Your 1D Mark III after the fix

FM Forum Rules
Canon SLRs, primes, and zooms lenses reviews

FM Forums \| Canon-mount SLRs \| Join Upload & Sell	Search Used
1 2 3 … 8 9 end

Archive 2009 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Daan B
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #1 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Emile, from the moment I read about your 1D3 problems I knew Canon couldn't solve them by repairs or calibration... The problems were too similair to the ones I had with my 1Ds3. Canon swapped my 1Ds3, I am glad to hear that they did the same for you... No angry e-mails for you, heh? Congrats

Apr 03, 2009 at 05:21 PM

Emile Gregoire
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #2 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Daan B wrote:
Emile, from the moment I read about your 1D3 problems I knew Canon couldn't solve them by repairs or calibration... The problems were too similair to the ones I had with my 1Ds3. Canon swapped my 1Ds3, I am glad to hear that they did the same for you... No angry e-mails for you, heh? Congrats

Thanks for not discouraging me beforehand, but I had kind of the same feeling as you had after reading about your problems. They were just too similar. Hey, it did work out for both of us in the end

Apr 03, 2009 at 05:34 PM

mark fadely
Online
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #3 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Great news Emile - glad they took care of for you. I think Canon is saving a lot of their reputation right now, even though they let it get pretty low over the last 2 years. To their credit, the main issue with the MKIIIs (autofocus) would have been very difficult to figure out. Now that they finally admitted there was a problem, and learned how to fix it, they are being very responsive.

Apr 03, 2009 at 06:13 PM

yorkie
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #4 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

UPS collected my 1d MK3, serial 579xxx purchased in Jan, on Wednesday 25th March and it was back with me on Tuesday 31st. The covering letter made no mention of any parts being replaced or added, just recalibration.
Tested yesterday on cars moving directly towards and away at about 30mph using 70-200 f4 L, centre point and max frame rate. 95% were spot on, and the rest varied between being slightly soft and front focused by about 6 feet at a range of about 50ft. This compares to a pre-fix total failure rate of at least 50% in similar circumstances.
Single shot focusing seems snappier even with my 400mm f5.6 L plus 1.4x converter.
So "well done" to Canon UK for a fast service and what looks like an effective fix, although 100% perfection would have been nice!!!

javascript:void(0);

Apr 03, 2009 at 06:21 PM

John P Mulgrew
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #5 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

I used my 300 2.8 for a softball game today and it was almost perfect, only oof shots were because of me so I'm thinking it was my fault with the 70-200 2.8 on the MKIII the other day. Bright sun today and I'll test it again tomorrow at a rugby game.

Here's a fan watching the game

Apr 05, 2009 at 01:40 AM

willis
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #6 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

I wonder why Canon has not trumpeted this calibration as 'THE FIX' for the 1DIII AF system. My camera was pretty good before but has been transformed, particularly the AI servo performance. I can't understand why Canon hasn't been more upfront about this and why it only talks of improved outer point accuracy.
The difference is so obvious and all previous fixes have shown only marginal improvements (except for the early submirror assembly issue). I'm now getting 28-29 out of 30 pin sharp at 10fps. Perhaps even they can't believe they've got it right at last.

Apr 05, 2009 at 03:20 PM

lexvo
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #7 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

I'm wondering at what moment one can buy a new 1DIII in the store which is 'fixed' in the factory so it doesn't need to be sent in.

Apr 05, 2009 at 03:47 PM

Yakim Peled
Online
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #8 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Many of us would.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Apr 05, 2009 at 03:52 PM

maverick666
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #9 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Maybe it's better to buy used and send it to Canon.

Apr 05, 2009 at 04:01 PM

Alistair Watson
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #10 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Emile Gregoire wrote:
Thanks Lex, Grant,

I've put aside the beer and just tried it. At first I didn't want to: what if it behaved in exactly the same way...

But, man, what a difference. Night and day! I tried the worst offender: my 24-70L at 24mm. With my previous body, only center point would focus accurately (90% of the time with this particular lens) and all other points would front-focus severely, especially the outer points (severely as in: point it at a building 100 meters away and it would focus at 3 meters). This body however just works at all points!

And so, Lex, only now it's time to open the Lagavullin

Congratulations Emile, I am happy you finally have a 1D3 that works for you, long may it continue.

Apr 05, 2009 at 04:36 PM

susi
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #11 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

didn't realize there are 2 threads on this topic, so thought I would post to this as well.
I did not see any problems with my 1DKlll , as I contributed missed shots and back focus to user error.
but now that I have the camera back from this last fix I am getting a much better keeper rate !! I tried the camera out with some skate boarders last night and did not get one that jumped to back focus! I am a happy camper!

