The 5D Mark III Fix

[neuroanatomist]

I can see it on the used market now - "I'm the original owner, 10K shutter clicks, tape fix applied..."

What, you had one of the defective original units?  You'll have to knock $300 off the price if you expect me to buy it from you...

[steven63]

My Mark 5DIII is in the mail on the way and you are telling me that I also get two FREE pieces of tape with IT!!! I so have to get ready for this.

They've actually raised the price to 3499.99 to offset the price

 

And what about the long term as the glue from the tape begins to dissolve and to spill at the electronics? The repair is short-term, but in the the warranty period should not be anything wrong with that, and after the warranty is no longer a problem of the manufacturer, but a buyer. 

You do realize that this tape already exists in other parts of your camera. And that the computer or phone you typed this message on also has a similar type of tape. Especially if it's a Mac. God help you if you try to take apart the newer ones, they have tape everywhere. Oh, and your house/apt. That thing has tape ALL over its wires.

LensRental took about a D7000. There basically isn't a section where they don't mention "remove tape shielding". In many cases, its what keeps your camera from breaking by shorting wires, etc.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/04/d7000-dissection

My phone might have the same type of tape inside of it, but my phone is only designed to last a couple years or so.  And while it might already be in my camera, I'd dare say it's to tape together wires that are already shielded.  Same with my house - tape isn't not applied directly to exposed electrical connections, but to shielded wires or such.

I too would be worried about the long term affects of the glue on the exposed electrical connections.  Cameras are exposed to heat, humidity, cold...all of which speed up the degrading of the tape.  Tape is not designed to last 10 years...or 5 years in such conditions and I've witnessed electrical tape 'disintegrate' into 'goo' after just a few short months in the heat.

[FLOYD]

My Mark 5DIII is in the mail on the way and you are telling me that I also get two FREE pieces of tape with IT!!! I so have to get ready for this.

They've actually raised the price to 3499.99 to offset the price

 

And what about the long term as the glue from the tape begins to dissolve and to spill at the electronics? The repair is short-term, but in the the warranty period should not be anything wrong with that, and after the warranty is no longer a problem of the manufacturer, but a buyer. 

You do realize that this tape already exists in other parts of your camera. And that the computer or phone you typed this message on also has a similar type of tape. Especially if it's a Mac. God help you if you try to take apart the newer ones, they have tape everywhere. Oh, and your house/apt. That thing has tape ALL over its wires.

LensRental took about a D7000. There basically isn't a section where they don't mention "remove tape shielding". In many cases, its what keeps your camera from breaking by shorting wires, etc.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/04/d7000-dissection

My phone might have the same type of tape inside of it, but my phone is only designed to last a couple years or so.  And while it might already be in my camera, I'd dare say it's to tape together wires that are already shielded.  Same with my house - tape isn't not applied directly to exposed electrical connections, but to shielded wires or such.

I too would be worried about the long term affects of the glue on the exposed electrical connections.  Cameras are exposed to heat, humidity, cold...all of which speed up the degrading of the tape.  Tape is not designed to last 10 years...or 5 years in such conditions and I've witnessed electrical tape 'disintegrate' into 'goo' after just a few short months in the heat.

Canon have the technology to create something better in the camera for $ 3500 to resolve this problem.

[Fotofanten]

I can see it on the used market now - "I'm the original owner, 10K shutter clicks, tape fix applied..."

What, you had one of the defective original units?  You'll have to knock $300 off the price if you expect me to buy it from you...

Don't worry, it's actually the limited red tape edition and it will cost you $300 more than the regular 5D3, but only 10000 red tape units will ever be manufactured, and each one has an individual number, so it's definitely totally worth it.

[armando]

Oh wow that's just hilarious! So now its serials competition between the 5d MKIII owners

"Hey is your 5d mkiii Pre-Tape or Post-Taped?"

so one day when I need google a shop

5dmkiii (No-tape) $3499
5dmkIII (tape) $3499

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[Radiating]

My Mark 5DIII is in the mail on the way and you are telling me that I also get two FREE pieces of tape with IT!!! I so have to get ready for this.

They've actually raised the price to 3499.99 to offset the price

 

And what about the long term as the glue from the tape begins to dissolve and to spill at the electronics? The repair is short-term, but in the the warranty period should not be anything wrong with that, and after the warranty is no longer a problem of the manufacturer, but a buyer. 

You do realize that this tape already exists in other parts of your camera. And that the computer or phone you typed this message on also has a similar type of tape. Especially if it's a Mac. God help you if you try to take apart the newer ones, they have tape everywhere. Oh, and your house/apt. That thing has tape ALL over its wires.

LensRental took about a D7000. There basically isn't a section where they don't mention "remove tape shielding". In many cases, its what keeps your camera from breaking by shorting wires, etc.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/04/d7000-dissection

My phone might have the same type of tape inside of it, but my phone is only designed to last a couple years or so.  And while it might already be in my camera, I'd dare say it's to tape together wires that are already shielded.  Same with my house - tape isn't not applied directly to exposed electrical connections, but to shielded wires or such.

