I don't usually shoot in the conditions that are reported to tickle the autofocus issues in the Canon 1D Mark III, but from time to time I believe that I have seen the issue. In certain stage lighting conditions I'll come up with a sequence of shots that appear front- or back-focused by a foot or two. I've noticed this more when a subject is wearing a highly reflective light colored or white shirt. I haven't done any quantitative testing, but when I see the problem come up in a sequence of shots, it typically affects most of the images shot from the same location. In every case, when I recomposed the shot and used a different angle, I'd see the problem go away.
Because of this, I've been wanting to send in my two bodies since the end of November when Canon started accepting cameras for the sub-mirror assembly fix that is supposed to cure the problem. However, the shooting schedule has been full enough and lead times have been long enough that I've not had a workable time come up until now.
I have to say that the process of working with Canon's customer service and sending in the cameras was straightforward enough. I called up Canon, requested the fix for both of my bodies, and after instructing me on how to pack the cameras, the customer service rep sent me a few emails. One contained a PDF page to be sent in with each camera body. The other contained links to print off UPS shipping labels.
Twenty minutes after printing out the pages, I was in the parking lot of OfficeMax packing up the camera bodies and putting them into boxes to send off. Usually, you see photos online of people unpacking things. Here's a reverse set of photos of my packing up the cameras for shipping:
After sealing up the boxes, I zipped by a UPS store and they're now on their way to Virgina to get fixed. Canon says that I should expect them back in 7-10 days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Update 3/29: I've received one of the cameras back from Canon at this point after a bit of a snafu with a missing apartment number on the address on the box. The other is still being serviced or in transit or something. Canon hasn't been sending me the status emails that they said they would so I'll have to call and bug them on Monday to see what's up. As to the one that came back, I think I did a better job of packing it up to go than it was packed to came back:
It did come back in all sealed up in a plastic bag and with a protective cover over the LCD screen. At first, I was curious to see if they had replaced the screen for some reason, but after pulling off the cover, I found a couple of teeny tiny tell tale scratches that I put into the display one night shooting a Toyota Prius. I was leaning the camera against rocks in the dark and, well... they're really tiny and don't affect anything.
More importantly, the camera sports two baby-blue dots in the bottom of the battery well which indicates that it's been to Canon for the sub-mirror adjustment:
I need to take the camera out and see how it behaves now. I'm hoping everything is in order. And, I'm hoping the second camera comes back quickly.
Good luck with the repair. Canon Germany took care of my sub-mirror fix within about 3 business days. Totally flawless process.
I'm eager to hear if they've truly fixed it as they claim. It's a shame it's taken them so long to get this issue resolved. If what I've read a few places is true, it's hurt their reputation fairly substantially and they've lost a fair amount of shooters (though the actual number of switchers is usually well below the "noise" the _potential_ switchers always make in such situations...).
Indeed. I'm curious to see how they come back. From all that I've read, this does fix a big set of issues, but more may still be there. As far as Canon's reputation, yes, it's taken a big hit in my opinion over this fiasco. The noise is heavier than the bite, but I think that Canon has a problem on their hands and that they'll have to work hard to regain their standing.
James,
Really hope that both of the bods are fine. I purchased a pair of mk3s after the fix (with blue spots) and still have major issues. This week, I have finally rejected one of the bodies after several repairs (attempts) by Canon. Like you, my photography is not reliant on tracking, but AF accuracy has been appalling in One shot mode.
Sad days indeed...