Canon 20D Repair - Worth it?

boulderNardo

Allright... I got the repair estimate for my 20D from Canon: $360 bucks.

"[FONT=&quot]IMPACT DAMAGE. NO POWER. REPLACE FRONT COVER ASSY. CHECK AND ADJUST FOCUS. SUBJECT TO RE-ESTIMATE IF ANY ADDITIONAL MAJOR PARTS ARE NEEDED. PLEASE RESPOND TO ESTIMATE.[/FONT]" (mod edit to remove black font.)

Absolutely totally bummed out now. 20D's go used for $350-$550 now, depending on shutter actuations. Mine has no more than 15k actuations. I was planning on upgrading to a 40D soon'ish (4-5 weeks) anyway, but would've liked to keep the 20D as a backup body possibly, or at least sell it for ~$500 to cover some of the 40D costs.

Anyway, long story short ... Is it worth repairing the 20D?
-bernardo

hgernhardtjr

Personally, I'd cut my losses and get the 40D as soon as possible since that is on your agenda anyway. What you save could go towards a new lens or to help defray the cost of the new camera.

ziggy53

Note the part about the "SUBJECT TO RE-ESTIMATE IF ANY ADDITIONAL MAJOR PARTS ARE NEEDED". You might be looking at an even higher bill depending on what they find during the repair.

Since they mention impact damage I would not assume the least.

I suggest that it would not be worth the risk to me and I would buy the 40D now.

Foochar

boulderNardo wrote:

Allright... I got the repair estimate for my 20D from Canon: $360 bucks.

"[FONT=&quot]IMPACT DAMAGE. NO POWER. REPLACE FRONT COVER ASSY. CHECK AND ADJUST FOCUS. SUBJECT TO RE-ESTIMATE IF ANY ADDITIONAL MAJOR PARTS ARE NEEDED. PLEASE RESPOND TO ESTIMATE.[/FONT]"

Absolutely totally bummed out now. 20D's go used for $350-$550 now, depending on shutter actuations. Mine has no more than 15k actuations. I was planning on upgrading to a 40D soon'ish (4-5 weeks) anyway, but would've liked to keep the 20D as a backup body possibly, or at least sell it for ~$500 to cover some of the 40D costs.

Anyway, long story short ... Is it worth repairing the 20D?
-bernardo

In this situation I would not get the 20D repaired, and this is coming from someone who just bought a second 20D body as a backup. You have to keep in mind when evaluating this that you still have a working battery, charger, etc. so the value of those items needs to be taken off when figuring the actual value of your camera. In your situation I would probably value the camera at somewhere around $400 so you are looking at spending over 75% of the value of your camera on a repair, and possibly more than the value of the camera, depending on what else they might find. There are reputable dealers out there selling a new 30D that they have left on the shelf for $800 and a used 30D for $650, and you can probably find a better price than that from a private seller.

Scott_Quier

with all the above. In addition, it may be 3 or 4 weeks before you get your 20D back from the service folks. It could be less though. I just had my 20D focus adjusted and some parts replaced. They gave me a hard estimate (~$300) to get the job done and I got the camera back in just over 2 weeks. Long story short - you might be right up against your 4-5 week window and then you could have used that $360 as partial payment on the new 40D.

Except for when your drop your primary:D, do you have a need for a backup camera? Do you shoot where, if your camera fails, you're sunk? If so, then maybe it might be better to go ahead and get the camera fixed.

boulderNardo

Thanks for all the advice ... I'm about to put down a deposit for a 40D and will hopefully have it by next week. Stoked!

claudermilk

I agree with the rest, time to put the 20D on a shelf & retire it.

jbakerphoto

matching body for the 600MM L
sorry to hear about you 20D

if all else fails you can always get together with the poor borrowlenses.com guy with his SUNK 600mm L lense and have some fun......

congrats on the 40D though!!!!

Mike02

boulderNardo wrote:

Allright... I got the repair estimate for my 20D from Canon: $360 bucks.

"[FONT=&quot]IMPACT DAMAGE. NO POWER. REPLACE FRONT COVER ASSY. CHECK AND ADJUST FOCUS. SUBJECT TO RE-ESTIMATE IF ANY ADDITIONAL MAJOR PARTS ARE NEEDED. PLEASE RESPOND TO ESTIMATE.[/FONT]" (mod edit to remove black font.)

Absolutely totally bummed out now. 20D's go used for $350-$550 now, depending on shutter actuations. Mine has no more than 15k actuations. I was planning on upgrading to a 40D soon'ish (4-5 weeks) anyway, but would've liked to keep the 20D as a backup body possibly, or at least sell it for ~$500 to cover some of the 40D costs.

Anyway, long story short ... Is it worth repairing the 20D?
-bernardo

Well, its *your* camera. If you need a second body, yes, you should repair it; but if you think you'll be fine with just a 40d, then the answer is a resounding no.

Mike02

unclejon wrote:

sorry to hear about you 20D

if all else fails you can always get together with the poor borrowlenses.com guy with his SUNK 600mm L lense and have some fun......

congrats on the 40D though!!!!

Yeah, he only had to pay 12%.... ouch. Gotta learn to use tripods (Or smaller lenses that you can carry, lol ;P).

What he was shooting with a 1200mm lens... we'll never know.

claudermilk

Mike02 wrote:

Yeah, he only had to pay 12%.... ouch. Gotta learn to use tripods (Or smaller lenses that you can carry, lol ;P).

What he was shooting with a 1200mm lens... we'll never know.

My guess is alligator eyelashes. I agree on the support though, I certainly wouldn't trust that kind of monster on a monopod (with some kind of wimpy head apparently--it's failure was mentioned as why the lens took a swim).