Any experience with Canon service/repair?

[SoSiouxme]

Hi,

I just took my Canon A620 & its Canon underwater housing on its inaugural dive trip and I was quite happy with it until I pulled the camera out of the housing after a dive and notice a slight bit of water was dribbling down the lcd panel. Now, I'm not sure if there was flooding or I put the moisture in the camera when I opened the housing up. I didn't use it for the rest of the trip because I was afraid I would flood my camera.

When I got it home, I bobbed it in the sink with a paper towel in it for a while and it seemed fine.

I'm wondering if I should send it in to Canon just in case. Or maybe do some experimenting with it here -- just re-lube the o-ring, etc. Does anybody have an idea if Canon would take a look at and let me know if there was any problem with it or how much they would charge me for doing so? It doesn't seem right that they should charge me anything as the underwater casing is quite new -- but this is my first Canon and I don't know anything about thier policies.

Let me know if you know,

Thanks,

Sioux

 

[alcina]

I'm not sure exactly what Canon US does in a dollar amount but it is common for a camera company to look at things and charge a fee. If your camera is under warranty this fee is usually waived as is the repair IF it is a warranty issue. If you are not under warranty usually the company will charge you the inspection fee but apply it to the repair cost so you aren't hit twice with the same amount. Although frustrating, it seems fair to me.

The warranty is determined by the camera purchase date, not the housing purchase date.

From my experience, if you simply had a drop or two of water on the lcd and no where else, you likely got that when you opened the housing and the camera should be fine. Do you see any corrosion or any build up on the camera at all? If you did have a small leak you may not see any damage but bad things may be happening inside. For me, if it's all working fine and I'm fairly confident it was just a couple of drops from when the case was opened, I don't send it in. YMMV

BTW - no matter that you had this in a housing, Canon may not consider water damage as warranty repair, even if your camera is still in warranty. You'll have to ask them.

I have found Canon to be excellent to deal with both in Australia and in the US. Their service was a deciding factor when I decided to add a SLR rig to my gear.

Good luck!

 

[cfelliot]

The CCD chip in my Canon ZR-90 movie camera died at 1 month post warranty. Canon still fixed it NC.

FWIW Nikon also fixed my 5700 post warranty also NC.

 

[zahner]

FWIW - my Canon u/w housing leaked and fried my SD500 earlier this year. I sent both back to Canon and they replaced the case and replaced the cam with a refurbished unit. This is despite the provision in the warranty that water damage to the camera is not covered. I was very pleased with their service.

you might be able to have a local dive shop test it the housing for you if they have a pressure pot, but if it were me i would just sent it back to Canon