1DmkIII service and hmmm

pxl8

pxl8

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This week was all office work so on Monday I decided to ship my mk3 to Canon to get the focus adjusted as out of the box it was a bit off, not by much and easily sorted by the micro adjust but I figured I may as well get them to sort it. It arrived back this morning and the job sheet reads:

Adjustment: AF-System
Sub Mirror Issue S
Spare parts: STOPPER, SUB MIRROR

Anyone know what "Sub Mirror Issue S" is? My body was new in July and had the yellow dot on the box indicating it was made after the production line was sorted (which was January I believe?).

Does this mean there are some bodies out there that, even though they're marked as fixed, still need the sub mirror fix? Hmmmm

The AF is much more accurate now with micro adjust disabled and I've just been through my lenses and tuned them in. Not sure how the AF is working in servo, I think I might be off to watch some footy tomorrow so I'll give it a work out then and report back.
 
Sorry, time to educate me again...

Micro adjust? Is this something that you just get on 'posh' cameras like 1D's? Does this mean that AF is not always accurate, so likely to be even less accurate on a 'budget' model like mine? I feel I'm getting screwed over slightly... as I wouldn't know whether mine's out or not, I'd just think that's as good as you get, or it's the lens.
 
Micro adjust lets you correct for errors in the body and/or lens. Each body/lens is built to work within a certain tolerence, let's say +/- 10 steps. If the lens is out by -7 and the body is also out by -7 then the total is -14 which is beyond acceptable. Micro adjust lets you tweak the value for up to 20 lenses to get them back in tolerence.

It was introduced on the 1D series but now features on the 50D too.
 
Cheers for the info pxl8 :)

just a thought... but you dont think your job sheet just has a typo and it's simply "Sub Mirror Issues"?
 
68lbs said:
Cheers for the info pxl8 :)

just a thought... but you dont think your job sheet just has a typo and it's simply "Sub Mirror Issues"?
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No, it's "issue S" (capital letter) and the same comes up on a google search.
 
IanC_UK said:
There is a separate issue with some sub mirror, where they just fail completely, i think Canon are just replacing them under warranty whenever the camera is shipped to them.
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Yeah I did wonder if it was a prevention thing for something else rather than the infamous AF fix.
 
Hmm interesting. I brought mine less than a month ago, but it doesn't have the yellow dot on it. The serial no. is outside the effective range. Quite often I'm shooting on manual focus, and when I was using auto I was in one shot. A few days I was using AI servo, and the focus was so bad (with a walking person), I thought I had the lens set to manual. Perhaps, I should get mine looked at. Do they need to calibrate with your lens, or just the camera?
 
they dont put the yellow dot on any more, as all new bodies should be post fix. Try it with a different lens and see if the issue happens with that as well. If it does it may just need calibrating. Mines been fine and mine was pre fix and in the affected range too.
 
how do you go about sending the camera in for this kind of focus fix, if you don't mind me asking?

I could do with getting mine fixed and calibrated to the lenses etc.

Thx

Chris
 
I sent just the body. I explained that the AF needed calibrating and they set it up with their zero error workshop lens. I'm still using a bit of micro adjust on each lens but much less than before.
 
I just set all mine to +12

But i aint happy...not every shot is bob on .. dont think its been as good since it came back from the magnet fix... pile of :(
 
pxl8 i have focus search off on III.5 what do you ahve set for III,3 and III,4 ?
 
iii 3,4,5 are all 0.

iii-4 I prefer the AF to stick with where I've got the point but really doesn't make much difference unless you're using all points anyway.

iii-5 I leave on but I tend to release the Af-On button when I lose the subject to stop it hunting anyway. In a way I treat it like a computer game - I open fire (focus) when the subject is in the sights and stop when it's not.
 
This must be so annoying that I'm not even going to try to score a point off Canon here! Thankfully, I've never had any issues with any Nikon I've ever owned

That said, there have been faults of course - but they always seem to be on the most expensive 'Pro' gear - why would that be??? Rushing to do battle with each other means their R&D isn't done properly?

Crap isn't it

I hope alls well soon with your gear chaps :thumbs:

DD
 
IanC_UK said:
they dont put the yellow dot on any more, as all new bodies should be post fix. Try it with a different lens and see if the issue happens with that as well. If it does it may just need calibrating. Mines been fine and mine was pre fix and in the affected range too.
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Cheers for that. I'm gonna do some more tests. It's possible the focus point wasn't on the subject. It isn't a case of micro adjust the lens, it was way, way out. Just no focus at all, for 10-12 shot, I think 2 may have been close.
 
