Canon Canada Cleaning and Calibration Service

[zhap03]

I want to let everyone know about the high quality of service that I recently received from Canon Canada. I had to send my 24-70 2.8 in for a cleaning and calibration. There were a few specs of dust inside the lens. As well, the lens has never focused sharply at F2.8. I've always believed that I had been stuck with the much talked about "Soft Copy" of this lens. For years now, images at F2.8 were horribly OOF with terrible CA.

Well, my lens was with Canon Canada for about 6 weeks and I just picked it up today from Vistek. I went home and immediately did focus checks and micro calibration with my 1Ds3 and 7D. The difference in sharpness and focus prior and after servicing is night-and-day. I can say that I'm the proud owner of an ULTRA SHARP 24-70 2.8L lens... finally. My 24-70 lens went from terrible to awesome. Canon also did an amazing job cleaning the lens. I finally believe those owners who claim that the 24-70 is amazing lens.

I bought the lens in 2009 and the warranty had ran out since. Canon charged me $300 for "Cleaning, Centering, and Calibration". The awesome results are well worth the money if you ever suspect your lens of failing on any of the 3C's. Thank you Canon Canada!!!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Nice to hear something positive, we mostly hear if there was a problem.

 

[ions]

Edited as I've just come back to this...

It was $300 to clean and calibrate one lens?! And it took 6 weeks!? Holy ____!

I've got a 24-70 I want cleaned and calibrated. If it costs more than half that I will be pissed and it better take 5 business days or less. From speaking with peers here in Toronto that's not unreasonable.

 

[JasonM]

Thanks zhap03! It's good to know you had a good experience in the event I ever need to send a lens in to Canon Canada.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Edited as I've just come back to this...

It was $300 to clean and calibrate one lens?! And it took 6 weeks!? Holy ____!

I've got a 24-70 I want cleaned and calibrated. If it costs more than half that I will be pissed and it better take 5 business days or less. From speaking with peers here in Toronto that's not unreasonable.

If you are a CPS member, a week is normal. Otherwise its slower.

 

[zhap03]

I actually attribute the 6 week wait to Vistek. I think they sat on the lens for a few days before sending it off. Then, when Canon sent Vistek a description of the required service, Vistek took a few days to get my approval and respond to Canon with a "go-ahead". After Canon got the approval to work on the lens, I received the lens about 1.5 weeks later.

As for the price, the $300 included a $40 shipping charge that Vistek made me pay when I dropped off the lens.

At the end of the day, I've been disappointed with my 24-70 for about 3 years now. So to receive an ultra sharp lens after waiting for 5-6 weeks and paying $300 is really no big deal to me. I'm supa happy with my lens... Finally!!!

 

[Orangutan]

So what does it cost to have a body and handful of lenses cleaned and calibrated? Has anyone done this who is not a CPS member? $300 seems high to me, too.