Originally posted by Peter Zack
I used to work for Alpine Car stereo and if those numbers above are anywhere close to true. They are astounding. We used to brag that our failure rate was under 0.5% and they were always striving for better.
Well, do you throw a car stereo in a bag or on a strap, drag it around across half the world, bang it into walls, drop it, get it wet, etc etc? Yeah, didn't think so. You can't compare something that spends its life mounted inside the dash of a car with something that gets actively used. I bet a significant percentage of the reported failures are due to use (and abuse). How many mp3 players do you think "fail" during the first two years of ownership?
Quote: Consider that if you have 10 lenses, you have 10 possibilities for AF failure if the lens has the motor.
And with the motor in the camera, you have a single point of failure that renders all your lenses incapable of AF.
Quote: I used to laugh when someone would post and ask what a shutter actuation rating was. The chances your camera will make it to 100,000 + clicks are probably slim. The shutter is a reliable and long tested technology. The rest of the modern camera though.....
Lots and lots of people on POTN and FM shooting with bodies with not just hundreds of thousands of clicks on, but over a MILLION in some cases (and the shutter is what wears out and needs to be replaced, not the rest of the camera). Maybe you're just unlucky or picking the wrong gear?
Quote: I for one would never buy a lens with a USM/SDM etc. AF system if I had the choice to get the same lens with screwdrive.
I don't know a single Canon shooter who's had a USM lens fail on them. Surely it happens, but it's not exactly commonplace. I have a feeling you've been burned by SDM issues.