Canon EOS 1DX defective Mirror Boxes - Screen Splash - AF Lock-up

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Nazareth said:
My camera is out of warrenty next month- so not sure how they are goign to keep fixing it- I had just sent in the camera two weeks ago, and they tried to make me pay for soem other repairs that were needed claimign it was 'out of warrenty' (I hadnb't sent in my warrenty card unfortunately-) but I was able to show that it was still under a year old, and the other issues were fixed (My portrait mode scroll wheel never woerkd right, and was gettign other issues liek 'caution 02' which was fixed by firmware update etc-)

If a piece of equipment is sent for repair, the repair itself should be under warranty (maybe 3 -6 months, check in your country), so if they didn't fix it properly, or if they broke something else during repair, they need to fix it for free, even if the initial warranty has expired.
 
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arbitrage said:
I have been following the issue for some time. My 1DX is only 1 month old and has a number 8 in the serial number's 6th position so this supposedly means that it is manufactured with the "fix" already in place. My understanding of the "fix" for cameras that aren't showing any AF problems is just extra lubrication to prevent the black plastic particles from wearing off and spreading themselves throughout the camera internals. Cameras with actual AF problems are getting the whole mirror box replaced I think.

Now, I personally have not had any AF problems. However, within a few hundred shots I started seeing the small black spots in the viewfinder. They first appeared in the upper right and now I have them in all 4 corners but not many or any in the centre of the frame. I also was getting a lot of oil on the sensor that required a wet swab cleaning as my first attempt with a dry brush just smeared the oil across the sensor. The wet clean worked well.

I am worried. The most detailed information about this problems is in these two DPreview threads. The one poster "tvstaff" is very adamant that there is still a big problem even with serial numbers past the recall (i.e. #8s as no #9s have been reported in the wild yet).

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3553325
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3514406

Canon Canada has told the one poster on DPReview that the specs in the prism area (these are the black dots seen through the VF) are not part of the recall problem and don't affect the actual picture (which is true, they are just ugly to look at and disappointing on a $7000 camera). They said they could replace the prism but that would be not covered under warranty or under the recall.

I haven't contacted Canon yet but I'm keeping a close eye on the problem. What we don't know if is the oil just from the excess lubricant to fix the original problem or are these black spots actual physical particles that is wearing off and eventually will affect the AF sensor from working as some have experienced.

Hi, I've also posted about this issue in the above DPReview threads.

I also just bought a 1DX with the "8" in the sixth position (from B&H in September). Within the first 50 shots, I noticed a couple dark black spots in the upper right corner of the viewfinder. Autofocus worked fine. I sent it in for service to Virginia, spots were removed, and I also now have the black mark in the battery compartment. I've been using it now since then, it seems to be working fine. I have noticed a couple spots, which are much smaller than before in the middle top border of the viewfinder, but these are not as obvious as the previous spots.
 
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An update: I took my 1DX body to Canon, Irvine. They did the "AF Advisory Modification" in less than four-hours. That's the good news, after taking a few shots, I went to change lenses and noticed a hair like substance sticking straight up from the bottom of the mirror box! I pinched it between my thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. It didn't come out easily, leading me to believe it had been caught between the mirror box and its attachment point. I guess it got there during the modification? It looked kind of like a brush bristle. However, it was as thick as thread, dark colored, and perfectly straight. I also noticed several specs visable in the viewfinder. Fortunately, a blower brush removed all but one of them. After taking a few more shots, I noticed someting on my images. They could have gotten there during the lens change, however they didn't show-up for several frames after the change? Again, I used the blower brush to remove them. I've shot around 300-frames since then and haven't noticed any other issues. I was a little surprised that they wouldn't tell me exactly what they did to my camera. They simply said that the technician had performed the AF advisory modification. I guess they don't want the details of the modification released. When I asked if this would be a recurring issue with the 1DX, they said they didn't know. I'm just happy to have the mod. done, so I can get back to concentrating on making images.
 
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Hi Martin,

Did you see anything like that black particle in your viewfinder?

index.php


The reason I'm asking is that I got the speck in my camera, but it doesn't look like anything else I've seen before in my experience of careful treating.

Best regards,
Alex.
 
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My AF/lube service was done almost two months ago. My viewfinder is clean (although there were a couple of noticeable VF specks when I dropped it off, Canon cleaned them out, along with the sensor clean).

I did discover a piece of debris on my sensor a couple of days ago (I can't really use the term 'dust' for something close to 1 mm long). I do a quick sensor dust check at least weekly, so this was new. Could it have been left over from the service? Maybe, but probably not. I change lenses pretty frequently, both indoors (where I have two young kids running around, and a third who's not running yet, or sitting up for that matter) and outdoors (for example, standing outside a barn full of chickens a week ago, swapping in a 2xIII behind the 70-200/2.8L IS II to shoot the chicken 'etched' in this creative composite). A quick shot of air from a rocket blower took care of it.
 
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Every system will have its problems - both my 1DX's had dust inside the VF within 20K shots, they both arrived new with dirty sensors (im talking ridiculously dirty https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33440790/dx/dustspots.PNG and the second 1DX https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33440790/dx/dirtysensor1dxV2-%20f32.jpg) af locks up and or refuses to focus and in low light in servo its hopeless.

