What happened to Canon?!?!?

[seriesofseven 0]

A few days ago Daryn posted his new set-up for photographing flies. I liked it a lot and started to think about photographs I had seen on the forum that could have been better. I offerend some advice in my post and then made an effort to take pictures of what I meant that same day. I Was using my only digital camera which is the Canon A520. After I turned the camera off I heard an awful clicking noise and upon trying to turn it back on everyting went blank. Camera's sometimes break, no big deal. The big deal is that today I called Canon to see what they would do. The camera is 4 days past its' warranty of one year and they will charge me $89.95 to have it looked at after the $8.95 shipping charge. This process could take two weeks. For an addtional $60.00 I have the option of purchasing a reconditioned one with a two day wait. This might not sound like the end of the world but I did not buy this camera thinking it would only last one year from the date of purchase. Would you? What really bothers me about this situation which I know I'm probably blowing out of proportion is that I want the manufacturer to stand by its product. I think consumers are taken advantage of left and right and would like to know what other members have experienced with their camera's manufacturers. I don't want to hear which models are the best, my Nikon FM2 has worked for 15 years without one problem, I want to know what companies stand by their products. Why can't they just make a digital back for my Nikon FM2?? What happened to the days when we bought a camera knowing it was for life? :ripped:

[flytyingscotsman 0]

 

Unless hundreds of people have the same problem you had and a

class action suit is filed against Canon, they could care less about

'standing by the product'.

 

I suggest you call back and keep asking for the next supervisor up

the chain until you get satisfaction.

 

 

[KVRNut 0]

Hope you don't mind, but I brought your problem to the attention of Canon Canada. Maybe (hopefully) they can kick some butt and get you some proper action with your camera. Have had good relations with Canon up here with no problems getting help with, or parts for my older FD mount film cameras.

 

Even though I don't own a digital at all, I'd be right peed off if one of my cameras did the same and I got the response you did. I know Canon can do far better than that. Something like this could affect my decision to pick up that used EOS 1v I've been seriously looking at.

 

What happened to buying a camera for life? I have a few dust collectors in my case. Ones like the Kodak Tele-Disc, Brownie Box, 110 film cartridge cameras, and quite a few others, all in ones of various makes and sizes that have given up the ghost or that I can't get film or parts for anymore. Technology marches on. I think the biggest problem with cameras now is the dependency on electronics to make the camera function, more so with the digital cameras obviously. I'm no electronics expert but electronics only have a limited life and I guess that's the price we have to pay now. The more complicated the camera, the more likely it is to fail. Look how long a PC lasts before things start screwing up. I'll be very suprised, if not shocked, to hear of a digital camera lasting near as long as a good film camera.

 

Have to admit, your idea of a digital back for older film SLRs is a dandy. It would be real nice to get a full frame digital back or cartridge for my FDs or the EOS film cameras. Think I'd pick up one for both types of mount. I'm pretty sure that medium format brands like Hasselblad and others offer a choice in switching between film and digital backs already but then who has $25k to spend on a camera plus additional for the backs.

 

Good luck with your camera and I hope Canon comes thru for you!

 

Ernie

[Graham 0]

I think the transition from mechanical cameras to electronics has positives and negatives. The negative being that the cameras won't last a lifetime, but the saving derived from eliminating film processing costs can off set the difference. I'll be bummed if my D200 lasts less than five years, and I would hope in the event warrany service is required, it will be speedy. I wouldn't expect Nikon to offer free service once the warranty expires, but customer service experiences would weigh heavily in my next purchasing decision. Do you have a local camera store that has a service and repair shop? Perhaps that would cost less than the cost of shipping to Canon.

[flytyingscotsman 0]

 

If anyone can find a non-electronic camera with all of the features

that digital ones offer today, then they will have found a reliablity

compromised product. In a nutshell, you can't compare apples

for apples mechanical and digital cameras side by side.

 

With regard to reliablity and electronics, it's actually a fallacy that

it will be more unreliable in all cases, just because it contains

electronics (think NASA/moonshot).

 

The consumer electronics industry is cutting corners on long-term

reliability of products because they have done their market analysis

homework and have determined that most consumers will have

retired these products long before they 'wear out'.

 

Of course 1 year and 4 days is a little ridiculous.

 

I have an Olympus D360 purchased about 7 or 8 years or so back

and it has taken hundreds and hundreds of photos and is still going

(my wife still uses it for eBay photos to this day). If electronics

'wear out' then this camera must be supernatural .... or just plain

RELIABLE ...

