Hi, I want to send in a lens for calibration. Can anyone who had experience in this show me what to do... I have the lens, still under 1 year warranty, warranty card unfilled, and invoice for lens. All that stuff, but want to know if Canon required more. Do I have to get a service form somewhere on the net? write a letter explaining the problem? such and such procedure.... This is my first time sending in a lens. Your input is greatly appreciated!
Tell them that you want to send in your lens because it's not performing the way you feel it should be.
They will direct you to either Jamesburg NJ, or Irvine CA.
They will want you to have a COPY (do not send originals) of the receipt and the warranty card (they could give a crap if it's filled out, I've sent my copies blank).
They will ask for sample images, a written description of the problem your phone number (which they won't call) your address (to mail your stuffs back) and your e-mail (where they will tell you if it's warranty or not so on so forth).
They will calibrate the lens, clean it replace anything bad so on so forth. Process is anywhere from 1 day to 30 days. My personal experiences with Canon have been this.
Fix a 30D. 6 day total turn around, 2 days of it were shipping (1 day each way).
Calibrate a 70-200 2.8IS 13 (or maybe 16) days including shipping.
RECALIBRATE it, and send 2 bodies in to see if they were the "culprits".
Mailed it Tuesday. They had it Wednesday, Thursday was Thanksgiving, Friday they were in the mail back to me, had them Monday.
Use a carrier that offers tracking for your package. It's typically been the best to use UPS in my experience.
Now the one time I sent my stuffs in, they said that it wasn't a warranty repair because they didn't get the information with it. A call straightened it out, so don't pay unless you have to!
dmclogger wrote:
Do you pack your equipment in the original boxes or just pack them with lots of packing material?
Just tons of packing material.
My 85 f/1.8 badly backfocuses (on both my 5D and 40D) and it has now made two trips now to Canon NJ both without improvement. Its now on its 3rd trip, this time with my 5D.
This is the first time I've ever had problems with any of my Canon lenses though.
I just put mine in the original box, then packed that box with some bubble wrap in another box. You can just get on their website and do it from there.
You've gotten some good advice already. My advice is to be as specific as possible. A CD with some of the shots related to the lens problem is helpful. I always call Canon first before sending in my gear. Don't use your original Canon branded box because you will not get it back. Only send in what is necessary for Canon to make the repair. Also, you should decide if your camera body needs to be sent in at the same time to make sure the lens is calibrated to the body you use with it.
Got my original box back too, felt better shipping lens in original box, but I kept the hood and case at home, since they didn't need that...FYI, I did the whole process on the internet, it was pretty easy, the tracking feature was nice too.
