canon 7d is dead

I just hate to write a post without any picture but this will be my first. Why?

I was out walking in my neighborhood very early this morning when I notice a heron landing on a sequoia. I have seen it a few days ago. I rush to my house and crabbed my trusty 7D. I was able to get a few shots and a clip of video. Then it threw the dreaded error code 40.

Checking a bit on the web it will require disassembling the camera body for cleaning and may be replacing the lower PCB. I have this camera since it first came out and absolute love it. In truth it has more than pay for itself. I have nearly a terabyte of raw photo and video shot with this camera!

I have been eyeing the new 6D with full frame sensor. The deal stopper for me with the 6D is the lack of a built-in flash. I use built-in flash a lot and cannot see myself living without one.

The nice thing about the 7D is with my 17-85mm lens it is very light for traveling and yet gives me a lot of range. Sure full frame and better lens may sound nice but I cannot see myself carrying a heavier combo day in day out.

Only a few months ago I repaired the lens myself when it died. This one would be much more difficult if I try...

OK. I am back. I had to go run a time critical errant.

Why I am so sure it is dead. I looked up the code on the web and it is due to power supply issue. From the many symptoms and final resolution the problem area apparently is at the bottom PCB inside the camera. Yes, as always there are many unsubstantiated claims of the problem is fixed after cleaning the battery contacts. I take general good care of my equipment and seldom subject it to adverse environment if I can help it. I exhausted the sanity checks - check both batteries, contact, reboot etc and I was 99.5% sure it is a real ERR 40 failure.

Searching the web there is little hit on people fixing themselves. Most ending sending in to Canon. I found a place near me that will fix it for about $250 and up. There is also an outfit on eBay which may be the same outfit.

I found this video on Vimeo showing how to disassemble the 7D body. My Mandarin is very poor so I have a hard time following what they say. However I can see the gist of the crucial steps. When face with a choice between a door stop and a working camera I will take the risks to fix it myself.


Canon EOS 7D Disassemble (Spoken in Chinese) - 第一时间直击：EOS 7D彻底拆解 from Video DSLR on Vimeo.

Update - 16:05 PST:
Scratch that video on vimeo. Cantonese has a saying it is 口水多過茶 - meaning the person got so much to say that he lost the point of the central agenda. It translates as he has more saliva than tea. The camera should be flimming the technician who is doing the disassembling, not the alpha male who got too much to say about the obvious.

Here is a good instruction to get started in the disassembling of the body case. It is not for fixing the ERR 40 issue but at least good to get me started with the needed tribal knowledge.

Here is a repair shop that give some clues as to what the problem might be. I think mine may just be corrosion but you don't know until you tear into it.

Here is a outfit that sells some Canon camera parts.

After more search I found the so called bottom PCB for the 7D, should mine needs replacing. It is a very simple board.

It is looking less intimidating with each bit of clues I dug up. Also so far it looks like I can avoid messing with the delicate optical system and imaging sensor.