1DC: Dead Pixels, random errors, terrible support... anyone else?

Geko said:
It would have been actually an amazing camera if it worked... But it doesn't.
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Mine does.

I would get the whole camera replaced under warranty. It seems unlikely that the same camera would generate new hot pixels again after a sensor swap, if something wasn't wrong.

I understand if your energy is all used up, but you need to protect your investment. Too much money to let it go.
 
AndreeOnline said:
That's the magical "power" of the internet right there.

Gecko's story sucks. But it's one user. I haven't heard about this at all prior to reading about it here.

I had a hot pixel on some C100 footage when I had that camera, but that thankfully "healed itself".

If anything, Canon to me plays it on the conservative side. Look at RED and the many debacles they've had with numerous sensor issues. At the end of the day it's technology, and even with today's refined manufacturing processes "s*%t happens".

That "reality" is by no means an excuse for Canon not handling this properly.
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I am a RED owner as well as Canon. Its really not about the tech or if it malfunctions. I would be fine buying into the 1DC knowing this. Like RED, things happen. (though my experience with RED has been rock solid).

Its about support. If Canon is really not supporting a camera line anymore, thats a different story than just malfunctioning. Its also one that I would not buy into. RED's support is nothing short of amazing.
 
Out of fairness, Canon fixed and paid for shipping of my 1DC. It was very fast. It was a good experience.
 
Geko,
there's something utterly wrong, maybe it's the cam, maybe it's Canon or your communication.
Instead of posting anonymous here, I would make this public, a lot of people would like to see a fat fingerprint on the mirror of a 8,000.- cam as well after returning from service for example...
 
Guys, we are totally fed up with this, truly. There is nothing anonymous in my posts as far as Canon is concerned, as I can assure you that this whole issue is very well known at Canon's cinema division by now, and this situation will only develop further.

The mirror fingerprint is something which took me exactly 2 seconds to clean, it just showed the quality of the work by the support team. The main issue is however that a new CMOS sensor develops hot pixel exactly 4 minutes into it's first shooting day - and those pixels are there to stay - they show in all footage from then on. How exactly do you expect us to require Canon to change the whole camera since it just took us TWO MONTHS to make them replace a clearly defective sensor, and we needed to send this camera internationally to them twice for this? Some of you may have an idea what it means to have a crew idle for 58 days to wait for the replacement of the main camera - a camera around which has been spent more than 80K$ for building a complete system. Maybe in Holywood feature film this kind of money and problems are not an issue, but our operation is not that big.

At this stage I really do not know how we will proceed. Giving away still more thousands of dollars for 'fixing' an in-warranty product which is a total disaster and for dealing with a company which could not care less does not seem like a good idea at all.

One thing I know though - I would NEVER recommend this camera to anyone. I understand that some of you do not experience problems, but there is already one more person on this thread with a hot pixel issue and also... how many of you are using the 1DC as a real main cinema camera for a project? During the few months we had the thing before we started serious shooting I was playing with it occasionally and it performed great. The problems started with serious daily 4K use - the situation this camera was supposedly designed for. The first hot pixels took some days to develop. The second ones - 4 minutes. My guess is that very few people use the 1DC as a main camera and very few shoot 4K with it for more than several minutes per day. My feeling about this, and I am currently biased, is that this product has a faulty design and can not be used as a main cinema camera. This has been our experience. Canon themselves told us to get a second camera and switch cameras every 15 minutes, and then couldn't fix it at all - how much worst can this possibly get??
 
wuffer said:
Geko,
there's something utterly wrong, maybe it's the cam, maybe it's Canon or your communication.
Instead of posting anonymous here, I would make this public, a lot of people would like to see a fat fingerprint on the mirror of a 8,000.- cam as well after returning from service for example...
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Agreed.

A lot of us post under an alias. However, name or links in the signature to identify the person helps. Also, if there is poor service, then better to post the image. Afterall, it is said that a photo is worth 1000 words.

The 1Dc is a great camera. There are many indie films being shot with this camera in my country. I now don't have the 1Dc (have the C300 as my main camera). I am missing the 1Dc especially for wildlife work.
 
indiawilds said:
Agreed.

A lot of us post under an alias. However, name or links in the signature to identify the person helps. Also, if there is poor service, then better to post the image. Afterall, it is said that a photo is worth 1000 words.
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One thing I can never understand is people replying to threads they have not bothered to read. I posted a capture of our hot pixels not once but twice. I posted a scan of Canon's service report. Sorry that I haven't posted a scan of my personal ID yet - I just not think it is relevant. All this is however besides the point.
 
Side question, was it not viable to rent a 1DC while yours was out of commission? This would have alleviated extended production hold ups. I've read the CPS has loaned cameras in the past, could they not provide you with a 1DC loaner?

Sorry for your troubles Geko.
 
Humanoid Typhoon said:
Side question, was it not viable to rent a 1DC while yours was out of commission? This would have alleviated extended production hold ups. I've read the CPS has loaned cameras in the past, could they not provide you with a 1DC loaner?

