# Sad 5DIII



## AlanF (Dec 24, 2013)

The mode dial cap got detached from my 5DIII and lost. It's a pain replacing it because the cap itself is not a Canon part and the whole top unit has to be replaced at a cost of more than £200. I wasn't worried about the cost as the camera is still under a 1 year warranty and I had taken out 3 years accidental damage insurance as well (which is very rare for me to do). Because of the hassle of losing the camera while the repair was taking place, I tracked down a dial cap to glue on, due to arrive on Monday (which it did). But, on Sunday, when walking along with a strap attached to the lens over my shoulder, the body fell off, cracked the top unit and spewed out all of the dial components. So the dilemma is over - the top unit is being replaced under insurance. The camera is still working, the top unit having acted as a crumple zone.

It's back to the 7D as a great back up.


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## dgatwood (Dec 25, 2013)

First rule of technology: If it is glued on, it will fall off.

I'd love to ping one of their engineers and ask why they elected to use a glue-on piece of metal instead of etching the plastic knob itself (as they do/did on many of their low-end cameras).


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## atreides71 (Dec 25, 2013)

My heart goes out to you and your camera.


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## rpt (Dec 25, 2013)

atreides71 said:


> My heart goes out to you and your camera.


+1

Hope you get it back in good working condition soon. What strap were you using? I now use a BlackRapid strap and not the one that comes with the 5D3. Much more secure.


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## AlanF (Dec 25, 2013)

rpt said:


> atreides71 said:
> 
> 
> > My heart goes out to you and your camera.
> ...



The strap was attached to the 300mm f/2.8 lens and there was no strap attached to the camera. The camera somehow became unlocked and fell off the lens, which is safe and sound.


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## rpt (Dec 25, 2013)

AlanF said:


> rpt said:
> 
> 
> > atreides71 said:
> ...


Oh dear! A nightmare scenario.


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## Valvebounce (Dec 25, 2013)

Hi Alan.
From memory this scenario is unfortunately not unique, I seem to recall a posting a few months ago where several people experienced a similar thing. Seemed the solution was to have a secondary connection to a base plate on the body from the lens strap. Glad to hear you can get it fixed on insurance, not something you expect to have to deal with. Are the repairers going to check for other incidental damage, AF assembly bumped out of proper alignment, sensor assembly shifted slightly? I don't know if these things can happen under high G deceleration conditions or not but I do know it could be difficult to get fixed later as proving they are part of the same Incident could be difficult after a repair centre deems it satisfactorily repaired.
Just some thoughts, sorry to add to your anguish, but better to deal with it now than later.

Cheers Graham.


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 26, 2013)

AlanF said:


> The strap was attached to the 300mm f/2.8 lens and there was no strap attached to the camera. The camera somehow became unlocked and fell off the lens, which is safe and sound.



Happened to my gripped 5DII with the 70-200/2.8 when I carried it with a 2x TC mounted, as that shifted the balance point, which apparently positioned the lens release next to a belt loop of my jeans. I was lucky...the camera and grip were cosmetically and operationally fine, with one exception - the AFMA values for all my lenses shifted ~10 units to the negative.


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## docsmith (Dec 26, 2013)

I feel sick to my stomach.....

I am glad that you have insurance. I have coverage as well, but still, that is some expensive gear to have fall to the ground.


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 26, 2013)

docsmith said:


> I feel sick to my stomach.....
> 
> I am glad that you have insurance. I have coverage as well, but still, that is some expensive gear to have fall to the ground.



True! As with Alan, only the camera dropped - the strap was attached to the lens collar. That was when I used Manfrotto RC2 plates, with the AS system, the long lens plate means I can position the strap's 1" clamp as needed for optimal balance. 

But insurance is definitely a must!


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## mackguyver (Dec 26, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> But insurance is definitely a must!


+1,000 on that one!


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## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2013)

Sad, indeed... I feel your pain. Here's my solution. Awkward, but it works. Like me.


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## surapon (Dec 29, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> Sad, indeed... I feel your pain. Here's my solution. Awkward, but it works. Like me.




Thousand Thanks for the Great Tricks, Dear johnrudoff.
Surapon


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