Canon 5D Service Notice - Mirror fall-out

[bokehcambodia]

As a long time reader of the LL site, I had to comment (that's my first one in the LL forum) on Canon's service notice of the 5D that has now finally been released after the problem been around for a while  

CANON 5D Service Notice - USA

After the 3 years lifespan of 5D the service notice came just after the 5D MKII launched in the market and the 5D gets retired.
Good timing I say to keep your customers unaware of the problem till you drop the product. I will not get a MKII and rather trust the XXD series.

The problem of the mirror fall-out is really quite common, having used an early model that lost its mirror 3 times already and has been with Canon for service. It seems they can't fix it properly otherwise it would not happen about every 6-12 month. I feel they just glued it back in, no replacement of mirror box etc...
I live in a humid country (Cambodia) and my friends 5D lost its mirror too... it really seems to have to do with the humidity and makes the 5D a tool you can't depend on imho.

I just wanted to hear what other users have to say, and if similar problems occurred with let's say the 40D. Seems the construction quality of the 5D does not meet the needed FullFrame durability as the 1Series does have.

Regards,
Michael

[sergio]

I chose the 5D over the 1Ds series because of its small size and unobtrusiveness to take to the colombian jungle to do a story over the course of several trips lasting several weeks each. Humidity and temperature is extreme. I try to take good care of my cameras, but they do get rained on, lots of dust and lots of actuations. Still works like a charm. Maybe I'm lucky. I never fully trust any camera though, because they WILL break down. Its not an IF, it's a WHEN issue. Funny thing is all my "pro" bodies have broken down, and my amateur camera the 5D has not.  

[jklotz]

just out of curiosity, about how many actuation's are you getting before this dreaded "mirror fallout" typically occurs?

[Professional]

Really i don't know, but about after 1 year of my 5D the mirror fallout, and i kept it for another 1 year, and i just sent it about 3 weeks ago to Canon service, i don't know why 5D has this problem over all other Canon DSLRs.