I too would be worried about the long term affects of the glue on the exposed electrical connections.  Cameras are exposed to heat, humidity, cold...all of which speed up the degrading of the tape.  Tape is not designed to last 10 years...or 5 years in such conditions and I've witnessed electrical tape 'disintegrate' into 'goo' after just a few short months in the heat.

As an engineer I have to say that your response is mind numbingly idiotic. Adhesive used around electronics doesn't disolve and magically find electrical contacts to disrupt - in fact adhesive designed for electronics like the type they likely used doesn't even conduct electricity. Furthermore electronics adhesive is insanely durable. There are different sorts of electronics adhesive but in many designs they actually use the adhesive to hold the parts together in favor of metal screws. Read that again, they use the adhesive instead of screws made of hardened metal because it is more durable. The life expectancy of most electronics adhesive is 20-50 years... when directly exposed to the elements 24/7.

So for a non-structural peice already held by friction, and weather sealed from the elements you can expect the electronics adhesive to outlast the camera 10 times over.

[bp]

I too would be worried about the long term affects of the glue on the exposed electrical connections.  Cameras are exposed to heat, humidity, cold...all of which speed up the degrading of the tape.  Tape is not designed to last 10 years...or 5 years in such conditions and I've witnessed electrical tape 'disintegrate' into 'goo' after just a few short months in the heat.

Holy crap on a stick people...  calm the eff down - open up a laptop.  They're chok-full of this sort of adhesive shielding, and they get 10 times hotter than your camera ever will.   They're not using electrical tape from Ace hardware. 

[jcns]

there will be those gear snobs who will have a stroke over this simple solution.  Because it's not becoming of pro level camera and that it's plastic and etc etc.
Do you know your car door has plastic to keep things dry?  And it stays put for decades.  So you say it does not go through heat cycles.
If you bought a car in the last 10 years, your engine bay has tons of plastic that goes through thousands of heat cycles and much broader temp range.  Guess what, that plastic is still there.
Solutions need not be complex nor expensive.
Ever heard of US Space program developing a zero gravity pen that ended up costing $$$$$$$$$.  The Russians used a pencil.

[RLPhoto]

Tape FTW!

[neuroanatomist]

Furthermore electronics adhesive is insanely durable.

They're not using electrical tape from Ace hardware.

Damn.  And here I though they paid some poor worker to take small pieces of 3M Scotch® Magic Tape and blacken it with a Sharpie®, who would hand it to a second worker to blow on it until the ink was dry, who would hand it to a third worker who would then hand-carry it to the service engineer to slap on the underside of an LCD.  Go figure. 

[ttmphotography]

I thought the problem was only on some models with certain serial numbers.

If that is true, were there other camaras manufactured without tape that did not have a light leak (and if so, how not)?

It's not like some cameras had the tape and some didn't before the problem was reported.

[mws]

Don't worry all it's "L" series pro-grade tape.

They should have used red tape......


I wouldn't worry about the long term durability of the tape. I've taken apart plenty of 30-40 year old range finders and there is tape holding all sorts of stuff together.

[Otter]

Question :

Does this tape prevent it from taking pictures?        NO
Does it fix the problem?                                            YES

For all those still complaing, it's time to get over it and move on.  Judging by a few of the posts thus far, you have no idea what you are talking about in regards to electrical tap in electronics.  No matter what solution Canon comes up with, short of giving you your money back and letting you keep your camera, you're not going to be happy.  Canon doesn't owe you anymore more then what they have done.  So go ENJOY your camera.

[V8Beast]

Can't I just put gaffer's tape on the outside of the LCD screen? Oh wait, I can just meter through the viewfinder or using the rear 3.2" LCD screen in those rare instances where the light leak affects exposure.

I admit that it's amusing that so many people got pissed off over a "problem" that was fixed with a piece of tape.

[V8Beast]

As an engineer I have to say that your response is mind numbingly idiotic. Adhesive used around electronics doesn't disolve and magically find electrical contacts to disrupt - in fact adhesive designed for electronics like the type they likely used doesn't even conduct electricity. Furthermore electronics adhesive is insanely durable. There are different sorts of electronics adhesive but in many designs they actually use the adhesive to hold the parts together in favor of metal screws. Read that again, they use the adhesive instead of screws made of hardened metal because it is more durable. 

 

To add to this, with the increasing focus on improving fuel economy in cars, many body panels these days are plastic, and those plastic panels are often held by adhesives, not screws or bolts. In a hot and humid environment where I live (Texas), I can only imagine how many heat cycles that poor adhesive goes through, and how hot it gets in the baking sun with black paint making the situation even worse.

Like someone else said, it's L-series tape, you know the good stuff, so let's relax In DxO's lab testing, I think that stuff held up a 20 pound bowling ball for 20 minutes before finally giving up