Alistair Watson
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Upload & Sell: Off
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Emile and Sam,
I sent in my 1D2N and 8 lenses in for service and calibration at the beginning of this year. It was done for free because Canon UK rules used to be that as long as you had one body within warranty the calibration work was free. This appears to have changed because as usual people seem to be taking advantage.
I got my first Mark 3 in June this year and it wouldn't focus for 5hit. Immediately returned. I then purchased another Mark 3 in August because I absolutely needed a 2nd body. After talking to CPS techs re custom functions for 6 weeks, sending images in, they couldn't work out what the problem was so they asked me to send the Mark 3 in for calibration. The problem is, when you shoot sports wide open, to make calibration worthwhile I said all gear should go in, Canon UK agreed and I did just that. However after dropping of the gear on Monday morning, I needed it back for Saturday for a shoot, on Wednesday they called me quoting over £700 for 1 1/2 days of a techs time. We eventually negotiated down to £330. I specifically detailed all the AI-Servo issues I had with the Mark 3 on the service form and told the techs that this was at the request of the CPS people. They didn't care and I needed my gear back.
Sure the Mark 3 now has an accurate DoF when shooting wide open, very accurate actually but it still doesn't focus properly for people sports. Given this new news I am going to try to recover the £330 because I have spent hours and hours on the phone with Canon, experimented repeatedly on shoots with a body I don't trust, lost important shots. I am very annoyed with Canon UK, to say the least! Typical British understatement here! 
While Canon UK currently doesn't have a clue about the focus sub assembly I am going to try to get a replacement body from my dealer as long as Canon assure me that bodies produced after x date include the fix. I simply cannot be bothered to wait any longer. If I had £1 for every time I had heard Canon UK say "oh you can't compare the Mark 3 to the Mark 2N, it is an advanced camera and operates very differently from previous iterations of the 1D series" I could have easily bought myself a Wi-Fi unit for the body!!!! I am sorry but I have been shooting for 10 years and been a Canon customer for that long too apart from a brief and never to be repeated trial with Nikon. Given that I read every single tech doc on the Mark 3, trialed every single custom function, over 1000 shots with each settings, I find it insulting to be told it is my fault, I find it insulting to be charged £330 for calibration when i send my equipment in at the direct request of Canon. Frankly I am very angry at Canon UK. Sadly, no one at Canon UK cares one bit!
Without you all falling asleep from my rambling, I wonder where we would be without RG's opinion pushing Canon forward to find this resolution. I have gained more information from this forum on possible combinations of settings combined with docs I have read from CPS/N than I ever got from Canon people. Nearly all of the feedback I have had has been constructive and worthwhile and I thank you for that. 
I am not going to take my 1D3 out on a shoot again now until either this body is fixed or I get a replacement from my dealer. Shooting this summer has become such a chore, rather than something I have always loved to do. The other thing I learnt was that sure the 1D3 could be a great camera, but the 1D2N is also a great camera and I think I learnt alot more about the 1D2N by doing so much customisation of the Mark 3.
Anyway, a quick gulp of a lovely vintage Lagavulin single malt and it is time for my rambling to end. (for today anyway  )
Goodnight all.
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