Canon 5D Mark III Light Leak Resolution (Canon USA)

[swrightgfx]

However, if you would like Canon to inspect your camera, we will provide this service free of charge upon request beginning in mid-May.

Bravo, Canon! Excellently handled by Canon, despite their foolish original statement. Hopefully now, those users who believe this to be an issue will leave these forums in peace.

To those who do send your camera in, do not expect that Canon will "fix" the "issue," but simply acknowledge that the camera is operational as they intended it to be. That is, I doubt they will actually change parts, but merely inspect in case your device is an anomaly and features an actually light leak issue not present in the wider community.

Now, let us put this to bed and start shooting.

They cleverly avoided a re-call. The fact that they identified serial numbers of "affected" bodies is a clear indication that those bodies are different from others. People planning to sell the camera down the road will have a hard time getting good value if their serial falls into this category.

Personally, I am packing the camera today and its going back to the retailer, period.

I doubt and hope that they don't actually go about dismantling your camera, for fear that you will be out of a camera and also jeopardising the structural integrity for the sake of "correcting" something that doesn't need to be corrected. I would say that they will only make modification if your particular device features extreme light leaks, beyond those commonly reported.

Time will tell. Please let the rest of us here know the outcome of your actions.

 

[mrmarks]

Affected Product
Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera
*Products whose sixth digit in the serial number is 1 or 2 are affected.
　　　For example,　“xxxxx1xxxxxx”　or “xxxxx2xxxxxx” ([x] represents any optional number.)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Is there anyone with a 5D3 with the serial number xxxxx3xxxxxx ? I wonder if there is any modification to the top LCD in the later serial numbers that seals the light leak.

 

[vWings]

I'm all for renaming this to the light leak non-issue and moving on.

 

[ramon123]

did canon fix the problem and will be implementing this change on all new units produced in the factories from now on?
eg. are the new models xxxxx3xxxx onwards going to have the light leak fixed?

what actually happened over here?

 

[ramon123]

if it does not affect the image then why would they even offer to inspect the camera if needed???

+1 nicely said

 

[briansquibb]

if it does not affect the image then why would they even offer to inspect the camera if needed???

To stop the mass hysteria over a trivial issue

 

[Gcon]

I was going to buy a 5D3 straight up, but now I think I'll let it mature a bit with firmware and also for the hardware fix for this issue to flow through as I don't want a “xxxxx1xxxxxx” or “xxxxx2xxxxxx” serial number body.

I'll keep an eye on the forums for when stocks of newer bodies show up in shops and then order then. I've got a massive month of shooting in August, so will look to buy in mid August. 3 months will hopefully be enough time to flush out these "non-issue light leak" bodies.

 

[itsnotmeyouknow]

Here it is.

Canon find the way of doing nothing.

The say if you think there is something wrong with your camera canon will check it for free starting in mid may.
By that time you forgot all this.

I will say send a clear message to canon returning your camara like i did and buy another one when they fix the design.

If you forget the problem in just a few weeks, is it really a problem at all?

 

[Astro]

Here it is.

Canon find the way of doing nothing.

The say if you think there is something wrong with your camera canon will check it for free starting in mid may.
By that time you forgot all this.

I will say send a clear message to canon returning your camara like i did and buy another one when they fix the design.

Serious!!! Man, ever since the invention of in-camera meters they have never been 100% accurate.

don´t waste your time on trolls!
some would not be satisfied even when the canon CEO would "repair" their camera personally.

but then i guess only a few of the complainers actually OWN a 5D MK3.

 

[Astro]

if it does not affect the image then why would they even offer to inspect the camera if needed???

because people tend to be idiots .. and they like to creating a fuzz on the internet?
just guessing....

 

[briansquibb]

Who keeps the light on when shooting in the dark?

If shooting closeups then there is a distinct possibility that the light will reflect onto the subject and spoil the shot anyway

 

[Astro]

Here it is.

Canon find the way of doing nothing.

The say if you think there is something wrong with your camera canon will check it for free starting in mid may.
By that time you forgot all this.

I will say send a clear message to canon returning your camara like i did and buy another one when they fix the design.

if you forget the problem in just a few weeks, is it really a problem at all?

nicely said.. and it shows the stupidity towards this "issue" some have.

 

[rambarra]

http://www.eglobaldigitalcameras.com.au/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii-body-only-digital-slr-camera.html

They only sell to Australian customers as far as I know, but they are linked to a distributor which provides to many online grey sellers (as I am moving into the retail business, I won't name names). I have never had any issues with them and was also one of the first to get a 5D Mark III due to their fast turnaround and shipping.

I know of someone who purchased and received one last week, so they had stock at least as late as that.

yes. there's stock in HK of 5D3 bodies (and kits) and grey market never got short of these. We will be receiving some units next week so I will be able to check serials, but I am nearly sure that cameras will be affected. My HK guy said they just don't care and they are too busy to check. As a matter of fact it will take a while to clear the market from "defective" units. I don't really think that Canon recalled them. Their policy will likely be "if customer complains we will offer a "fix".

 

[DavidRiesenberg]

This is a very reasonable response from Canon. No need to recall and create hysteria when the overwhelming majority of users won't be affected anyway.

 

[JR]

did canon fix the problem and will be implementing this change on all new units produced in the factories from now on?
eg. are the new models xxxxx3xxxx onwards going to have the light leak fixed?

what actually happened over here?

This is what the release would suggest. Remember graig mentionned some kretailers had received new batch of mkiii and that the top screen seemed different.

 

[llcanon]

If the series number is the count of production units, it means the first 2 millions would have the issue. That's gonna take well to sell. Anyone have an idea of what the number stands for? Country code, factory code, or batch/ date code?

 

[hectorjr]

I have yet to see shots where the light leak has affected the photos. Since it happens it very dark situations there would not have been an acceptable shot to begin with

OT, I wonder why the black market has an abundant (and cheap!) supply of the 5D3 while my local dealer is only speculating, not confirming, that they will get a new shipment in 2 weeks. Where are all these cheap 5D3's coming from? I want mine as soon as possible, but from a legit source, even though purchasing from a dodgy dealer could have saved me enough money to buy a spanking new lens.

 

[ramon123]

If the series number is the count of production units, it means the first 2 millions would have the issue. That's gonna take well to sell. Anyone have an idea of what the number stands for? Country code, factory code, or batch/ date code?

Are you serious? The serial number doesn't mean how many they have produced. Maybe they started producing from the from a number later in the code. Eg. 2399222321 means 22321 is the amount they've produced.

 

[2020digging]

Calm down mate! Does it bother you so much that others have a different view to you?

 

[llcanon]

I was going to buy a 5D3 straight up, but now I think I'll let it mature a bit with firmware and also for the hardware fix for this issue to flow through as I don't want a “xxxxx1xxxxxx” or “xxxxx2xxxxxx” serial number body.

I'll keep an eye on the forums for when stocks of newer bodies show up in shops and then order then. I've got a massive month of shooting in August, so will look to buy in mid August. 3 months will hopefully be enough time to flush out these "non-issue light leak" bodies.

We will need tons of "non-issue" believers to continue buying the "defective" units so that the "issue" believers could get their hands on the good ones soon. Is it fair to the customers? Canon should recall the units that have not been sold intead of keeping shipping them. Shame on Canon! This issue will definitely affect resale value.

For those who received their units after Canon's response, please post your series number.