Not sure if this is in the correct section but has anyone had a repair done on a Canon lense?

 

Mine has give up the ghost and will not auto focus, meaning the motor has packed in. It doesn't get a used much so a bit miffed it's packed in.

 

New lense or repair? cheap fix, guessing not????

 

BTW it's the stock lense that came with my 450D

Edited 3 August, 201510 yr by MickA

My guess is it wont be worth fixing if its the stock 18-55mm, I think they are still quite reasonably priced to buy and the latest version is reckoned to be good value fro money I've seen Canon and Nikon taking a lens apart and it's terrifying how much stuff they cram in there! I think the 18-55mm is about £120 at regular shops like Jessops and probably a lot cheaper on the interamazonebayweb

Opportunity to buy a wider focal length lens? 18-105, 18-125, 18-135, etc.

 

I have seen the Canon 18-55 non-IS being sold for £70 and with IS for less than £90 .

Put it on ebay for spares and put the money towards a new lens.

 

My wife has just got the 18 - 135 STM for her 650d - good image quality along with a very useful zoom range.

You could always be brave and get the 'Nifty Fifty'. It's a prime (no zoom) 50mm lens, but it is very fast ie it has a large f1.8 aperture. This means although it is harder work as you have to move the camera instead of just standing still and zooming around, you can take real 'pro' looking pictures. Bokeh is great (try googling bokeh ) and you can shoot indoors without a flash and still capture kids and animals running around without flash (albeit with an iso boost).

 

I took this photo in the dead of night using only a single cell LED torch shining from an upstairs window. The lens I used was very similar to the nifty fifty OK, it's not good enough for publication, but for a snap using a remote shutter release in the dark it's not bad

 

IMG_1178-1 by Amanda, on Flickr

Had my 17-55 repaired at hlehmann.co.uk about 3-4 times now. Would definitely recommend them for repairs and general servicing, and shouldn't be too far from you if you're in Derbyshire.

 

I'd agree though, that if it's the stock lens then you'd be better off accepting the loss. You'd get a second hand 18-55 kit lens for about £50 which would likely be cheaper than any repair would cost you if any parts needed replacing. And it's probably not too far off that for a new one.

Years ago we didn't have autofocus. If repair is too costly, I'd keep it and treat it as a walkabout / travel lense. One to manually focus though, assuming you can.

 

The opportunity to buy new lense is also good, if a little more costly than the repair I just sold my nifty fifty though :( Got more bits left though, see sig

Years ago we didn't have autofocus. If repair is too costly, I'd keep it and treat it as a walkabout / travel lense. One to manually focus though, assuming you can.

 

The opportunity to buy new lense is also good, if a little more costly than the repair I just sold my nifty fifty though :( Got more bits left though, see sig

 

Thanks for the input on this thread.

 

Looked at your gear for sale Colin, missed out on the Nifty Fifty lense, just.

The faulty lense I have just won't focus at all. I can take distance shots with it like landscapes but the quality is not good. I will have another search on ebay for a lense.

Update on this problem.

 

I like finding out why things suddenly give up working, so turning myself into a camera lense repair man for the morning I thought, what have I got to lose. I either bin it or sell it on ebay for very little money for someone else to repair.

I opened the offending lense to find the cause, bottom picture shows the broken ribbon circuit, circled in red. Apparently it is a common problem with this lense, the ribbon flexes then breaks as you focus the lense in and out.

 

So thanks to the power of the internet and a tutorial I found I have just ordered the necessary part. As I say nothing to lose, if I can't get it back and working, in the bin it goes and just my time and a few bob wasted.

 

 

 

Edited 6 August, 201510 yr by MickA

Superb! Good luck with the fix and as you say nothing to loose. Worst case a funky USB pen holder.

Superb! Good luck with the fix and as you say nothing to loose. Worst case a funky USB pen holder.

 

Only £1.88 lost if it doesn't work again. Thanks to our Chinese friends on ebay.

