In 2003, I converted to digital imaging when I bought me a Canon Powershot A70. It is 2006 now and off course, it is considered a dinosaur. Well, it has already looked like a dino in 2004 when Ger and I held both our cameras against Kevin’s spanking new Sony Cybershot, which was inches thinner and lighter with a much bigger display. I was not going to let my piece of dino shit (like most people would say when they look at my camera) get in the way of my pursuit of beautiful digital imaging. I have always believed that it is not the equipment; it is the talent and the eye of the owner of the piece of machine. It is like owning a spanking new high speed computer with a whopping memory capacity and a gazillion gigabyte of hard disk space but all you work on the computer is surf the internet and check e-mails.
Despite my love of my dino camera and some of the nice photos that I have taken since I bought it, the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) have been giving me issues. First, it was in 2005. Warranty had expired, so I had to pay for the part change. Then, a couple of months ago, it went kaput again. I must say I was quite frustrated. I was not ready to fork out the money to repair the camera and at the same time, I am certainly not ready to invest in a new camera. However, I think the determination in believing that this dino can still be fixed and the perseverance paid off. This week, Pierre told me about an article he read about CCD issues on Canon cameras. Apparently, it was a manufacturing defect, where under high temperature or humidity environment, the internal wiring may become undone in some places. This was made public – well, not public enough because yours truly didn’t know about it until now! The article was published in October 2005.
The very next morning after having that conversation with Pierre, I made my way to the Canon service centre. I made sure that the senior member of the service staff was attending me. I told her about the article and her response was, “Oh? So, you knew about that? We normally don’t highlight this to our customers.” Honestly, I was not very impressed with this comment but who cares when I get the following:
1. The CCD will be replaced at no charge.
2. I will be refunded for the previous part replacement – approximately SGD$140.
3. They will deliver the camera to me after the repair
Moh remarked that I must have been a pain at the service centre to get this sort of service but no. I was such a good customer and the above was offered to all owners of camera that has been manufactured with this defective part.
A co-worker remarked that Canon was just giving me an outstanding customer experience so that my next camera will still be a Canon. Hell! Regardless. My first and only SLR camera is a Canon. What makes you think that I will switch? Well, I have to admit that I was eyeing on the Panasonic LX1 but now that my dino camera is going to be dino-mite again, I can put off my consideration for a new camera for at least a year.
Question : Who are all those people mentioned in this post? (Well, if you are wondering, that is.)
Kevin: friend
Ger: Kevin’s friend
Pierre: an avid photographer friend and team member from work
Moh: another avid photographer friend, who always treats me like one of the guys. Only because I told him that I am a man trapped in a woman’s body.
Despite my love of my dino camera and some of the nice photos that I have taken since I bought it, the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) have been giving me issues. First, it was in 2005. Warranty had expired, so I had to pay for the part change. Then, a couple of months ago, it went kaput again. I must say I was quite frustrated. I was not ready to fork out the money to repair the camera and at the same time, I am certainly not ready to invest in a new camera. However, I think the determination in believing that this dino can still be fixed and the perseverance paid off. This week, Pierre told me about an article he read about CCD issues on Canon cameras. Apparently, it was a manufacturing defect, where under high temperature or humidity environment, the internal wiring may become undone in some places. This was made public – well, not public enough because yours truly didn’t know about it until now! The article was published in October 2005.
The very next morning after having that conversation with Pierre, I made my way to the Canon service centre. I made sure that the senior member of the service staff was attending me. I told her about the article and her response was, “Oh? So, you knew about that? We normally don’t highlight this to our customers.” Honestly, I was not very impressed with this comment but who cares when I get the following:
1. The CCD will be replaced at no charge.
2. I will be refunded for the previous part replacement – approximately SGD$140.
3. They will deliver the camera to me after the repair
Moh remarked that I must have been a pain at the service centre to get this sort of service but no. I was such a good customer and the above was offered to all owners of camera that has been manufactured with this defective part.
A co-worker remarked that Canon was just giving me an outstanding customer experience so that my next camera will still be a Canon. Hell! Regardless. My first and only SLR camera is a Canon. What makes you think that I will switch? Well, I have to admit that I was eyeing on the Panasonic LX1 but now that my dino camera is going to be dino-mite again, I can put off my consideration for a new camera for at least a year.
Question : Who are all those people mentioned in this post? (Well, if you are wondering, that is.)
Kevin: friend
Ger: Kevin’s friend
Pierre: an avid photographer friend and team member from work
Moh: another avid photographer friend, who always treats me like one of the guys. Only because I told him that I am a man trapped in a woman’s body.