 

 

 

[Graham 0]

I agree, but NASA and airlines have several layers of redundancy to allow for electronic related failures in an effort to avoid disasters. My old digital Sony still works like a champ, but is much less complex internally than my Nikon. I work with electronics and the big secret is that many devices work with contained smoke. Make one bad connection, short something, overvoltage, etc, whatever it takes, if you let that little puff of smoke out, it's done... lol...

[mcfly 0]

consumers are taken advantage of left and right

 

If you think that is bad spend $400 on an operating system and then if you have a problem on day one pay $125 or more to get it resolved.

 

Until consumers start making choices based on more than the lowest cost things will continue to creep in the direction they are now.

 

As for how reliable electronics are look at some of those old transister radios that still work. It is all in how well they are engineered. To often they are engineered just well enough to get them off the shelf and keep them working for 90 days.

 

 

[Graham 0]

I believe some of Edisons first light bulbs are still working. Nowdays they are designed to need replcement after 750 hours.

[day5 0]

AH but Graham I have a magic net to catch all of the magic smoke!! :hyst: and yes Ive seen my fair share of magic smoke and also said the international magic smoke prayer.......Oh $#!+ Cameras get the crap kicked out of them so much that companies cant go over board with free repairs. IM not saying this is your case but Id also be mighty pissed off if I were in your boots. I have a canon S2iS I LOVE IT!!!!!! it is my second canon The first one died when I passed out on my buddy's shoulder in Mexico and left it in the taxi!!! :wallbash:

[day5 0]

I believe some of Edisons first light bulbs are still working. Nowdays they are designed to need replcement after 750 hours.

 

 

Right !!!! It doesnt pay that well to sell a product that lasts forever! I Had a Mobil oil rep (he may have been full of BS) tell me that Mobil made a synthetic oil for diesels that only required topping off and filter changes and never needed to be drained. But how much less oil would Mobil sell if that were the case?????

[flyrod98 0]

One factor not being considered when comparing the longivity of discrete transitors found in old radios and the integrated circuits found in digital cameras is the integrated circuit has thousands of transitors on it, located only microns apart, and heat becomes a major factor in circuit failures. Unfortunately there are going to be failures as much as we don't like it.

[seriesofseven 0]

Hey,

Thanks everyone for having so much to say. I agree with everyone in a sense. What I guess I wanted was for Canon to speak to me like I hadn't dropped the camera off a bridge and expected a freebie. That's how I felt and all I did was turn the thing off. I'm not going to bad talk the Canon systems since I know they have been trusted in journalism a lot and have made a name for innovation but this model and one's like it really do seem to be built for the duration of the warranty. I like my idea of developing data backs for my 35mm camera bodies but I know it's a pipe dream. Thanks for the insight on this one! Keep the ideas rolling if you could, I'm out of time and the wife is taking over!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[fly time 0]

seriesofseven, you are a more paitent man than I am, I would have already threatend em with bodily harm or death. Id tell em to shove the camera and warrenty up their @$$ and buy their biggest competitors camera, then send em a letter tellen em how damn great it is. JMO

 

 

Dustin.

[flytyingscotsman 0]

I agree, but NASA and airlines have several layers of redundancy to allow for electronic related failures in an effort to avoid disasters. My old digital Sony still works like a champ, but is much less complex internally than my Nikon. I work with electronics and the big secret is that many devices work with contained smoke. Make one bad connection, short something, overvoltage, etc, whatever it takes, if you let that little puff of smoke out, it's done... lol...

 

Agreed, fault tolerance is a big advantage. It's unfortunate that even if buyers

were willing to pay for a fault tolerant/mission critical product they dont exist in the

consumer space.

 

Don't forget ESD as a circuit enemy ....

 

Anyways, given what seriesofseven said about how his camera went south it sounds like

it was an electromechanical failure (add shock, vibration, temperature extremes and

humidity to the list of enemies).

 

[seriesofseven 0]

Well my tolerance only went so far. I'm sending the same letter to Canon as I am to the better business bureau and anyone else I can think of. I know that Canon won't be able to offer me what I want which is a fixed or functioning camera, or even acknowledgement that the camera didn't live up to the grade consumer reports gave it. -I wonder if consumer reports has done any research on customer support, I believe that counts for more than the value of the product. I also realise that all of the factors in the life of digital technology pose for this to happen eventually but I take great care of my belongings and this camera must have had a design flaw. -Also, this camera's shutter was sticking since the first day I got it and when I went online then to see what other compaints there were, all owners of this model had to say was the same thing, "great camera, lousy shutter". So who else should get a letter? -I've got time to spare to make this right.