Bad news, but it should be fixable.
Which country? I'm in Australia, recently had an error 99 (generic, unspecified) on my 40D, googled canon, found the local agents, sent them an email. For me it will cost $50.00 just to look at it and give a quote.
My advice would be to take it to your local Canon retail outlet. If your experience of retail is anything like mine, I'm sure they will (not) be able to help you.
Hope this helps.
I would be very surprised if it wasn't fixable. Are you sure it's the mirror and not one of the shutter curtains?
If it is the mirror, I wouldn't be totally surprised if it had simply popped out of one of the slots it pivots around. A decent camera repair shop (one that actually does repairs, rather than sends everything to the manufacturer) should be able to assess that, and if you are lucky it might not even need any parts, and simply require the mirror to be clipped back into place.
If something has physically broken, rather than simply being knocked out of line, then you would need a mirror box replacement (assuming it is the mirror) or a shutter replacement (if it is the shutter).
As for whether it's worth it, that would really depend on how much you value the camera.
If it does need a replacement mirror box, there's a post here that suggests a repair price of $280 for a 40D, which seems about what I'd expect.
If it is the shutter, that usually costs around $250 or thereabouts. Bear in mind that if the mirror is loose and has hit the shutter, you might need both replacing.
Given a 30D is worth about $150-$200 second-hand, purely financially, it probably does not make sense to repair it, but if you have other reasons for wanting to keep a 30D and/or not buy a second-hand one of unknown quantity (such as a custom-fit underwater enclosure), it might make sense to you.
Note that if you are mechanically-minded, you can purchase replacement parts on eBay for much less than the repair cost, and there are instructions online on how to fit them. Bear in mind though that a shutter replacement at least is an extremely complex procedure, and not one to be tackled unless you are very confident. Here's someone documenting his failed attempt to do a home repair on his 30D shutter: click
The problem is definitely the mirror. If I use a piece of sticky tape to hold it up against the "ceiling" of the camera, the shutter works perfectly well and I can get a picture. Of course, this means that I can't see anything through the viewfinder.
My underwater enclosure is custom made for a 30D body so I can't borrow my sister's Rebel as a back up for the trip. I guess I'll be off to the camera shop tomorrow and see what they have to say.
His mirror assembly had snapped, so he glued it back together. Unfortunately it looks like a fair amount of disassembly even if the mirror assembly is intact and just has come loose, so it might be more difficult than I'd hoped to simply clip it back in even if it is undamaged (assuming the 30D design is similar)
This seems the right place for me to ask my question. I dropped my canon t3i on a hike and the swing out screen is shattered. I seem to be able to use it on automatic most of the time but sometimes even that does not work. The auto focus is inconsistent and sometimes only manual focus will work. I cannot see the menu or use manual settings since icannotseeanything. Do you think it's worth fixing? I'm contemplating getting a canon 6D . . .
@jyokota it sounds as though you'd spend more on just the hours of labor (not to mention parts) to get your t3i fixed than to replace it with that much wrong with it. I'm about to leave to take my 30D over to the shop to get an estimate.
@dancingkatz It's fixable - but could be expensive. Would not recommend trying to fix something like this yourself-if your camera is still under warranty it could be invalidated if you go poking around in there!
@pistonbroke Thanks, but this camera is nearly 10 years old! As it stands, the minimum it would cost just to do the diagnostics is half the cost of what the 30D is going for on eBay right now. So, I'm going to put it up as free to a good home to anyone who wants it for parts and put in a bid for its replacement on eBay tonight.
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Which country? I'm in Australia, recently had an error 99 (generic, unspecified) on my 40D, googled canon, found the local agents, sent them an email. For me it will cost $50.00 just to look at it and give a quote.
My advice would be to take it to your local Canon retail outlet. If your experience of retail is anything like mine, I'm sure they will (not) be able to help you.
Hope this helps.
If it is the mirror, I wouldn't be totally surprised if it had simply popped out of one of the slots it pivots around. A decent camera repair shop (one that actually does repairs, rather than sends everything to the manufacturer) should be able to assess that, and if you are lucky it might not even need any parts, and simply require the mirror to be clipped back into place.
If something has physically broken, rather than simply being knocked out of line, then you would need a mirror box replacement (assuming it is the mirror) or a shutter replacement (if it is the shutter).
As for whether it's worth it, that would really depend on how much you value the camera.
If it does need a replacement mirror box, there's a post here that suggests a repair price of $280 for a 40D, which seems about what I'd expect.
If it is the shutter, that usually costs around $250 or thereabouts. Bear in mind that if the mirror is loose and has hit the shutter, you might need both replacing.
Given a 30D is worth about $150-$200 second-hand, purely financially, it probably does not make sense to repair it, but if you have other reasons for wanting to keep a 30D and/or not buy a second-hand one of unknown quantity (such as a custom-fit underwater enclosure), it might make sense to you.
Note that if you are mechanically-minded, you can purchase replacement parts on eBay for much less than the repair cost, and there are instructions online on how to fit them. Bear in mind though that a shutter replacement at least is an extremely complex procedure, and not one to be tackled unless you are very confident. Here's someone documenting his failed attempt to do a home repair on his 30D shutter: click
The problem is definitely the mirror. If I use a piece of sticky tape to hold it up against the "ceiling" of the camera, the shutter works perfectly well and I can get a picture. Of course, this means that I can't see anything through the viewfinder.
My underwater enclosure is custom made for a 30D body so I can't borrow my sister's Rebel as a back up for the trip. I guess I'll be off to the camera shop tomorrow and see what they have to say.
His mirror assembly had snapped, so he glued it back together. Unfortunately it looks like a fair amount of disassembly even if the mirror assembly is intact and just has come loose, so it might be more difficult than I'd hoped to simply clip it back in even if it is undamaged (assuming the 30D design is similar)
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