40d has died, advice on repairs/upgrade

Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2007
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Location
Portsmouth
Mirror box has broke on me yesterday :( looking at a good £160 or so to get it fixed, and then it will still suffer from a 'sticky shutter' You can buy a second-hand replacement for around £200 these days.

I feel a body upgrade really is the best way to go here, although iam tight on funds at the moment-I think long term it would be the better option.

Ideally I would like a 5D2 or even a 3 but money talks and plus I would have to change lens etc.

Had a quick play with a 7D earlier, I think that would be the best way to go. You can currently get on for £655 and then -5% for BT they are like a grand over here new! Crazy!

Can anyone offer any advice?
 
Yeah no. The 7D sensor is barely any more modern than your 40D. If you want to stay crop then I'd get another 40D then sell it off when the 7D2 or 70D come out. Going full frame would likely be a good choice depending on your shooting habits and current lens collection.
 
Tend to shoot various things really. Football, nightclub, gigs, events people photography mainly. Will be helping out at a few weddings soon aswell.

A friend has just said that the mirror may need to be just glued back in back-as thats how its attached :confused: seems abit strange that way. But he doesnt have any reason to lie. I did try and look closely and looks like something has snapped-but could be wrong.
 
It's probably best to go full frame then imo. If budget is tight, something like a 5d1 would be good.
It may be worth considering something like a D700 if your going to need to change out your leses anyway.
 
I have a 40D and a 5D mk1...the 5D is on a different planet as regards IQ compered to the 40D
the differences is larger than test charts etc can tell you.( i only shoot raw)
1st of all when both cameras used side by side on the same lense i have to dial in -2/3 of a stop exposer comp on the 40D or it will blow out high lights which the FF censer of the 5D not do.so when in light room, the 40D files look in the shadows and mid-tones flat compared to the 5D (thay look fine if i dont dail in the -2/3 comp) So when i lift them it increases the noise.....
Also the 5D has a week anti aliasing filter so needs little sharpening compered to the 40D..
So when i have givern the image a lift in the shadows and a lot more sharpening the 5D files end up soooo much cleaner than the 40,in fact they look better at 200% than the 40D at 100% when pixel peeping,
also all the sliders in light room have so much more latitude with the 5D

So what am i rambling on about ..........yes have a think about a 5D mk1.. i see them from £350 on the bay .......they lack lots of Bells and Whistles but the IQ takes some beating even today as i dont think ANY cropped censer as of yet surpassed the 5D in the real world
 
I have a 7D and a 40D.

The 40D is a solid camera, even today.

But the 7D is a much better camera overall. I bought mine for £1000 6 months after it was launched and have not regretted it.

The AF is simply stunning.

Personally I think the 7D is a good stop better than the 40D when it is shrunk down to 40D res.
 
If you're shooting nightclub stuff then the 5D AF isn't good enough for you (it's not good enough for me) so you'll need to either get brilliant with manual focus, or get a D700 (if you'd need to change lenses anyway you might as well make the swap)
 
Thanks folks, looks like www.camerarepairdirect.co.uk/ can sort it and hopefully by the weekend aswell! Bout an hour from me, probably gonna take it up there first thing as iam off work tomorrow.

I dont fancy taking things apart myself.

Ive been quoted £108 and that includes a fix for the 'sticky shutter' seems very reasonable. Fixation where quoting

Replace mirror box and shutter would be £121.00 parts and £110.00p labour.

Subject to inspection and VAT.

All our details are on our website www.fixationuk.com
 
If you're shooting nightclub stuff then the 5D AF isn't good enough for you (it's not good enough for me) so you'll need to either get brilliant with manual focus, or get a D700 (if you'd need to change lenses anyway you might as well make the swap)

is that using just the center point or all of them?
 
Just centre point, I've quite often had to put it in manual focus and take ten images pushing focus through subjects which is a right pain. God help you if you try to do it with the others
 
Just centre point, I've quite often had to put it in manual focus and take ten images pushing focus through subjects which is a right pain. God help you if you try to do it with the others
yes i only use the center ..i very rarely have much problem but i automatically focus on an edge or something with a bit of contrast and recompose without thinking, i find when its to dark to get a focus lock i have gone past hand holding by large margin
I have read the outer points are naff i just wondered if that's what you are using
 
Did you get a quote from Canon? They have a fixed price repair scheme that might get all faults rectified. I used it when my 40d stopped working. Got a bunch of stuff replaced, e.g. main pcb, for £150ish. All guaranteed for 12 months.

However, after the repair i sold it on and bought a 7d and never looked back.
 
Did you get a quote from Canon? They have a fixed price repair scheme that might get all faults rectified. I used it when my 40d stopped working. Got a bunch of stuff replaced, e.g. main pcb, for £150ish. All guaranteed for 12 months.

However, after the repair i sold it on and bought a 7d and never looked back.

I didnt I phoned them up and got the details about the procedure, as I was going to go with the guys above.

Just had a call from the repair center and they said its going to cost £180 as they with have to order a new mirror box. The current one can't be repaired :(

Iam at a loss with what to do now :( most part of me says right no mucking around and get the 7D £625 from *******... :eek:
 
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