Canon's 5D Mark III Seeing Too Much Light of Day - The UpStream

Canon's 5D Mark III Seeing Too Much Light of Day

posted Saturday Apr 14, 2012 by Scott Ertz

Canon's 5D Mark III Seeing Too Much Light of Day

Since the digital camera age, Canon's Mark series has been the aspiration for many photo enthusiasts, from amateurs to professionals. Their newly released 5D Mark III has been on wishlists since they first announced it, and with a pricetag at about $3,500 for the core, it is an investment made with certain expectations. One of those expectations is that you can take pictures with it.

For some 5D owners, however, that is not the case; at least, not under certain circumstances. According to posts all over the Internet, including on Canon's own support site, many users are experiencing a situation where, under low light, some 5D cameras are ruining photos. Some clever users have tracked the issue down to a small gap in the case, allowing light from illuminated upper LCD screens to leak into the body, throwing off the auto-exposure sensors and ruining photos.

How has Canon responded and what is next for users? Hit the break to find out.

At first, Canon was completely quiet on the issue. That did not last long, however, as these reports started surfacing all over the Internet. As of right now, Cacnon has issued a product advisory, which reads,

In extremely dark environments, if the LCD panel illuminates, the displayed exposure value may change as a result of the AE sensor's detection of light from the LCD panel.

Not quite the result you would hope for, but what might we expect? The problem is not with software, but instead with the hardware itself. This makes it an incredibly difficult situation to resolve for existing customers, you can't just release a firmware update and it's fixed. This would require a full replacement of parts of the body itself.

As for future devices, will Canon go back and tweak the manufacturing process to prevent the problem? Since this is such a small problem, only affecting people taking photos in the extreme dark with the backlight of the LCD panel on, is it worth the cost involved, or is Canon going to lose some marketshare because of this oversight? Have you been affected by this, either by owning the product or by not purchasing a Canon camera because of it? Let us know in the comments section.

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