Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I have a Canon 40D with a stubborn shutter button that seems to be getting worse.

There are numberous video's and links on the net that discuss this known issue with 20, 30 40D's. One of which is here: http://www.pbase.com/tobbenh/40dshutter

And here's another (Yikes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAWGScQeC5g

My question is, have any of you experienced this and had it repaired here in Toronto? And if so, what did it cost you? Have any of you done the contact cleaning yourself?

I just spoke to Sun Camera (apparently this is who Henry's uses for many Canon repairs) and the gentleman told me $140 for this repair and it comes with a 90 day warranty. It takes three to four days to complete.

Yikes, I don't think my 20D is even worth that much. I haven't experience the issue with the 20D but I usually trigger it remotely these days.

I trigger my 40D with RF-602's in the studio and never an issue. I am sure if I had a grip there would be no issue either, therefore that rules out a shutter issue.

When shooting over a year ago with 2Aspiration (Hien) he complained about my shutter button but I thought it was 'just the way it is'. His 40D behaved better than mine.

There are two other techniques I have seen to repair it too, one is to pour Isopropyl Alcohol through the battery compartment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB_gSqyidI0 and another I have seen is to spray static spray into the button.

I have been wondering what direction to take with this repair as it is becoming increasingly problematic. Do I go FF? Do I go with a 7D and keep my 17-55/2.8? There are lots of dilemmas in considering the next step and I would rather not make that decision under duress.

I will give it another day but I am thinking seriously about going the Sun Camera route and get it repaired properly. They said they would replace the button mechanism for that cost so it would probable breath some new life into an old rig

I thought sensor cleaning is hard...

I am not sure what the shutter button problem is, but I do notice that my 30D's shutter button is a little sluggish (need a firmer press) than my 5D and my friend's 40D.

That is exactly what is going on with mine and I only discovered this past weekend what the issue was. I thought mine was a little firmer than others but it can lead to missed opportunities and now, in some instances, I have to press really hard to get the shutter to release.

Personally I would try the Isopropyl Alcohol method and probably let it dry for a day just to make sure.

If you endorse this method then I am in!!!

Oh and also because I went shopping at lunch...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesycheem/4787712882/" title="Isopropanol and Eye Dropper by ~Jamesy~, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4787712882_4d41aba892.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Isopropanol and Eye Dropper"></a>

Who said "endorsed?" .. lol .. I am removing myself from any liability caused by electrical circuits fried from this undertaking ..

I just did the cleaning and will let it sit until tomorrow. It was weird to see liquid pouring out of the shutter button area. Definetly the eye dropper is the way to deliver the alcohol - it is very controlled.

I am keeping my fingers crossed...

Hi James,

I had a similar problem with my 30D shutter button. The camera was about 8 month old when I noticed it required a considerable amount of force for the shutter to work. I sent an email to Canon asking if this a know problem.... they never heard of this problem.

It finally stopped working just a day after the 1 year warranty. I took it out to Canon in Mississauga and they wanted to charge me for replacing the shutter button. I produced a hard copy of my question to them four months prior...they replaced the shutter button for free (6/2/2008).

Good luck with the Isopropanol, hope it works.

Steve

Thanks Steve. The 30 and 40D seems to be the models most impacted by this issue that I have found anyway. I have a new appreciation for weather sealed bodies and what that means.

I will leave the camera overnight and check it tomorrow. Hopefully I don't need to part with the $140 that Sun Camera wants for the repair but if I do it is way better than the upwards of $300 I have heard others have had to pay for the same repair. At least for $140 I would get a new shutter button installed instead of having the existing one cleaned.

Seren Dipity, if I cooked the 40D then you know I will be knocking on your door to borrow your 20D

So - the patient lived and I would say it is better but not 100%. It is difficult to say because the issue was intermittent. Perhaps I will do the procedure again and re-evaluate the situation.

Thanks for the post, I'll give it a try, too. It is very annoying when I am in multi-shot mode, as pressing too hard might trigger multiple shutter releases by accident.

Sounds all too familiar - unpredicable results when triggering the shutter.
I played with camera some more this morning and no doubt it is better than before but not perfect. I have just repeated the procedure in hope that it will get even better - time will tell.

Second time performing the repair in a 24 hour period (12 each) and the shutter seems to work perfectly (as I keep my fingers crossed). Makes sense, the first time helped a fair bit and the second time flushed the dirt out even more.

I will need to test it out in real world conditions to determine just how good the repair is but for the time being I am really happy

That's great news Jamesy!!

Thanks James but you already knew it would work, afterall, you endorsed it!

I've used Jamesy's method for my BG-E2 grip's shutter button.

Besides gently squirting in the alcohol, I used my thumb to turn the button around. Then I pushed it and held it down, and continued to turn it around just to get rid of any debris or whatever is causing the stickiness.

Worked like a charm.

I FINALLY used the isopropyl method on my 30D shutter button. It didn't work the first time.

I did it a second time and so far it seems to be working.
I'll probably try it a third time this weekend since mine is probably dirtier than most due to a 6year old fusion of grime from the Sahara, Patagonia, India, central American volcanic grime, south Pacific island and my home

Thanks jamesy

hmm...my 40D doesn't have this issue...i guess i'm a lucky one?

Philmar, I am glad it worked! I did mine twice, back to back and it has been going strong for almost a year now.