Camera Repair - what would you do?

[NoPulp]

I've been struggling with my camera (Canon T5) for awhile. Pictures with the 50mm f1.4 would typically be focused on the bottom. I thought it was user error and then filters. Ended up getting mcbain to look at it and they figured the autofocus was out of calibration? I tested another 1.4 and mcbain also tested their 1.4 and figured it was the actual camera. The calibration issue isn't as noticeable with my other lenses since they don't have as big of aperture, it does seem my other lenses are bias towards the bottom of pictures too though? There's no microadjustment on rebel series.

Anyways, I sent the camera to canon and tried to convince them to extend the warranty. They didn't go for it...

Repair will be $167 shipped back to me.
I already have $30 in shipping also, looks like $10 shipping unrepaired.

Age: 14/15 months old
Shutter: 8k? <10k for sure.


I've been thinking of upgrading bodies, but wasn't planning on doing it this soon. I think I'm leaning towards just going full frame with a 6d (body only). I have a 70-200 f4 L, 10-22 f3.5-4.5 and the 50 f1.4. I would sell the 10-22 since it wouldn't work on the 6d.


Should I fix the T5? or abandon ship
What is a used T5 18-55 kit even worth?
Is it worth anything unrepaired? pictures with the kit lens would still look good to someone that just wants pictures.


I don't know what to do :banghead:

[blitz]

If the resale is over $167 it makes sense to get it repaired.

But I personally love any excuse to upgrade my gear so just get them to throw it in the trash and pick up something new.

[NoPulp]

Yeah, I'm not sure of the value.

Prices of rebels are all over the place. Seems like I could get around $300... maybe. But I've noticed locally that rebels don't seem to sell... I don't really want to be stuck with a camera I don't use. I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world to have a backup or keep a camera for work/in my truck.

[blitz]

I just looked and a T5 Kit from TCS is $429.99 so $300 is probably a stretch.

If you don't want to commit to a 6D right now, $167 is pretty cheap to hold you over and you'll at least make your money back selling it down the road.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I would just take the opportunity to upgrade if it's something you've been thinking about anyway - the T5 is pretty low on the totem pole, you should notice a very appreciable difference with even a slightly higher end body. It also won't be worth hardly anything to sell, as blitz pointed out.

AF micro adjustment is a band-aid fix at best anyway if you had it, you're better off dealing with the issue properly. 6D's are pretty expensive right now though - you could just repair and wait for prices to drop, or wait for the 6DII which shouldn't be too far away.

[taemo]

Canon T5 w/ kit lens is around $430 new from TCS so getting it repaired will be about 40-50% of it's original value at this point.

my suggestion and I've done this in the past is sell the gear 'for parts' and you might get 70% of it's original value.

[NoPulp]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt

AF micro adjustment is a band-aid fix at best anyway if you had it, you're better off dealing with the issue properly. 6D's are pretty expensive right now though - you could just repair and wait for prices to drop, or wait for the 6DII which shouldn't be too far away.

Is AF calibration a common issue? Micro adjustments seem like a band aid fix to me too. I almost feel paranoid now that it'll happen to me again. Are higher end crop bodies and full frame built better to avoid this? Did I just get a bad camera? I can't think of a situation where I mishandled the camera.

Would it be a bad time to invest in a 6D? I was looking at used 7d but they're old... I also looked at 7d II, but for the price I thought it would be better to jump to full frame.
I really bought my T5 at a bad time.



Maybe selling the camera "as is" wouldn't be a bad idea.

[D'z Nutz]

I don't know if recent DSLRs still have it, but older ones used to have an AF adjustment.

You insert a small allen ken into that little knob right of the sensor and make small tweaks depending on how off your AF is.

http://www.lmscope.com/produkt22/microbilder/Canon_EOS_350D_Intern_3.JPG

Another option is if you're not hurting for the cash, I would just start shopping for a new camera and then do an IR mod with the T5 since AF is no longer useful for it anyways.

[NoPulp]

I was told there wasn't a way to adjust the lower end canons?

What is the IR mod?
edit: Looked more into it, might be an interesting project.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by NoPulp


Is AF calibration a common issue? Micro adjustments seem like a band aid fix to me too. I almost feel paranoid now that it'll happen to me again. Are higher end crop bodies and full frame built better to avoid this? Did I just get a bad camera? I can't think of a situation where I mishandled the camera.

Would it be a bad time to invest in a 6D? I was looking at used 7d but they're old... I also looked at 7d II, but for the price I thought it would be better to jump to full frame.
I really bought my T5 at a bad time.



Maybe selling the camera &quot;as is&quot; wouldn't be a bad idea.

None of my lenses need AF calibration personally, but a lot of people obsess over it and there is an entire business surrounding the calibration obsessed folks and what makes an ideal AF target. Phase detect AF systems in general have a tolerance, often equal to the first few points of AF calibration anyway, so trying to get it flawless 100% of the time is going to be a futile exercise, and not to mention time consuming.

When I get a new lens, I just check a variety of focal length and subject distance combinations in a controlled test, comparing live view (CDAF) to viewfinder focus (PDAF) and if they match everywhere I consider it good. If it was out anywhere by a noticeable amount I would exchange the lens and I've yet to have to do that.

The underlying issue with AF calibration is the value only works for a single combination of focal length and subject distance (I think Canon lets you do two). Most of the time, making one or two combinations of subject distance and focal length better will make the lens worse at other combinations. It's a band-aid solution at best, and if I ever got a lens that needed more than a few points of AF fine tune anywhere I would exchange it. The only way it woks as a global solution is if you lens is out about the same amount at every single combination of FL and subject distance, which is rare. Nikon only lets you do one value, Canon I think gives you two, which is better but still pretty useless.

The proper way to do it is with something like the Sigma dock which I think uses 16 or more combinations on some lenses, but for some reason DSLRs haven't been building such capabilities into the bodies. Maybe it's harder than it sounds to implement properly. Nikon's latest bodies now automate this process, but they still only arrive at a single value, making it pretty useless.

Hard to say what's going on in your specific situation. If you mount the lenses on other cameras and don't experience any issue, it's probably the camera (or vise versa). Higher end bodies are definitely going to give you better accuracy with wide aperture lenses, especially compared to the AF system in the T5.

The 6D is $1700 right now, which IMHO is pretty expensive for what you get. If you aren't using it for action and don't care as much about the bells & whistles it will probably suit you fine though. A used 5DM3 when everyone dumps them for the upcoming 5DM4 (rumors suggest April) would probably be a much more useful body overall if you are in to a bit of everything.

[NoPulp]

I tried 3 different 50mm 1.4. All of them looked like shit on my camera, but worked fine on other cameras. I can noticed even my 10-22 has the same issue, but it's not as obvious. The guy that looked was sure it was the camera.


I think I'm happy with what I get from the 6d. I do like to do some action occasionally, but it should be fine for my needs.

[NoPulp]

Bought a 6d.
Very big improvement!

The 50mm did improve a ton, but it was still a bit off. Played with the mirco adjusters a bit and now I'm happy.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by NoPulp
I was told there wasn't a way to adjust the lower end canons?

They were in the original Rebels and I just checked my 6D. Still there.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by NoPulp
Bought a 6d.
Very big improvement!

The 50mm did improve a ton, but it was still a bit off. Played with the mirco adjusters a bit and now I'm happy.

Just make sure your micro adjusts didn't make the lens noticeably worse at other distances, it often does. If you're happy though don't worry about it too much.