I bought an EOS 3 just over a year ago and the other night while shooting a PR job the camera failed on me. There was a grinding noise coming from the camera. The battery check indicator was flashing in the LCD. I thought I had a battery with no juice on replacing the battery the same noice was coming from the camera each time I hit the shutter. I brought the camera to a repair facility and they said that the gears on the winder was possibly stripped, potentially as a result of something coming loose in the mechanism. The camera repair facility wanted close to $300 to repai the problem. BUt i was thinking for a camera that is just little over a year old and with less than 100 rolls run through it, how can such a catastrophic failure occur. I just wanted to know if anyone else has encountered the same problem and what Canon had to say about it.

-- Ben Kee (bennykee@hotmail.com), March 16, 2002

Answers

if you're just out of warranty, I would call canon, and explain the situation to them. explain to them the problem nicely and clearly, how disappointed you are that such a thing could happen, especially at such an important time -- but don't forget to compliment them in slight ways that you like the camera a lot. express how you feel, and then ask them to make the situation right by fixing the camera right away.

one way to approach this.

i would fight this to the bitter end if this happened to me. $300 is unacceptable, and I wouldn't pay a dime for such a thing to happen in such a high-end camera.

-- m. lohninger (anavrin@mac.com), March 17, 2002.

I think it was a freak failure and is almost unheard of. They have a reputation of never breaking come sand or water (I've faced both many times with my EOS 3). However, the above poster has a good idea. I got both my A2 repaired for free when it was just out of warranty so it's worth a shot.

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), March 17, 2002.