Sorry for your troubles Geko.
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We are shooting in Mexico. Good luck trying to find a 1DC for rent here... In fact I am pretty sure that trying to do that would make for a pretty good documentary in it's own right. Thanks for the good words anyway.

Canon told us 3 days ago that we will be contacted by their "Customer relations" department in an effort to fix the situation. So far, they have not even bothered to write though, let alone do something meaningful.
 
Geko said:
Guys, we are totally fed up with this, truly.
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Agreed. This should not happen.

Geko said:
The mirror fingerprint is something which took me exactly 2 seconds to clean, it just showed the quality of the work by the support team.
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I feel the same way.

Geko said:
At this stage I really do not know how we will proceed. Giving away still more thousands of dollars for 'fixing' an in-warranty product which is a total disaster and for dealing with a company which could not care less does not seem like a good idea at all.
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If I were in your place, I would not use Canon ever again. But my experience with Canon was quite good (just couldn't get good info on the 1DC from the Cine division, but everything else was very good.)

Geko said:
My guess is that very few people use the 1DC as a main camera and very few shoot 4K with it for more than several minutes per day. My feeling about this, and I am currently biased, is that this product has a faulty design and can not be used as a main cinema camera.
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Very true. This is not ready for main camera cinema use. I have used it and abused it, and it held up to the abuse, and I definitely enjoy the camera. But running it in 4K all day, I would imagine it could not handle a heavy production schedule. This camera has no fan, so I cannot imagine it doing well in running all day in 4K.

Geko said:
This has been our experience. Canon themselves told us to get a second camera and switch cameras every 15 minutes, and then couldn't fix it at all - how much worst can this possibly get??
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That is actually the only solution. Switching cameras in a production work flow. Not very practical, I know. You are correct in saying this camera is not ready for rigorous 4K shooting. It will get hot, and it will shut off. I imagine it could cause sensor problems from overheating too. Could the camera be used professionally? I believe so, but nothing that requires a lot of continuous use out of one camera body for the whole production.

I feel for you. Sounds frustrating, but also affecting your financial well being.
 
Just to update the thread for the sake of statistics. We were told 18 days ago that we would be contacted straight away by Canon's Customer Service in order for them to sort the issue. This has not happened yet despite several later attempts to contact them again. We have all reasons to suspect that the Canon guys are waiting for our warranty to expire - which will happen in a couple of days. All in all - the same thing. Sorry for taking your time with all this, I just hope that this story will help others to make wiser decisions than we made in choosing this platform.
 
Considering your well documented, time stamped history in this thread, it would be unwise for Canon to play the "oops, warranty just expired"-card.
 
Canon EOS 1DC - flawed by design, overheating problems

Canon EOS 1DC - flawed by design, overheating problems

Another update - the saga continues, Canon is in full disgrace mode.

32 days after Canon assured us that we would be contacted immediately by customer service we received an e-mail from a supervisor (the same one who told us to buy a second camera), offering NO solution to the problem whatsoever, just asking us four ridiculous questions - at what speed we shoot (we shoot at shutter 50 for 4K), how long are the takes we make (2-3 minutes per take), do we use Live View (as if we have any other choice) and what lighting conditions we have (ISO 100 possible at all times). That's it. This is beyond unbelievable.

However, the fact that they do not propose any solution (camera replacement in particular), and the specific questions they ask points in only one direction - they know that the 1DC has internal overheating problems which possibly do not trigger any warning or protection and ruin the sensor when in 4K mode. This is the only logical conclusion. They produced a camera which is defective by design - as is also evident by much of the information accumulated in this thread. The camera may be good for HD but not for 4K as it overheats self destructively without giving a warning... This seems to be highly probable at this point.
 
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Geko said:
...just asking us four ridiculous questions - at what speed we shoot (we shoot at 50fps for 4K), how long are the takes we make (2-3 minutes per take), do we use Live View (as if we have any other choice) and what lighting conditions we have (ISO 100 possible at all times).
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Just a few minor points—not that it matters at all for you at this point:

50fps at 4k is not possible on a 1Dc. You should shoot at ISO400 of above (assuming Canon Log). Below ISO400 you cap the camera with potential IQ effects.
 
AndreeOnline said:
Just a few minor points—not that it matters at all for you at this point:

50fps at 4k is not possible on a 1Dc. You should shoot at ISO400 of above (assuming Canon Log). Below ISO400 you cap the camera with potential IQ effects.
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24fps at shutter 50, Sorry that was a mix up. We generally do not shoot below ISO 400, I am just using it as an example of the shooting conditions - i.e. we always have enough light. ISO 800 is what we normally find ourselves with and we rarely go above that. But yes, it does not matter at this stage :)
 
I, personally, have seen the high temperature icon come on when shooting at 4K. I've never had the camera stop recording due to high temperature, but I'm pretty sure that Canon built in some type of temperature protection on these cameras.
 
How long can you capture 4K content before you have an issue? Is it a few minutes....or are there any repercussions to capturing long 4K clips (media size permitting)?
 
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