C300: Not thrilled with Canon Repair

Run&Gun said:
Yep. But I guess it’s all relative to what you’re used to buying and the market segment(s) you serve. When the OG C300 came out, people in my world thought they were an absolute steal. ~$15K(and you could use “cheap” still lenses) vs. $40K-$100K (+$20K-$30K a pop broadcast zoom lenses) for VariCam’s and F900’s.

But that was well over a decade ago, and the overall business has had a shift and reset. The market still exists for $40k+ cameras, but it’s arguably much smaller now, with quality dedicated video cameras existing that only cost ~$5K-$15K and hybrids that only cost a couple $K, that can do a lot of what we used to use those for. And with that, the expectations from many people today and what they are generally willing to pay for equipment isn’t what it used to be. A ~$15K camera with the capabilities of the C300/Fs7 was considered a bargain a decade ago. Today, outside of the high-end, a ~$15K camera (with even higher specs and more features) is often considered “too expensive”.
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Yeah, absolutely... but that C300 Mark III/C400 is now like $7500 so the actual pricing did scale down with the expectations.

I haven't used a C400 and likely won't because I really hate dual slots of different types and speed capabilities because I dual record nearly everything I do... but it seems like a hell of an entry at $7500. The C500 Mark II at $6500 is a REALLY good deal. I've seen new C300 Mark IIIs for $5k. Those are all extremely compelling.

Could you sell the C300 Mark III for $15k now? No... but Canon never did that that I know of. I think it launched at $10k with the C500 Mark II at $15k.

And I get it, you can get an R5 or Sony A7 variant for $2000 or so and make some gorgeous footage... but there is something to be said for the real cine cameras and how easy they are to handle under pressure. Most probably won't pay for that, but I respect it. I don't look down on anyone who doesn't tho.
 
rob norton said:
Thanks jb, maybe I'll email Canon Australia and see if they can fix it lol, who knows, maybe they'd approach it differently.
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That's not a bad idea... actually, just call Canon Parts in AUS and see if they'll sell you the diopter assembly separately. If they will and it's a reasonable cost it's an EASY swap. Canon USA just won't sell anything smaller than the whole EVF unit (but they will sell me a plastic cap or thumbscrew for the janky mount they provide!).
 
jb. said:
Yeah, absolutely... but that C300 Mark III/C400 is now like $7500 so the actual pricing did scale down with the expectations.

I haven't used a C400 and likely won't because I really hate dual slots of different types and speed capabilities because I dual record nearly everything I do... but it seems like a hell of an entry at $7500. The C500 Mark II at $6500 is a REALLY good deal. I've seen new C300 Mark IIIs for $5k. Those are all extremely compelling.

Could you sell the C300 Mark III for $15k now? No... but Canon never did that that I know of. I think it launched at $10k with the C500 Mark II at $15k.

And I get it, you can get an R5 or Sony A7 variant for $2000 or so and make some gorgeous footage... but there is something to be said for the real cine cameras and how easy they are to handle under pressure. Most probably won't pay for that, but I respect it. I don't look down on anyone who doesn't tho.
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Right when Canon launched the C300 III in the summer of 2020 I had just started an in-agency job with a small advertising firm. I was in charge of putting together a $40k budget to build out a photo/video/lighting/grip package to execute small scale shoots (interviews, b-roll, stills).

I ended up picking the C300 III for our "A" camera of choice, but it was a tough call against the FX9, based on the pricing at the time. The C300 was just about $11k and the FX9 was still selling brand new for the same ($11k) if I recall. The C500 II was off the table at $16k, it would have blown my budget with everything else I needed to cover.

If it had been a couple of months later, mid-November of the same year, when Sony announced the FX6 then I very well may have made a different decision. I could have very nearly had two FX6's for the price of a single C300 III.

I agree it is absolutely nuts the value for money you can get in today's market. So many great cameras that sit in a sweet spot of pricing for owner/operators.
 
As a complete tangent, right now the C300 Mark III ($7999) is $1000 more than the C500 Mark II ($6999) on B&H.
 
Chris Langer said:
Just want to write in with my recent experience with Canon Virginia Service Center. I sent in C300 Mark III and C70 for a thorough cleaning earlier this month, they quoted $360 per camera so plus tax we sitting at $800. They had the camera for a few days and sent it back which seemed quick. After sitting in shipping delays for 5 days, the sensor had more dust in it than when I sent it off for cleaning. I called back trying to understand and they want me to send both cameras back in for warranty re-cleaning. It makes me lose confidence in Canon support and was considering going to the Burano instead of C400 for my upgrade so I do not get burnt in the future. This is just a camera cleaning they can't even get right, worry about a larger repair. They do remove the sensor from the body and clean the various ND filters then re-assemble & calibrate.

I have a job this weekend so I will send it back early next week. I will report back once I get it back and hope we have a better experience.

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Hey Chris. Do you have an update on this? I'm thinking of sending my c70 back to Canon but I'm having doubts...
 
I just got back my cameras back today. Seems like little to no improvement on this round of cleaning. I even asked for a manager to review the sensors before shipping them to me and they reassured me they are up to standard.

I am going to call tomorrow and ask for a full refund so I can ship it out to another repair center. Not sure if Canon Burbank is worth a try? I can report back with more details tomorrow after talking to someone in Virginia. Here are the photos so you can decide if it is worth it or not.
 