Apr 06, 2009 at 03:09 AM

stan_g
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #12 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Called Canon and requested the adjustment. Never sent in before. Bought new 7-07 (ser.no. 523xxx). How long is the wait for the Email for the shipping forms? Have other 1d3 this old came back with only adjustments? Thanks.

Apr 20, 2009 at 02:19 PM

mbellot
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #13 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

stan_g wrote:
Called Canon and requested the adjustment. Never sent in before. Bought new 7-07 (ser.no. 523xxx). How long is the wait for the Email for the shipping forms? Have other 1d3 this old came back with only adjustments? Thanks.

Stan,

I don't have the serial number range memorized, but based on the purchase date alone I would guess you should have sent it in for the mirror box fix (the original fix to end all fixes).

It took ~ 4 hours after I got off the phone to get the email with the shipping label and ~ 10 days total time without the camera.

Mine went to New Jersey because I complained of Err99 issues (I've had a couple in the last six months) and they said Newport News was only geared up for AF fix.adjust.

Apr 20, 2009 at 02:39 PM

jhg photo
Online
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #14 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Mine came back from the German facility at Willich within one week.
Since it has been serviced it appears more accurate than before although it wasn't a bad one either.
Report stated focus calibration and firmware update.
Seems it was well worth it. I am now really satisfied.

Apr 20, 2009 at 02:45 PM

stan_g
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #15 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

mbellot:
I called, I believe, on thurs. 4/16, and the Canon "MK III Service Program" form came through Mon. 4/20 afternoon and UPS form came 4/21. My "baby" is on it's way. I'm holding my breath.

recently I had a 70-200 f/4 is go bad and it had to be sent in 3 times! 1st time back it had a complete lens group loose, you could see the set clunk back and forth by looking down the barrel and rotate it side to side. 2nd time back seemed ok for 2 days then all shots went blurry. 3rd time back (charges dropped - free) it is back to it's wonderful self.

Apr 22, 2009 at 02:16 PM

GeneO
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #16 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Update on mine. Since after the fix, it hunts like crazy in single point one-shot mode in broad daylight. It is on its way to Irvine.

Gene

Edited on Apr 22, 2009 at 09:49 PM · View previous versions

Apr 22, 2009 at 02:51 PM

Emile Gregoire
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #17 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

GeneO wrote:
Update on mine. Since after the fix, it hnts like crazy in single point one-shot mode in broad daylight. It is on its way to Irvine.

Gene

That's a bummer, Gene. Should be rock-solid; mine is. Good luck and keep us posted!

Apr 22, 2009 at 03:57 PM

ftemoto
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.9 #18 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

Mine took about 8 days, round trip from Sacramento to Irvine and back. No hardware changes like washers listed, just electrical/programming. Nothing at all was reset on the camera from the setting I had in place before sending. On return, redid the MA for my 24-70, 70-200 and 300, and they changed, but not by much.

Never had any AF issues with it in one shot or servo before sending it in. I've only had one chance to shoot since it's return, a soccer game at about 85 degrees, and frankly I thought it performed noticeably worse than before. That said, I had not had the camera in hand for a serious sports shoot in many months, and I am hoping/willing to concede operator rust may have something to do with that. I also stupidly used some different AF cn settings from the "new" Canon online flash manual rather than keeping the ones I used before sending it in as a control to isolate how well the "fix" worked, so I am going back to what I used earlier for a game this Saturday and we'll see if I and it don't do better. If not, back it goes.

Apr 22, 2009 at 07:32 PM

Bas Breetveld
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.9 #19 · Your 1D Mark III after the fix

In april I've spent a week in Poland for the white tailed Eagles and lost many shots when the Eagles picked up their fish from the water. I lost focus many times... After all it was due to wrong C. fn. settings for this circumstances.
Birds in the air were no problem at all:
This image is copyrighted by the owner

Last weekend I've spent an afternoon with birds in flight and I'm very satisfied with the results. My C. fn. settings are:

2: Slow

3: 0

4: 1

5: 1 I'm pretty amazed that 'focus search off' has the best results, especially with busy BG's.

8: 1

The last results are on this page on my website: http://www.naturereflections.nl/reflections/reflections_023.html

Kind regards from the Netherlands

May 08, 2009 at 12:09 PM


FM Forums \| Canon-mount SLRs \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 3 … 8 9 end