I think my shutter just died, options?

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petemc

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Ok I have an 18-24 month old 10D. Its shutter is rated at 50,000. I was out on a gig tonight and it just locked shut. Its permantly covering the sensor. I've got at least 34k of RAW files on my PC. Give or take photos I've deleted and random tests I'd say its done at least 40-5k of photos. So what should I do? Should I look at getting it repaired or just look to getting a 20/30D? I have 0 cash at the moment so obviously the repair option is probably best. I need my camera to make money and I need it asap.
 
Is it the shutter or has the mirror got stuck ?? . I remember somebody having this hassle with a 300D (wasn't you was it :shock: )
 
Nah definetly not the mirror. I can set the camera to sensor clean mode and the mirror moves out the way to reveal the sensor blocked by the shutter. I've never had a 300D.
 
petemc said:
Nah definetly not the mirror. I can set the camera to sensor clean mode and the mirror moves out the way to reveal the sensor blocked by the shutter. I've never had a 300D.
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Not the mirror then :) , from what I remember somebody on OcUK had a 300D who's mirror came off (could have been mrk)

Your shutter has probably gone on strike to give the rest of us a chance to get the good shots :)
 
You're a pretty heavy user I guess Pete, and the 50K exposures isn't guaranteed - it's what Canon estimate the shutter is good for before it may need attention. If the shutter needs replacing then I reckon it will be big bucks, but the only way to find out is to get it back to Canon. Have you tried removing and re-inserting the batteries?

If it's any help Warehouse Express do 0% finance over 9 months on anything over about 2 or 3 hundred quid. It's quick and hassle free - I bought my 1DMK2N from them on that scheme.
 
mrgubby said:
Not the mirror then :) , from what I remember somebody on OcUK had a 300D who's mirror came off (could have been mrk)

Your shutter has probably gone on strike to give the rest of us a chance to get the good shots :)
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Yer it was mrk. I'm sure it took a stupid amount of time to get repaired too.

CT said:
You're a pretty heavy user I guess Pete, and the 50K exposures isn't guaranteed - it's what Canon estimate the shutter is good for before it may need attention. If the shutter needs replacing then I reckon it will be big bucks, but the only way to find out is to get it back to Canon. Have you tried removing and re-inserting the batteries?

If it's any help Warehouse Express do 0% finance over 9 months on anything over about 2 or 3 hundred quid. It's quick and hassle free - I bought my 1DMK2N from them on that scheme.
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I'll try the battery trick now. The 0% finance sounds good. Just wonder how they'll take to a guy who is technically unemployed or self employed but with no real jobs on. Gah.

Edit: Battery trick didn't work. :(
 
is there one of those mini-batteries in the main battery door? replace that one perhaps?

if you delicately lift the mirror out of the way have you tried carefully and oh so softly nudging the shutter blades? did it get jogged during a release or something? I'm not suggesting you poke every bit of the camera to death just that the blades might have got caught somehow...? and require a tiny bit of gentle persuasion to get going again.
 
I very gently tried to coax the shutter open and now the shutter kinda opens. It really does seem very borked. I didn't put any pressure on it at all, just a very very soft touch. Kinda rattles too.
 
pete,

I think they are rated at 30k, so you may have done well, but i've also heard of them going at 10k

try fixation rather than canon. They will be quicker, but may not be cheaper. IIRC a shutter assembly is around £300 fitted, but let us know if it's not.

Here's a link:
http://www.fixationuk.com/repairs.htm
 
I just checked, £200 at fixation
 
petemc said:
The 0% finance sounds good. Just wonder how they'll take to a guy who is technically unemployed or self employed but with no real jobs on. Gah.
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might be worth going for one of the 0% for 6-9 months credit card deals and sorting it out that way. if the finance did decline you your probably more likely to get a card as they love to get people without money to spend more of it (i know all about that one).

discliamer: obviously sensibly speaking you should be sure that you will be able to pay it off in the time period. :whistle2:
 
Already tried to get a CC, can't as I have no standard income.
 
petemc said:
Can't see that on their site.
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No i got from someone who has used them. They don't repair them, they just replace the whole shutter assembly
 
£200 at Fixation, 1 week to 10 days. Think I'll go for that.
 
bummer Pete, its always a worry that something like this will break and it will cost a small fortune to repair..
 
Would the whole of the shutter assembly be needed? I bought an old Canon 650 film cam from eBay and the shutter curtains stuck (only the top half of the frame was exposed) - my local cam shop fixed it for 29 quid.
 
Sorry to hear about your cam, i have same dilema as you with regards to finance and work, so really feel for you pal. This is a reason i cant get rid of my s7000, its a very good backup, not the best, but im paranoid too about being click happy with my canon. Hope you get it sorted cheaply and quickly
 
Guess this is why people always insist on having a spare body for shoots like weddings, it may be rare but it can strike at any time and is pretty fatal.

Best bet is ring around some of the above places and get a quote, its going to cost - thats unavoidable, and you are talking about a precision instrument. Shutter might not look like much but its timing and response has to be pretty much in perfect sync, it basically is the camera.

