Can anyone help? I bought a Canon MV600 around 2 years ago, when my son came along. In total I have recorded less than 4 hours of footage in that time. I recently took it out at a family get together to find that there was no picture in Camera mode either in the viewfinder or on the flippy thing! It still plays back previously recorded footage OK, and when I do record now it still has sound, but no picture - I've checked the obvious things (lens cap DEFINITELY off!), but I'm stumped. Has anyone encountered a similar problem or have any ideas? I haven't mucked about with any weird settings - not that I remember anyway!

Any help most appreciated

[ucci]

Email sent as I have developed the same problem with my Canon MV600

Sounds like Iris is stuck closed, simple test to confirm, use a small torch and set zoom to telephoto and look into lens shinning torch inside, if you can see the iris opening/closing with light then Iris ok, if you just see a matt background with no Iris movement, the Iris is stuck!, and lens/iris replacement required (some have seperate Iris, some are complete lens ass'y)

extremely common fault. CCD needs repalced. Cost around £100.
Threaten Canon with watchdog, they should have done a recall.

[john_hollinrake]

I have just encountered this exact same problem with my Canon MV600i.

I took it back to Jessop's (unfortunately not under warranty as is approx 20 months since purchase) and they quoted me £196 to repair!!

What is my next best course of action?

Many thanks indeed for any help.

Just add me to the list of people having this MV600 problem of nothing displayed in the viewfinder.

Has anyone found a simple (cheap) solution yet?

Or a reasonable priced source of repair .

A repair at £100 ish is scary for equipment used so infrequently.

Just add me to the list of people having this MV600 problem of nothing displayed in the viewfinder.

Has anyone found a simple (cheap) solution yet?

Or a reasonable priced source of repair .

A repair at £100 ish is scary for equipment used so infrequently.

I empathise with everybody's problem. Same thing here, Canon MV600, only 18 months old, black screen; playback works but can't record anything!
The bright spark who mentioned watchdog has a good point. I'm certainly going to try this route as Canon won't fix the camera for free as it's out of warranty.
As I've e-mailed most of you on this forum, I'll just reiterate here that I'm going to watchdog, and if anyone else wishes to put together a petition of names, I'll
be happy to present our case! I don't think I'll buy another Canon camera whatever the outcome is.

[satfan69]

Hello, I have exactly same problem, MV650i, 20 months old, suddenly CCD ****ed, playback is Ok but reconding has no image at all or blurry/rawy image, sometime appearing/diappearing without doing anything.

I have not done anything specific, actually I have used the camera a lot in all its functions but always very careful with it.

I am more than happy to join for petition to Canon.

Regards
Satfan

i also have the same camera.around 18 months old and has done EXATCLY THE SAME FAULT AS YOU GUYS!

i say go to watchdog. i'm complaning. for £350 quid to buy a fault is a disgrace!

I have the same problem - will contact Canon and advise response. My camera is 20 months Old! I would be happy to join the watchdog petition if it is still going ahead and if I have no luck with Canon.

[209AZ]

I bought a Canon,had it a month or so and it developed the Remove Cassette problem.I got it from the Canon Outlet on ebay.

On first complaing about this fault,I was told to send it back to Canon for a warranty repair,and that it could take up to 28 days.

I was not going to have that,so quoted the Sale of Goods Act to Canon Outlet,who maintained that they could not refund after 7 days.

The revised law states,amongst other things,that if a product develops a fault within 6 months,then it is up to the seller to prove that the fault was not present at the time of purchase.

After pointing out to them forcefully,that even though they kept quoting their procedures,that what they kept telling me counted for nothing and they could not disregard the Sales Act,they have agrred to give me refund.

If you have not read the Sale of Goods Act then have a look at this link as in some cases,you can make a claim for up to 6 years if a product develops a fault.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/fa...legoodsact.htm

I am quite dissapointed with Canon,and I say that as someone who has had a Canon A1 SLR for 20 years or so and currently have a S50 digital camera.

If you search the internet,you will be staggered at the amount of bad feeling towards Canon over faulty camcorders and their "could not care less attitude" towards their customers.

Canon should be taken to task over this !

I too have suffered what I reckon should be called the Black Screen of Death. Contacted CEO of Canon who passed on complaint letter to Maureen Rowles. My letter contained several points viz. that there are hundreds out there like us (just check the amount of USA users who have suffered failure - they call them ZR models not MV) and that surely Canon should admit there is a problem and repair these gratis. My reply letter did not address any of these issues and simpy offered to repair for £144. My MV630i was 19 months old at the time of the failure - it had been used for under 10 hours I reckon. I even recommened my brother buy a MV630i which he did a few months ago.

This is not acceptable and I reckon we should compile a dossier for the attention of Watchdog. Clearly Canon are not interested until the s*** hits the fan!

Add me to the list.

Has anyone had any luuck with Canon yet.

I would be happy to join the Watchdog petition

[HarryMc]

I have also joined this "club". Didn't see this thread and posted a new one. Having read this thread, I believe that by now Canon must know that that the MV600i is "not fit for the purpose intended" and therefore we may have some recourse through the Sale of Goods Act.
XURBA - have you had any luck or has anyone else made any progress?
I too would be happy to add my name to any petition.
Harry

Hello,

I bought an mv630i 20 months ago and now I have the same problem as everybody seems to have here ! Sorry but, what a crap !

I'm french, so if there's no problem, add to me to the list as well.
When you see the cost of a new digital camrecorder, I wonder if it is a good idea to repair my canon... But whatever solution I have I need to pay and that wasn't planned....

