Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

I took 1500 pic of 2017 solar eclipse but used a solar filter except for 2 minutes of totality. Everyone was warned not to use an unfiltered camera

hcmcdole

Haha

The camera was dead several minutes before the eclipse. I don't even know if I got a shot off that day with that camera. I have no idea when it actually died. Might have been days before. Just remembered setting it on the tripod to get a group shot and nothing.

I was not aiming the camera at the sun. I just wanted to capture the scene on the houseboat of the people and the landscape. I had to use my backup camera to get it all and it came through.

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

Great to hear. More people ruined camera sensors that day due to sun blowing up the sensors..
Your situation is like a costly repair on an older car. $1000 to fix a $1000 car but you like it.
If you don't repair it you can by a new camera and the multiple decisions that go into that. Full frame mirrorless, brand, and what about my lenes. Good luck

sudamar Loc: Southern Indiana

Rick, how much to repair a Minolta Autocord which has the focusing lever broke off. Thanks.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Two different issues....

Black spots in the viewfinder are usually a non-issue...

They are either on the mirror (if out of focus) or on the focusing screen and do no harm. They cannot effect your images because when a picture is taken the mirror flips up and covers the focus screen. Unless there are a lot, I'd recommend just ignoring them. DO NOT do anything more than using a gentle puff of air from a bulb blower to clean them yourself. Both the mirror and the focus screen are quite easily damaged and can lead to expensive repairs... all for something that doesn't effect your images in any way. Sometime if you have the sensor cleaned, let a pro do it and is it's still needed have the mirror and focus screen cleaned at the same time.

That said, black spots in the viewfinder might be a sign of something worse happening. Some cameras use black foam light seals around the mirror perimeter and those eventually start to crumble and break down, requiring occasional replacement. I really don't know if the 7D uses those or not. Another thing that would be of concern is if the black spots are sign of fungus starting to take root inside the camera. Both these things aren't very common, so don't panic. But a local camera repair shop can look at the camera and tell you if it's just dust or something worse that you're seeing.

Pictures coming out too light...

More likely than not this is just because you have set something incorrectly. Check that Exposure Compensation isn't dialed over to the "plus" side. You also should check other exposure settings. If you have Auto ISO enabled, turn it off. The 7D was one of the first Canon to have that feature and it's poorly implemented. Note: I used a pair of 7D for over 5 years and 300,000 images shooting sports with them... and they still work fine, though I did upgrade to a pair of 7D Mark II and have been using those the last 4 or 5 years. If I recall correctly, some of the settings will flash as a warning in the viewfinder if the camera's metering system feels you have ISO set too high or shutter too slow or aperture too large... all of which would lead to overexposed images such as you're seeing.

A quick check would be to just turn the mode dial on the left shoulder of the camera to the full "Auto" setting and take some shots with it. That will override all your settings and if the images come out okay it would tell you there's nothing wrong with the camera. By the way, the 7D is a fairly advanced model without much in the way of automation, but it does have full "Auto" mode (which I don't normally recommend using, though it can serve as a quick check). Of course, the camera also has the various auto exposure (AE) modes: Av, Tv and P or "aperture priority AE", "shutter priority AE" and "program AE". There also are user definable custom modes C1, etc. that can include the various AE modes.

Hopefully it's a simple fix... An incorrect setting you've overlooked and can just reset properly. A last ditch DIY fix would be to reset the camera to its factory defaults. That can be done in the menu. I say it's a last ditch thing because it will also lose settings you made and wanted to keep. Those would need to be reset by you, after doing a factory default reset.

Yes, it's entirely possible that something is actually wrong with the camera and it needs repair. Doing the above will confirm that, if it's still overexposing. I'm not tryin' to take business away from Rick! Just sayin', today's cameras are pretty darned reliable and I'd wager about 9 out of 10 "camera problems" are actually "user errors" and there is nothing at all wrong with the camera. I like to eliminate those possibilities first, then turn to a good repair person such as Rick when actually needed.

foxfax8win2

I am gary wth a damaged canon eos 7d mk ll. It has a damaged front plate that touches the lens. The lens is a canon ef 400 1:5.6 with the plate damaged. I dropped them together. Can you repair them?

Msreneewilson

Hello Joe
Do you also repair T2i Rebel Camera, I was using my camera in the rain this past Saturday. Now of a sudden it is not turning on. I let it dry for 48 hours. It is still not turning on.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You want to use <quote reply> to direct specific questions at specific members.

Also, rather than picking an old thread to ask an unrelated question, sending a PM (Privage Message) to member = rjriggins11 might get the repair info you're trying to obtain.