If you open the raw file in Zoombrowser you can view the active focus point/s.

Double click on the raw image and bring it up into new window then click view/show auto focus points.

Thanks to Canon Bob for this info!
 
Has anyone tried enabling the surrounding points on III 8 ?
 
admirable said:
Has anyone tried enabling the surrounding points on III 8 ?
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tried it once and wasn't totally comfortable with the results so switched it off again.
 
Works better when you don't have an area of strong contrast to track otherwise I leave it switched off.
 
Have said this on here before. One of two machines assembling mirror systems was miscalibrated and this fed into another machine. The fact is that Canon simply had no idea which was or was not faulty - they did however cease production until resolved. The full product recall was as has been done to yours. A stopper is supposed to stop the mirror slapping back 'too much' but it is not working. Also there was an unsharp mask process placed in the software to make the images look sharper.

To me, it is round peg, sq hole. The product should have been recalled and refunded. Interestingly in Beijing, the word is 50/50 Nikon and Canon with 35% Canon being Mark II or older....

Personally, I have no clue on the colour coding aside from blue dot, which was supposed to be revised.

It is a shame to say it but the III is not good enough and dont forget, until this camera I was 110% Canon. I have no gripe with Canon, I loved Mark II N's I owned.

Pete.
 
I think you're being just a bit blinkered there Pete. In sports tog world you have a point but that's not the be all and end all of photography. I do use the mkIII for sports in a limited way and it's performed incredibly well taking thousands of frames of 10k runners with 90% plus in focus. I don't doubt there have and still are problems on some bodies but for many other uses where AF & fps isn't so demanding the camera performs outstandingly well.
 
pxl8 said:
I think you're being just a bit blinkered there Pete. In sports tog world you have a point but that's not the be all and end all of photography. I do use the mkIII for sports in a limited way and it's performed incredibly well taking thousands of frames of 10k runners with 90% plus in focus. I don't doubt there have and still are problems on some bodies but for many other uses where AF & fps isn't so demanding the camera performs outstandingly well.
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Not at all. I have seen them go back in droves due to all sorts of issues and from all types of photographers. Whether you shot sport, macro, studio, if a camera dont focus it dont so to speak. The difference with sport I expect is that it is more noticable due to the critical demands of wireless work.

As I said, had I not had issues I would not have moved to Nikon. The figures stand up and my position in the industry has allowed me to see both points of view sadly.

I cant keep writing what a let down some editions of the camera is on a forum, people will flame me for that but I am being honest.
 
This thread is in danger of lossing track here. I moved from 1dmk11n (which I still have) and got a mk111. The picture quality on the mk111 is great and I couldn't ask for anything more to be honest, all the niggles I had with quality on the mk11n were resolved with the mk3.

I am slightly unsure about the focusing on mine, but, It could be my error. I've since deleted the files as there were unusable, so I can't check the focus point on them. I do remember that no point was showing on the screen were it would normally.
 
natjag said:
I am slightly unsure about the focusing on mine,
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Me too. On a days shooting at motocross I'd say I'd have about 25% OOF with the MkIII. I keep on saying I'll use the MkII again, just to compare, but the IQ of the MkIII is just so good, and the camera is such a pleasure to use I never do :shrug:
 
natjag said:
This thread is in danger of lossing track here. I moved from 1dmk11n (which I still have) and got a mk111. The picture quality on the mk111 is great and I couldn't ask for anything more to be honest, all the niggles I had with quality on the mk11n were resolved with the mk3.

I am slightly unsure about the focusing on mine, but, It could be my error. I've since deleted the files as there were unusable, so I can't check the focus point on them. I do remember that no point was showing on the screen were it would normally.
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True, but here is a classic example of the seed of doubt that the Mark III renders in its users. I hope you continue to enjoy it trouble free.
 
dod said:
Me too. On a days shooting at motocross I'd say I'd have about 25% OOF with the MkIII. I keep on saying I'll use the MkII again, just to compare, but the IQ of the MkIII is just so good, and the camera is such a pleasure to use I never do :shrug:
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I concur on that too - the PQ is awesome.
 
the focussing on mine has been very solid, the only times its missed is when ive just been a complete pillock and missed the focus point on the subject. I dont doubt there have been and maybe are problems with some but mine has certainly performed exactly as i would expect it to. And i have never used single shot mode, its all been in AI servo, all kinds of weather, all kinds of circumstances, stationary and moving subjects.
 