Alternatively, if your totally skint you may have to start looking for a short term solution like a 2nd hand 300D or 350D, maybe a 10D. Although this is getting back towards increasing chances of a similar failure.

Good Luck - hope it doesnt cost too much:confused-
 
Yep already rang round. Fixation £200, 1 week to 10 days. Cheaper than a 2nd hand body.
 
pete, when you get it back, set the file numbering to continuous, that way you will have a running total of your pic count. I find it helps with my filing too.
 
Isn't there a way of getting the true shutter count out of these cameras?
 
Yes - but apparently you need some special software to do this, so I read - probably on here.
 
Only Canon can tell you how many actuations your shutter has achieved (on 10D, D30, D60).

On newer bodies it can be found in the exif data (apparently).
 
This isn't the pucka Canon software for checking shutter actuations, and I can't remember what that's called, but this freebie is supposed to do the same thing. I can't vouch for it as I haven't used it.

CLICK.

Edit

As Matt says, I think it only works with more recent models.
 
neos said:
pete, when you get it back, set the file numbering to continuous, that way you will have a running total of your pic count. I find it helps with my filing too.
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It was. It seems to reset at 9999.
 
Sorry to read about your woes Pete ... must be a right blow ?

Hope it gets sorted quickly for you as it sounds like you rely on it !
 
petemc said:
It was. It seems to reset at 9999.
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Yup, I passed the 9999 milestone on Christmas day and it reset back to 0
 
Venomator said:
Sorry to read about your woes Pete ... must be a right blow ?

Hope it gets sorted quickly for you as it sounds like you rely on it !
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Yer I really do. I'm trying to make it as a pro photographer so its a little tricky without a camera :D
 
if you get it replaced they may give it a 20D one rated slightly longer life...?
it seems now shutter life span is the limiting factor on dSLRs now that people are snapping away rather a lot. film cameras obviously suffered similar failures but you'd have to go through a hell of a lot of film first!
 
shiato storm said:
it seems now shutter life span is the limiting factor on dSLRs now that people are snapping away rather a lot. film cameras obviously suffered similar failures but you'd have to go through a hell of a lot of film first!
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Actually, Pete's bad luck apart, that's an interesting observation. Modern DSLRs have far less moving parts than their film counterparts. There's no film transport system, and the auto diaphragm linkage is now a simple electrical connection, but we're stuck with basically the same old focal plane shutter we've always had, and it's a pretty violent mechanism. It's commonplace now for people to go out with 1gig and 2gig cards and fill them completely, It would have been an extremely busy pro who would have put a film camera to that sort of use, so it's not surpising that the shutter is the component which will suffer most in a heavily - used modern DSLR.

It will be interesting see what the longevity is of modern DSLRs. If Pete's shutter is properly replaced, the camera gets a new lease of life - I don't see a great deal else likely to go wrong. The LCD screens have a finite life, but can be replaced, in fact Canon will supply you with one on a fit -it - yourself basis, which other manufacturers wont, and from what I can understand, it's not a particularly daunting job.

Shutter life is something to think about though before you start banging away in Hi Speed Continuous mode. The Canon 1D has a shutter life of 200K exposures, which is roughly the equivalent of shooting a 36 exposure roll of film every day for around 17 years. At 8 frames per second you'd shoot those 36 exposures in a little over 4 seconds! :shock:
 
Thats what hit me too CT. Unless you buy a new DSLR every 18 months everyone is probably going to run into this eventually simply because of the nature of digital. We can go out and shoot 1000 pics a day if we want. What it does mean is that within the next 2 years I'll have to do this again due to the way I use my camera. A 30D upgrade would be a good idea simply to get something that will last 4 years, plus the 10D as a backup.
 
I know what you mean about the amount of pictures taken on a DSLR, i went out this morning and within the space of less than an hour had taken 30 pictures. :shock:

Never dreamt of doing that with the old film cameras.
 
petemc said:
A 30D upgrade would be a good idea simply to get something that will last 4 years, plus the 10D as a backup.
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Makes sense to me and if you're a pro you're really pushing your luck without a spare body. ;)

I dunno if it will come to pass, but I read that the next big development might be diaphragms which are just liquid crystal, and the same technology could replace the metal blinds in focal plane shutters. The last I heard they were just having problems getting the liquid crystal to be opaque enough not to transmit light. How cool would that be - no more shutter noise! :cool:
 
petemc said:
We can go out and shoot 1000 pics a day if we want.
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It's surprisingly easy. Most I've done in a day was about 1400 in a 5 hour stint.
 
Its soo easily done, even on my 350D - when I first got this I would usually go out for half days here, there and everywhere with the only limiting factor being storage. Once I filled my cards that was when it was time to go home, would typically shoot 400+ shots in a session.

When you now combine this with the availability of photo downloaders, with 40Gb HDD, even filling cards is no longer a limit.
 
For the 350D I have heard it was about 50K, although I have also heard 25K.
 
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