the 7D, the 20/2.8 needed + correction... +6 to be exact.  I didn't expect that.

Same thing on the 16-35/2.8II... +5 correction.... and it gave me fits.  It does ok at true infinity, but near infinity seems to be problematic with this lens, it might go back to CUSA.  Gotta do more with it, on the 5D2, and see.

The 100/2.8macro dialed in +3

And the 24-105/4 dialed in -2

I can see the 5D2 needing all the lenses shifted one way ... I can understand that.  What I can't understand is how the same lenses go + and - on another body.  Strange.

I got the burst mode one time.  But, I shot the camera at a social event in all sorts of conditions last nite, and it seemed ok.  I "could" have ridden the release that one time... I'm thinking... but we'll see.

More over - I put 1500+ shots thru this camera just testing it and trying to make things work before I sent it in.  I got a good feel for it.  The camera as it came back from Canon was far "snappier", faster maybe... I don't know how to really describe it... more responsive.   The AF and feel of the camera when shooting was different, by a very noticeable degree.

I've got more lenses to test and calibrate to the camera... the 300/4 especially, as I tend to shoot that wide open, or just 1/2 stop down with the 1.4x (to keep it crispy).   After that the rest can wait.

And.... another thing I've found - a CLEAN sensor.  I can't detect ANY dust on it at all.   And... zero hot pixels.  None.  I can't see one.  They must have done some super map out job for me. 

Now to send back the 5D2 and have the joystick fixed.....

[wickidwombat]

Not tested yet...

Paperwork says - tried to adjust AF unit, ended up replacing AF unit, shutter/focus button, main dial, and CF card slot assembly.

Jeeze thats a LOT to replace!!??  Never took a "non-testing" shot with the camera... going nuts getting it working.

Problem was - it couldn't focus at either close or far without radical (-15 or +15 depending on near or far) AFMA.
Also the camera would fire bursts on single shot, and... the lenses would not "drive", they'd be out of focus, the focus light would confirm "in focus" but the shutter would not release.  Canon says thats due to a faulty CF card slot assembly.   They did a nice write up on it.

We'll see how they did in a little bit...

the focus thing sounds alot like the issues i had on my first 5Dmk3 but i just had the entire camera replaced and the new one is awesome but I never got any feedback on what the issue was with that first body

[Richard8971]

I had to send my 7D back for a focus issue shortly after I bought it new. They didn't have to do the same amount of work, but thankfully it was under warranty.

The 7D is a great camera and I am glad I bought one. I am sure there are various problems with any of the cameras that Canon has produced. Show me one that has not had one issue or another, but my point being? Canon is a great company that stands behind what they make and has always taken care of me and my equipment!

D

[Mt Spokane Photography]

There is absolutely no co-relation between AFMA from Camera model to model, so don't let that bother you. 
 
Before I started using FoCal, I sometimes had some weird AFMA results, but that was because it can be very difficult to determine the best adjustment by eye.

[RustyTheGeek]

Okay, how did I miss the FoCal software?  Wow.  That looks really interesting.  Wish I could have run that software on the 5D3 I had that wasn't focusing properly in low light.  Wonder if it would have caught something?

Anyway, I'm probably going to get it.  Has anyone else purchased it and then shared the 5 licenses with a friend?  Just wondering if there is some kind of gotcha there that would make that problematic.  I have several laptops/PCs I would eventually install it on but if the licenses are tied to the camera serial numbers, I can't see how it would matter where the software is running as long as the serial numbers match the camera being calibrated.  Hence, the ease and common sense of sharing with a friend.  I only have one camera that would benefit (5D3).