Sending Camera to be cleaned & calibrated

snips86x · 2 May 2014 at 09:07

Next week, I’m sending my Canon 7D to be cleaned and recalibrated. While I have no issue actually sending the unit away, I’m not sure on the postal service I should use.

I will be sending it back in its original box with caps and such, but should I simply send it via Royal Mail? My main concern would be any damage from any other couriers, actually even RM for that matter.

It will be going to a Canon approved technician in Kent, 140 miles from my location.

Recommendations?

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2014 at 09:43

Send it to canon at elstree.
Just body cap
No box, wrap it in bubble wrap like crazy.
Send t special delivery with insurance

If you send the box it will get battered, it makes no difference to them. I never send in the box with lenses.

snips86x · 2 May 2014 at 09:47

I've had a quote of £156 from Thomas Camera Services in Kent for a clean & calibration as it's overdue really.

Would sending to Canon at Elstree be a better alternative?

JBuk · 2 May 2014 at 09:48

Raymond Lin said:
Send it to canon at elstree.
Just body cap
No box, wrap it in bubble wrap like crazy.
Send t special delivery with insurance

If you send the box it will get battered, it makes no difference to them. I never send in the box with lenses.

How does that affect insurance if it gets damaged?

JBuk · 2 May 2014 at 09:50

snips86x said:
I've had a quote of £156 from Thomas Camera Services in Kent for a clean & calibration as it's overdue really.

Would sending to Canon at Elstree be a better alternative?

Does it need calibrated?

I'd do the cleaning myself , the tools for doing it are easy to get hold of and will be lots cheaper, and you don't have to resend it back when you realised it's not 100% clean, heh

snips86x · 2 May 2014 at 09:52

I have tried, but cannot reach the difficult placed. Would prefer the first clean to be done by the pro's before I attempt myself.

As for calibration, I've had a few errors pop up over the last few months, so for peace of mind, I'll get it done! I also dropped it!

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2014 at 10:38

Canon at elstree or Fixation.

No one else.

snips86x · 2 May 2014 at 10:41

Raymond Lin said:
Canon at elstree or Fixation.

No one else.

Out of interest, what makes you recommend these 2 over others? Are not all Canon approved repairers the same?

I really appreciate your recommendation, especially seeing the kit you own, so it's definitely worth me considering.

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2014 at 10:47

Elstree is the official Canon centre.

Fixation is next best thing.

I've tried both, if you ask in any forums, you will get those two. And since you are sending it off anyway as opposed to your local shop. When send it to an unknown?

Andy90 · 2 May 2014 at 11:06

Canon at Elstree are really good. A year or so ago my Canon 100-400mm lens developed a fault. It turned out the IS unit was faulty. I sent the lens to them for examination, within a couple of days they emailed me with the fault identified and the cost of repair, since the lens was out of warranty. I gave them a ring, authorised the repair and paid via credit card.

Within a week of that the lens was back, checked, calibrated and with a new IS unit fitted. If I recall correctly the lens was guaranteed for a further 6 months

Now I appreciate that's how all companies should operate, but sadly they don't. I couldn't fault the service I got.

If you want to locate Authorised Canon Repair Centres, use this part of their UK website, it has the contact address and telephone number.

http://www.canon.co.uk/Support/Consumer_Products/services_locator/index.aspx

This next link gives their current prices.

http://www.canon.co.uk/Images/Canon RCC UK repair and service Charges - (v4)_tcm14-1032347.pdf

As you can see from the above link, Canon do a service and sensor clean for £80 inc vat, which even with my poor maths is cheaper than you've been quoted.

A straight forward sensor clean is £50 + vat for full frame and £30 + vat for crop sensor.

Oh as an aside, for anyone that does have a Canon DSLR, you may note in the above PDF that they state that you are entitled to one free sensor clean during the warranty period (they probably don't like advertising this fact I suspect!)

I would get in touch with Canon Elstree if I were you.

snips86x · 2 May 2014 at 11:09

Thankyou both for the replies!

I was leaning towards Elstree anyway, but I wanted to know why they were recommended over the others. I did use the Canon UK website to locate a workshop which is how I came back with my selection.

I will send them an email and get a quote, thanks for your help.

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2014 at 11:17

Elstree's price also includes UPS return with insurance.

With Elstree there is also much higher chance they have all the spare parts should your gear needs anything replacing, as opposed some places need to order in parts.

Elstree also qualify for CPS (if you have it, Fixation can do that for you too), which means cutting the queue for even faster return time. I can get it back in 3 days.

Elstree has a fixed fee service and repair charge for a lot of things, for example, they replaced the entire innards for my 580EXII for £105. It's basically a new flash when I got it back. I've also sent in my 35L, 50/1.4, 24-70L, all good experience. Good communication, fast return and most of all, they give me confidence as they are Canon themselves.

I see very little reaon to send it off any other canon centre if they are not local.

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 13:32

I finally got round to sending my camera to Canon UK in Elstree and received a call earlier today to tell me it's ready to come back.

Sensor has been cleaned, calibrated and firmware upgraded to 2.5. I honestly didn't know there was a new firmware version despite checking every few months. There were no other issues.

I despatched on Tuesday and it will be back with me on Monday, very much looking forward to taking it out again. I've delayed taking it out as the pics have not been as good as they should have been, the Canon technician said I should now notice a difference

Now to get that 35mm Sigma!! Cheers for the recommendation Raymond, really appreciate it.

quickshot89 · 30 May 2014 at 13:58

Same site is used for standard canon repairs under 1st year, every time I have sent a camera there it arrived back within a week. highly impressed with the service the site gives.

Raymond Lin · 30 May 2014 at 14:03

Good to hear

snips86x · 2 Jun 2014 at 13:12

I've just received my camera back and it most certainly takes better pictures now. My only issue is when looking through the view finder, the image is not pin sharp, but on taking the picture, it's perfect.

I've never had to make any micro adjustments, is this what's causing the issue?

Columbo · 2 Jun 2014 at 13:26

Probably the diopter adjuster next to the viewfinder, turn it until the view is sharp.

snips86x · 2 Jun 2014 at 13:35

Oh - that was easy. I was expecting it to be more complicated. I've never had to use that before, always wondered what it was for.

Thanks

Vertigo · 2 Jun 2014 at 15:44

Used Elstree myself for calibration of my 70-200 last year. No complaints about the service whatsoever - they did a very good job with good communication (engineer rang me with my lens in front of him).

Only minor issue was they slightly exceeded my "guaranteed" CPS turnaround time but not by much.

V F · 2 Jun 2014 at 15:56

snips86x said:
Sensor has been cleaned, calibrated and firmware upgraded to 2.5. I honestly didn't know there was a new firmware version despite checking every few months. There were no other issues.

It was released last year. 12/10/13 http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d

I also haven't updated it.

snips86x said:
I've just received my camera back and it most certainly takes better pictures now.

How bad was it before?