IanC_UK said:
the focussing on mine has been very solid, the only times its missed is when ive just been a complete pillock and missed the focus point on the subject. I dont doubt there have been and maybe are problems with some but mine has certainly performed exactly as i would expect it to. And i have never used single shot mode, its all been in AI servo, all kinds of weather, all kinds of circumstances, stationary and moving subjects.
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Good to hear it :thumbs:

Your nature work is up there as a top standard. :)
 
good link Ian, ta :)
 
It is very easy to mis-trust the mkIII based on all the reports of problems which create doubt in the mind of the user. When I got mine I tried very very hard to find fault and I did but they were all mine from lack of experience and skill. Having climbed the learning curve I do trust "my" copy to perform, a trust it has earnt and not one I gave it on blind faith.

I am confident that the mkIII I have sitting here has excellent AF performance but I make no warranty for any other mkIII. Some users have doubts, others are convinced one way or another. Canon have dug a big hole for themselves and any replacement is going to be come under very close inspection and will have to be very special in order to tempt the disillusioned mkIII owners. Of course in the long term that will be to everyone's benefit. In the meantime I have to stick with the extremely selfish viewpoint that my camera does what I ask of it and produces images with a quality I am over the moon with. There's no way I can defend the mkIII or Canon, only mine. If it had been a duff copy I would probably have followed you over to Nikon too and I have been very impressed with the results coming out of the D3.

But, and with tongue firmly in cheek, I'd miss of all the L glass which is great for oh, I dunno, boxing in low light perhaps ;)
 
Nipped along for the first half of a local game today just to see how the Af servo performed after Canon's grubby mits had been on it. Looks as good as it ever was :thumbs:

SPP_7878.jpg


SPP_7950.jpg


SPP_8250.jpg


SPP_8287.jpg


I did a lot of tests with sustained 10fps bursts on players running towards, away, at angles, etc. and it held focus throughout. I still got my share of OOF but as always my fault for poor tracking - practice makes perfect though ;)
 
pxl8 said:
Canon have dug a big hole for themselves and any replacement is going to be come under very close inspection and will have to be very special in order to tempt the disillusioned mkIII owners.
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very true

I also notice on telly when watching football i look at the photographers.. it used to be a line of white lenses... not anymore.. laods of long black ones..


I am absoloutly gutted with mine:( seemed to be quite good until i sent it for magnets fixed.. not happy at the mo :(
 
pxl8 said:
This week was all office work so on Monday I decided to ship my mk3 to Canon to get the focus adjusted .
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sounds like you just packed and sent.. did you organise it first.. what was the process?
 
I called Canon RCC first to check turnaround times and then just packed and sent with a covering letter (including my cps number) asking for it to be calibrated. I didn't bother including any images, etc. They received it on the Tueday, booked it in on the Wednesday and shipped it back on Thursday.

If you're not happy with yours since they sent back then I would get them to take another look and include some images too as examples. Be as specific as you can about the problems and typical use(s). It might also be worth phoning first and seeing if they'll arrange collection as it's really part of the previous repair.
 
go on humor me :) Canon RCC ?

I can take 20 pics.. 3 or 4 OK and the rest look like not calibrated..

I can take 20 pics at +12 to +18 calibration.. 20 of each with same results.. 3 or 4 look good and the rest not..

Seems like calibration is all over the place :(

Put my 300 on the mk2 and every one a winner.. put it on the mkIII and poor. that for me tells the story :(
 
sorry this may be a stupid question, but what do you mean, tune your lenses in?
 
Canon RCC is the repair centre at Elstree.

Out of interest, how are you doing these 20 shots tests?
 
karate-ka said:
sorry this may be a stupid question, but what do you mean, tune your lenses in?
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The III series and now the 50D have the option to tweak the focus calibration and store the setting for up to 20 lenses. Often a camera and lens will be out by a small amount but within design spec but sometimes both could be out in the same direction and lead to obvious focus errors, when that happens the tweak allows the user to correct rather than send the gear in for testing and calibration.
 
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