On Repairing a Canon Camera

This past spring, my Canon XL-1 got bumped off my office table and onto the carpeted floor below. I won’t be so cliche as to say my life flashed before my eyes, but there was a significant amount of horror in the situation.

A cursory examination said the camera managed to survive in fine condition. But my utopian hopes were shattered when I powered the camera up and found that the tape carriage would neither fully eject nor fully engage the tape inside – a tape which had valuable footage shot earlier that morning for a client.

So here I was with a camera that wouldn’t work, and a tape I could not access, and a complete lack of funds with which to send it off to the Canon repair facility. So over the course of the summer it sat on my shelf while I prayed for $400 to commence the camera’s rehabilitation.

One idea for funding the repair was not my first choice, but eventually I caved in and suggested it: Having the client pay $400 of her bill in advance. She agreed, and I promptly called Canon Repair – It has been a few years since either of my cameras has needed repairs (I recommend Canon products for longevity and durability).

Unfortunately, this avenue was shot down by the woman on the phone who informed me that Canon no longer repairs the XL-1 at all. I guess they figure everyone has moved on to the XL-2, if not to various high-definition models. Some of us don’t have that budget.

Through the magic of randomly commenting about life’s woes on Facebook, one of my uncles took up the challenge and offered to take a look at the camera, with the idea that at least he could probably get the tape out for my use while I debated about the fate of the XL-1 itself. But the fall the camera took was random yet precise enough to jam the tape carriage firmly into its out-of-place place.

My uncle was kind enough to ship the camera to a repair shop he trusts in Los Angeles that has the wherewithal to repair the XL-1 even though Canon does not anymore. They have assured him that in preparing their estimate, they will have to dismantle parts of the camera and will thus dislodge the tape for free. So for just the $40 for shipping my camera to my uncle, I will get the tape back and can proceed to edit the client’s project, putting the camera back on the shelf while I await wisdom regarding repairing or replacing it.

Ideally I’ll find a way to upgrade to a new camera, because this XL-1 is going to die eventually.