I'll never buy canon again and won't advise anyone to buy canon as well.

thanks for any help...

bye

[Nutgone]

Hello all
Looks like I'm about to join you all.
My camcorder works but only after a lot of turning off and on and its slowly getting worse. I know one day the screen will just stay black for good.
Had my camera about 18 months, bought for the birth of my son.
The watchdog approach sounds like our best bet.
All the info I have been able to find on the web suggests Canon & Sony (they seem to have the same problem with one of there models) just don't want to know if it is outside warranty. Now if it was just a few cameras I think we would all understand, but from the look of it this is just too common for it to be coincidence.

Hi all,

I too, have a 650i, which has only had over the last 14 months (just out of warranty of course) no more than 4 hours usage.

Went to use it the other day for an event I simply "HAD" to capture, and sure enough, no picture, same problem as the rest of you's. I'm happy to sign a petition if there be one.

In Australia, a few places quoted between $380 -> $595 to replace the CCD. What a joke.

Hello everyone

I am delighted and dismayed to have found this forum. First that my black screen problem with my MV600 is endemic and second that no matter what, it looks as though I'll have to buy another camcorder. Xurba, how do I go about supporting your petition? And lastly, can anyone recommend a replacement camcorder?

Yes! I've joined the Black Screen club.

I have had my camera for 2 years up until now the camera had been reliable, well impressed with it, but we took it on holiday and noticed that all we had was a black screen it recorded sound but that's all, I checked all the settings and had Jessops check them as well, they said they were fine, it needed to be repaired and it would cost £180 upwards (ouch!!!).

It seems to be a common problem with the 600 series, I know my camera is out of warranty but it should last longer than 2 years (it's not a cheap camera).

I am yet to contact canon in the morning to give them what for I will keep you posted.

[jonezy]

Hi everyone,

I am now a member!

Bought my MV650i 13/06/03 for £590. Last used on 22/04/05 and worked fine. Went to use it today and here I am. Same fault as everyone else. Not very happy to say the least. I will call Canon Monday but am not holding out much hope - or any hope come to think of it. Still, I've got a lifetime of buying electronics and the best reply is never to buy Canon again.

XURBA - add me to the petition please.

Cheers.

H there, same story here .. had my 600i less than 2 years, going on holidy tomorrow, without my camera!

[HarryMc]

I have just had a very unsatisfactory telephone conversation with Canon during the course of which I asked did they think they had a problem with the MV600 given that I could refer them to a minimum of 20 people whos cameras had developed the same fault. The reply was no. I was told that if the camera had a fault then they would have heard from thousands of buyers. I heard a lot of other crap but this is the crux of it. I guess I will just have to become a non Canon buyer in the future.

[Nutgone]

Hi Guys
Just to let you all know I have sent an email to Amazon.co.uk where I purchased my MV600i in September 2003 to see if they are prepared to repair/replace my camcorder.
I have quoted the dti sale of goods act saying that I have up to 6 years to complain about the goods. I do not believe an expensive piece of kit like this should fail short of 2 years/10 hours record time.
I'll keep you all posted on what they say. Also I recommend everyone reads the link posted by 209AZ and tries to get there Camcorders replaced/repaired by the people who sold it to them.

Just tried to video the kids to find no picture but sound. Old footage will playback ok on viewer. Does this sound familiar. Found the source of the problem on this forum (failed CCD). Will have to contact Canon on Monday.
Have not used it for a few months but camera is only 23 months old. Going by the forum, Canon will be no help. We should highlight this problem with Watchdog or if anyone has Which? membership see if they can help.

Will not be buying Canon any more if they don't fix the CCD free of charge.

Raised a technical case with Canon, but they just replyed get it repaired. Will now email supplier and credit card referring to DTI guide that goods should be suitable for 6 years.

Slight variant here I think - I have an MV600i, about 2 years old, bought from Amazon. Used very infrequently (holidays, Christmas etc). Went to charge it up the other week for the imminent birth of a child, and I get a white screen on the LCD, nothing in the viewfinder. Wouldn't eject the tape, although with a great deal of fiddling I managed to eventually get our Christmas tape out. Put a blank tape in, charged it up and again stuck on white screen, won't record, won't play and won't even switch off unless I remove the battery.
Very annoyed by this - need it for an important family event, can't afford to replace it.
Has anyone successfully had one repiared even if they ended up paying for it? Would it be worth spending £100 or so getting it fixed or is that just throwing good money after bad?

It looks like I too have joined this "club"of black screen of death for the Canon MV650i. I tried my camcorder this morning and in record mode was greeted by a black screen - no image displayed (as if the lens cap had been left on). I tried the playback and this worked fine on both displays.

I tried recording anyway, and when I played the new recording back, all I got was sound and a black screen. It looks like the CCD has failed as with all of other listed Canon camcorders of the MV600 series in this forum.

I guess the age of the camcorder is about 18 months old and it hasn't had a lot of use. Assuming Canon are as dismissive with me as everyone else, looks like I'll never buy a Canon again!

[209AZ]

When I said in this thread "Don't buy a Canon ",a person thought I was making a bit of a sweeping statement !

I wonder if he has read this thread yet and have would he care to comment !

Advice on camcorder purchase

[technoman28]

I have a thread running at the moment (JVC big problem) different problem, different manufacturer, same attitude. A large group of users in the US are taking them to court. See details here -
http://jvc-class-action.blogspot.com/
Makes for very interesting reading, and I am sure that most of it would apply to the Canon problems as well.

[Nutgone]

Ok guys I have not heard from Amazon so have contacted Consumer Direct and they have told me that I do have a case and this is the letter to send to them (amazon) http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/com...tters_03.shtml
making it out to cover my problem.
Suggest you all try the same thing (with your sellers) as the seller has a responsibility to sell a product that should be of good quality and not inherently faulty as our cameras seem to be.
Good luck all
I will keep you posted.