Hi,

On november 7th 2003 I purchased the Canon EOS 300D and it's been
functioning perfectly up until about a month ago. I use the camera mainly
for shoots in a studio with the white balance set to flash mode.

Up until a month ago white has been white, but now (with the same settings)
white background shows a very distinct red color cast. The RGB reading in
the jpeg is e.g. 249R - 229G - 218 B. Also midtones give similar problem
with the same white background: 198R - 165G - 150B.

I've been using the manual white balance since a few weeks now, and this
works fine. But this is a workaround and not a year has passed since I
bought the camera, so I could return the camera for a free repair. The issue
with this is that I don't want to bring the camera to repairs, wait for a
month and then be told that it's a problem that I could have fixed myself,
or that it is not a problem of the camera.

I've tried different flash units and different lenses, all with the same
result (red color cast). So apparently the problem is not with the light
source or lense. Also I use the same background as ever, so the background
cannot be the problem. I also tested another white balance setting by
photographing the same white background at a clouded sky lighting and the
corresponding white balance setting, and with this setting and this light I
do not have the problem: I get readings like 235R - 235G - 235B, 227R -
227G - 227B, 184R - 184G - 184B, 162R - 161G - 166B, quite accurate
greyscales mostly. So the problem is narrowed down to the flash white
balance setting.

Does anyone recognize this problem? Should I let the camera be repaired,
should I run more tests, can I solve the problem myself without a
workaround?

Also, I'm wondering if I should go through the pain of missing my camera
quite some time to have it repaired if the workaround I'm using in the
studio with the manual setting is working alright. I only want to go through
this pain when the problem will get worse and it will spread to other white
balance settings (if so, I have a problem since only one manual white
balance setting can be stored and I don't want to set the white balance
manually everytime I take a picture in a different lighting situation). But
if I want the camera repaired, I should do it before november 7th, after
that date I'll have to pay for the repairs...

Any advice?

Thanx,
Michiel.