Glad they fixed the af assist bug and apparently after the 1DX recall they fixed the af focusing issue - thankfully i didn't wait a year for canon to attempt to fix the issues with this unit, it would have cost me even more moments lost, time wasted with cps and canon in general not fessing up to the problems with this unit despite full step by step instruction on how to make it fail.

Every system has its problems just depends if its costing you money.
 
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Viggo said:
Steve Todd said:
I would also like to know the shutter counts from folks experiencing this problem.
I've had my 1DX for almost a year now and have been problem free. However, I will be out in So Cal next month and plan on having my camera checked, per the Service Bulliten, at the Canon Service Ctr in Irvine.

FWIW mine is at 58.000 and no problems so far, it has been in for re-lubrication.

My new 1DX failed today at 180 some odd frames. Same defetive Mirror Box issue with oil and debris that stops the camera from focusing. Glad you made it to 58,000. Hope you make it to 400,000
 
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nightbreath said:
Hi Martin,

Did you see anything like that black particle in your viewfinder?

index.php


The reason I'm asking is that I got the speck in my camera, but it doesn't look like anything else I've seen before in my experience of careful treating.

Best regards,
Alex.

Yes I have those long lines and black specs and oil splashes. I can see them in my viewfinder and they are in all my pictures too.

TRY THIS:
1 . Take your 1DX put it in AV on F/22 or better F/32 if you can
2. Take a picture of clear blue sky
3. Open the file and view it at 100%

Scroll from edge to edge and you'll see if your 1DX sensor is dirty.
 
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GoldWing said:
I did some research and it's a piece of plastic that rubs up against a piece of steel every time the shutter is pressed. Common sense would tell you that at some point the steel wins! It's like when we were kids and played paper, stone sissors.
I have asked Canon service to check this theory while my camera is under warranty maintenance. The response was: "we don't comment forum posts". Is there another way to confirm these findings?
 
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nightbreath said:
GoldWing said:
I did some research and it's a piece of plastic that rubs up against a piece of steel every time the shutter is pressed. Common sense would tell you that at some point the steel wins! It's like when we were kids and played paper, stone sissors.
I have asked Canon service to check this theory while my camera is under warranty maintenance. The response was: "we don't comment forum posts". Is there another way to confirm these findings?

Write htem back and ask "Will you comment my Lawyer?"
 
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All mentioned problems are reported long before the first 1D X hit the market. And Canon knows the light leak long before the 5D Mark III hit the market.

Canon put the 1D X, 5D Mark III and the 24-70 II a few month later on the market, because they had a lot of problems in mass production.

My two preseries 1D X worked very well until today. But I know a lot of pros that have massive problems with the 1D X.
 
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Ewinter said:
Mine's headed in for service. I definitely need to do it as the vf is filthy and the sensor keeps getting mucky.
Will see what Canon say

Please keep us updated, I should probably send mine in soon also and see if they will clean the prism area. Canon Canada has told at least two people that they won't clean this part under warranty. It is a big job to remove it and clean it and they claim it doesn't affect pictures which is true but still lame to look at all that gunk every time you put the camera to your eye.
 
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arbitrage said:
Ewinter said:
Mine's headed in for service. I definitely need to do it as the vf is filthy and the sensor keeps getting mucky.
Will see what Canon say

Please keep us updated, I should probably send mine in soon also and see if they will clean the prism area. Canon Canada has told at least two people that they won't clean this part under warranty. It is a big job to remove it and clean it and they claim it doesn't affect pictures which is true but still lame to look at all that gunk every time you put the camera to your eye.
On a £4800 camera, specks in the viewfinder may not affect pictures, but it certainly raises my blood pressure.

I get the feeling cps operate a little differently hear-I've heard of people getting settlements because turn around times weren't met.
I've sent the head of cps Europe an email. We'll see what's said
 
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I first became aware of the lube splashes after reading a post on here from Nazareth. I had noticed the issue on my camera a few weeks before but wasn't sure about it. Since I noticed it my 1Dx between January 2013 and August 2013 had been back to Canon 5 times, 4 times for a sensor clean and once for the recall. During the recall service I asked them to clean the sensor as a goodwill gesture, which they did, came back absolutely filthy. So in September it went back again and Service told me they wanted to escalate it to Technical due to the frequency of the issue. I said I was going on a foreign trip and needed a body so I got a loan body which came from Germany. Guess what, exact same thing. Lube splashes on the sensor. So I complained again and I got a call telling me I was going to get a new 1Dx and my original was on its way back to Japan to be investigated. My new 1Dx after less than a thousand shutter activations started to show the exact same issues, lube spots that is, I've not seen the debris issue apart from once where it was a curled piece of debris that wouldn't shift. Basically if I am doing landscape work and shooting above F8 the spots are a big issue and increase pp time significantly, utterly depressing. I had not aligned my dirty viewfinder to this issue but from a reading this post I now see a connection raised by many.

I have not communicated to Canon regarding the sensor on my new 1Dx but I intend to shortly. Each time i do it I attach and image showing the problem. The guy who took on my case at Canon was first class in dealing with my case. I won't release his name to anyone though, sorry. For what it is worth I recently, (September) wrote to both the author of this site and The Digital Picture and both of them told me they had not heard of this issue.

When I read on this site today that Canon are rumoured to be releasing a new 1D body next year with a drop in price of the 1Dx it really makes me fizz.

Frankly the 1Dx is not fit for purpose.
 
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