7D black frame = camera now completely dead

My Dad has a 7D which is just of warranty (ouch). I discovered a couple of weeks back that it had the first black frame problem but he had been ignoring it for ages. Now the camera won't take any photos at all - every shot is black. Has anyone else seen it happen to this extent? Anyone in Oz tried to get it fixed? - if so warranty or paid and does any one know how much it will cost to get fixed?

I had the same problem (see this)
I was able to get it work again (but with the first black syndrome) by cleaning all contacts and using brand new batteries.
It is at Sony repair centre now (Germany) and i will report back once i have some news (hopefully good).

gian wrote: Could you give us some more info about any symptom/warning before the un-reversible failure?

Gian, afaik there was just increasing occurrence of the black shot until last weekend when he tried to use it at a baptism and every shot came out the same, turning the 7D on and off, removing & re-inserting the card and battery made no difference, just total shut down. He had to go and get his point and shoot just to get the photos of the rest of the baptisms and all that while he was meant to be taking part in the service as well - every photographer's nightmare gig.

natamambo wrote: Gian, afaik there was just increasing occurrence of the black shot until last weekend when he tried to use it at a baptism and every shot came out the same, turning the 7D on and off, removing & re-inserting the card and battery made no difference, just total shut down. He had to go and get his point and shoot just to get the photos of the rest of the baptisms and all that while he was meant to be taking part in the service as well - every photographer's nightmare gig.

Thanks... It is quite the same of Kiklop's report. It just happened again right now to my 5D. I will make a statistic about how often it does happen so I will know when it is going to stop working definitely.... :-(

Eeek, this sounds bad for the 7Ds out there, I better put my into the frezer until a cure is found ... :/

Have talked to Progear, the service agents here in Oz. Very helpful (but it is out of warranty so.....). Two parts need to be replaced, the AF charge plate and the shutter. No problem getting the parts and the repair is abou $400AUD inc 10% GST. Camera will head to Sydney on the weekend, I'll let you know how we get on.

Saleen, I would have thought my Dad would feel that way about the Minolta, but he loves the lenses so much that he was prepared to fix it or buy a refurbished one somehow, or buy an A100 body when the price comes down a bit.

The 7D is a great camera (as is the 5D which also exhibits the same problem), it's a pity that it's reputation is tarnished by what I suspect is a very small percentage of the whole, and forums like this one feed the witch hunt unfortunately.

My 7D and Dad's 7D were bought within days of each other and just a couple of weeks before the 5D was released, so presumably the 5D was already in production. As they use the same shutter hardware I can't help but wonder if all the "sick" cameras are off the same batch of shutters - there are threads elsewhere on Dyxum trying to confirm this.