Canon USA Offers Upgrade for 7D & 5D Mark II Users

December 1, 2010 @ 11:59AM

Canon USA Offers Upgrade for 7D & 5D Mark II Users

By Anonymous

Dear Canon 7D and/or 5D Mark II user,

Have you ever composed a portrait with a nice, wide aperture and released the shutter only to find yourself waiting for a 2-second exposure to finish up? Or tried to seize a decisive moment of street action, only to find your Shooting Mode dial is in green-rectangle-full-Auto mode?

Old-fashioned, non-lockable Canon 7D Shooting Mode dial

You aren't alone—apparently a lot of fellow Canon shooter have been complaining about how easy it is to knock the dial into a different and undesirable shooting mode. And Canon listened!

Effective December 6, 2010, Canon will start to provide as a chargeable service, a locking mode dial modification for the “EOS 5D MarkII” and “EOS 7D” digital single-lens reflex cameras.

That is to say, for $100 (USA only, no word yet on residents of other countries) you can mail Canon your 7D or 5D Mark II and they'll install a brand new, lockable, press-and-turn Mode dial.

This way you can be sure that, when you pull the camera out of the bag, it's in the same Shooting Mode it was when you put it away. Seems like a minor quibble, but it's a real problem that all too often results in a missed shot. And Canon should be applauded for listening to their customer base and responding with this professional feature upgrade.

Full info here.

(Of course, as an Olympus E-1 shooter, I've enjoyed this feature since 2003. But who's counting.)

**UPDATE: And now we've got word on the upgrade in the UK as well (but no pricing yet...go figure): Canon 7D and Canon 5D Mark II

Tagged with:
5d
7d
canon
mark II
mk II
mode dial
upgrade

Comments

Peter K Burian

1 year ago

Hi Frank, Well, photographers will be split on this isse.

Group A says: I hate to waste time pressing the button before being able to rotate the Mode dial. That is just annoying.

And some cameras don't even have a mode dial; you must press a button and rotate an input dial to change modes. Even slower.

Group B says: Yes, the mode dial seems to change all too often by accident. So, it must have a lock.

But the bottom line for Group B will be .... do I want to send my camera to Canon by mail? How long will I be without it? And pay for the mailing cost plus the modification?

Somehow, I doubt that more than 10% of people will ever do it.

Peter

Anonymous

1 year ago

Can't please 'em all. The fact that the 60D comes standard with this lockable dial seems to indicate Canon has chosen this design moving forward.

But I heard on Reddit from a guy that claims to work for Canon that, if you send in the camera for the upgrade, you also get a full tuneup—sensor/viewfinder cleaning, AF alignment, AE accuracy check, the whole nine yards.

tinyurl.com/2emcvq8

That certainly adds some value to the whole package, but it's really strange they don't mention any of that in the announcement.

Me? I like the locking mechanism, because I pretty much never leave Aperture Priority.

Peter K Burian

1 year ago

Well, at least now we know the price. I am guessing $100 in the USA.

....For Canadian residents, the pricing of the locking mode dial modification service for EOS 5D Mark II and 7D cameras has been set at $110 per camera as of December, 2010. (Pricing and availability subject to change without notice.) ..