Article of the Week:  How Long Does a DSLR Last?  Rusty Parkhurst

LCD Screen

Get a screen protector

Shutter burn out

Usually much higher than rating

Cost is often $250

Interview with camera repair tech John Rydman of Idaho Camera

Most common repairs

Impact

LCD, strip out gear boxes, anything glass

Sand

One grain of sand in the right place and the camera is dead.  Motor pinion gear kills it.

Gotta take the whole thing apart to get all the sand out.  Sticks to lubricants, and then once done re-lube

Water

Similar to sand damage–gotta take it all the way apart

Best thing to do is take the battery out immediately to slow corrosion.  Freeze it solid or dry it out.

Freezing the camera is better than heating it.  Heat corrodes.

What to do if a camera gets wet

Battery out immediately

Put in bag

Put in freezer for a week depending on how bad it is.  Point and shoot can go in rice.

Put in plastic bag

Leave out on counter to thaw

Freeze drying is not always convenient, but it’s the surest way to stop corrosion.

Hair dryer is good, but corrodes.

What cameras are best for repairs?

Pentax K series has a real problem with aperture control units.

Nikon has an SQ unit.  Interface between mechanics and electronics that tells the brains of the camera the mechanics are in.

Availability of parts

Nikon parts are sourced from a distributor rather than Nikon itself.  Parts more expensive.

Fuji will not sell any parts—even to distributors.

Canon is great with getting parts.  

Pentax is great with parts.  

Sony doesn’t sell parts—only through distributors and they are CRAZY expensive and takes a long time to get them.

Ways to avoid common repairs

Use of memory cards is easy to break.  Damaging pins is easy to do.  CF as well as SD.  If there’s a piece in there—leave it!  Don’t try to get it out yourself.  Dig in there to get out the piece and I have to do tons of repair.

Use a camera strap

Battery doors not as big of a problem as they used to be.

Lens hoods

Protect from water

Stuff rattling around bag

Lenses scratched

Impact on cameras

Midroll

Improve Photography Plus

New real estate photography course

News Desk:

 

* Canon 6D Mark II via Nokishita Camera

 

26.2 megapixel

Dual pixel AF. 45 points all cross type

Major improvement over original 6D’s 11

Continuous shooting: 6.5 fps

Original 6D had 4.5 frames per second

Maximum ISO sensitivity: 40000 (extended ISO: 102400)

Higher max native ISO, same interpolated.

Video: Full HD, 5 axis electronic image stabilization

How long will Canon cling to 1080p?

3” touch LCD

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS

Size: 144.0 x 110.5 x 74.8 mm

Almost identical to original 6D.  3mm deeper is all.

Weight: 765 g

10 grams heavier than original 6D

Reasons Jeff is NOT getting a 6D2

Jeff should be the ideal market for this camera.  Been using crop sensor models for several years, have built up my lens collection to include EF mount glass across all of the major focal lengths.  This 100% should be the camera for me.

Here is why I am not getting one