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Yeah, if my cameras came back from a cleaning looking like that, I'd be pissed, too. That first image... They should be absolutely ashamed to send a camera back to a customer in that condition.
 
Chris Langer said:
I just got back my cameras back today. Seems like little to no improvement on this round of cleaning. I even asked for a manager to review the sensors before shipping them to me and they reassured me they are up to standard.

I am going to call tomorrow and ask for a full refund so I can ship it out to another repair center. Not sure if Canon Burbank is worth a try? I can report back with more details tomorrow after talking to someone in Virginia. Here are the photos so you can decide if it is worth it or not.
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WTF? That's comically bad. Well, I was on the fence on whether to send my c70 to the Virginia repair center, but It's definitely going to Photo Tech here in NYC... BTW I spent an entire week calling and NOT getting return calls from their Customer Relations dept. in Virginia. I've had it with Canon...
 
scorsesefan said:
WTF? That's comically bad. Well, I was on the fence on whether to send my c70 to the Virginia repair center, but It's definitely going to Photo Tech here in NYC... BTW I spent an entire week calling and NOT getting return calls from their Customer Relations dept. in Virginia. I've had it with Canon...
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I have a new Sony Burano on the way and was hoping this second clean would be it so I could list the cameras this week. I sent a message to AbelCine and will see what they say today. Hoping they can give me a quote over the phone.
 
Chris Langer said:
I have a new Sony Burano on the way and was hoping this second clean would be it so I could list the cameras this week. I sent a message to AbelCine and will see what they say today. Hoping they can give me a quote over the phone.
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Yeah, I'm close to going back to Sony... We have an Abelcine here in NY and they send some of their work to Canon, so I would be aware of that. I called the one here and they wouldn't give me a quote over the phone, but told me it would be like $165 to take the camera and give a quote...
 
scorsesefan said:
Yeah, I'm close to going back to Sony... We have an Abelcine here in NY and they send some of their work to Canon, so I would be aware of that. I called the one here and they wouldn't give me a quote over the phone, but told me it would be like $165 to take the camera and give a quote...
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Called Canon and they offered a third cleaning on them. I escalated it to customer service manager so hoping I get a call back today with a refund or even some sort of resolution where they clean it thoroughly with a refund. Not ideal that AbelCine sends some of their work to Canon, as that would just put me back into the same position I am at now. At this point if I get a full refund, I might just be honest in my listings and have the next user decide what they want to do with the cameras on their own time & dime.
 
Chris Langer said:
Called Canon and they offered a third cleaning on them. I escalated it to customer service manager so hoping I get a call back today with a refund or even some sort of resolution where they clean it thoroughly with a refund. Not ideal that AbelCine sends some of their work to Canon, as that would just put me back into the same position I am at now. At this point if I get a full refund, I might just be honest in my listings and have the next user decide what they want to do with the cameras on their own time & dime.
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Abelcine may do cleanings in-house. Good luck getting a refund from Canon. I would think a discount might be more likely. Chrysler camera here in NYC is doing my service right now. I know you’re on the West coast but I’ll let you know how it goes…
 
Got my c70 back from Photo Tech. Haven't taken it out on a job yet, but a few quick tests. Looks like they did a good job -- at least the dust spot is gone from the image. It looks as if they did a good job cleaning the sensor glass and ND filters. Shining a light in there I can still see a few small specs of dust but I can't Imagine they would be able to eliminate every speck of dust in a "clean room". Canon was willing to give me a 40% discount on the sensor cleaning, so with tax and shipping it would have been $280 and Photo Tech charged me $299. They were really quick (Two days from when I gave them the go ahead to do the job) and very good communication. At this point I would recommend them...
 
Not good news, will keep an eye out on mine. I picked one up for my C700 FF for £600 UKP, with years warranty, from MPB in UK. I love the EVF-V70, very sharp compared to Zacuto HD EVF, which was good as well, and has tons of camera controls for the C700 on it. I use an Arri adapter plate and mount, better than the Canon offering for me.

As far as Canon pro support in the UK, at Shepperton Canon's HQ, it's appalling. Tech guys did not even know about the C700 FF I put in for routine service and the amount of times I have had to send back lenses as they had more crap in than when I booked them in. Now days I take the kit down, 'insist' on talking to the tech guys in person and then pickup and check everything before I leave the HQ. Twice they have taken a lens back and recleaned it in 10 minutes. The email tech support is equally bad, I had a question about the False Color' being off, first two answers were ChatGPT answers and not correct, finally got it escalated to Japan and got a proper technical reply. I think Canon is not hiring the very knowledgable specialises anymore, it's a great pity.

Unless it's the OLED itself that is faulty, I would escalate the matter to Pro Department and behind if you don't get any joy.

PS Canon not making an adapter cable for the newer USB-C cameras, C400 etc, MC-5U, the EVF-V70 is pretty much end of life.
 
morgan_moore said:
And no evf option for the new cameras. I might bin canon and use my phone.
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I don't think there is any reason why one could not make one, with right schematics? Just typical of Canon for not bothering or not giving users, who have paid a lot for their 'Pro/Semi Pro' cameras an option. Yeah, if I was not so old I would probably go to BlackMagic, they seem very progressive. PS I hope Canon does not buy Arri, as it will be the death of Arriflex. C PS: There is probably some protocol reason but still companies usually make adapters.
 

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