Update on this problem.

 

I like finding out why things suddenly give up working, so turning myself into a camera lense repair man for the morning I thought, what have I got to lose. I either bin it or sell it on ebay for very little money for someone else to repair.

I opened the offending lense to find the cause, bottom picture shows the broken ribbon circuit, circled in red. Apparently it is a common problem with this lense, the ribbon flexes then breaks as you focus the lense in and out.

 

So thanks to the power of the internet and a tutorial I found I have just ordered the necessary part. As I say nothing to lose, if I can't get it back and working, in the bin it goes and just my time and a few bob wasted.

 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant, well done you We are so used to chucking things away that don't work, we forget than with a bit of ingenuity, you can still fix stuff (well you can ) Fingers crossed for you, but it looks like you have this one well under control

Brilliant, well done you We are so used to chucking things away that don't work, we forget than with a bit of ingenuity, you can still fix stuff (well you can )

 

+1 

 

(Although I think Mick should've tried to fix the ribbon with tin foil and sellotape before forking out £1.88  )

 

Gaz

My missus would have suggested that too, she is, let's say frugal with her money.

Nice one for looking to repair it - hope it works ok.

 

If not and you do upgrade i'd second the 18-135 canon, its a great walkaround lens.

Nice one for looking to repair it - hope it works ok.

 

If not and you do upgrade i'd second the 18-135 canon, its a great walkaround lens.

 

Our Chinese friends postal service is rather slow, mind you it did say est del 21st-28th Aug so anyday now. Getting fed up with taking naff phone pics or borrowing the missus Fuji bridge camera.

My canon 18-85 EFS usm fractured its aperture ribbon cable and I managed to repair it with a replacement Chinese cable. Works a treat now so good luck as I know how fiddly the lenses can be to strip and repair

^^^^ Good to hear, just waiting on the postman for my part.

 

It's getting just short of 4 weeks wait now, I've even ordered another yesterday from a different supplier just incase the first doesn't show up. So cheap though.

Well finally I had my spare part delivered yesterday. I ordered 2 x FPC ribbon connectors as they were dirt cheap, they didn't turn up after 28 days so I ordered a single one and that showed up within 8 days from another supplier in China.

As you can see in the pictures below the new and broken ribbon. It was all a fiddly and to my tired aged eyes a bit of a challenge but I got there in the end. Armed with my wifes crafting tools,  scalpel, tweezers, toothpick  and work light I proceeded to do the final dismantle of the lense to get at the said part that had failed. All went ok as I said a bit fiddly and care needed when removing all the ribbon connectors, that's were the tookpick came in handy.

So after perusing the website I found on how to dismantle the lense again, I managed to get the ribbon fixed in place. It's like trying to fix  decals to your car, if you've ever done that, you get one chance to line it up and once it's stuck that's it.

So with that in place it's just the job of putting all back together, which didn't go that well. I remembered how it all went back and which way everything connected, but still no auto focus.....hmm. Had to strip it down again (partially) and I found the problem, I'd not hooked up the AF/MF switch properly, misaligned the peg to activate the switch so it was only in MF mode.

Anyways all back togather for the second time and we now have a perfectly auto focus lense. Nice to hear that motor whirring away again. :clap:

So 99p for the part, £1.98 for the parts that haven't turned up but they are resending those, I've a saved loadsa money on this DIY fix and will have a spare set if it goes again.

 

A few pics.

 

 

 

Edited 19 September, 201510 yr by MickA

Good job jobbed!   

 

Gaz

Good fix! 

So after a few months of not being able to use my camera in a fully functioning mode, I went out yesterday and had a look around the Hinckley classic car meet.

 

Must say the cars on display were excellent, camera didn't disappoint either, all good apart from the battle with the bright sunshine and the crowds.

 

 

Edited 21 September, 201510 yr by MickA

Im coming to you if mine ever breaks ,  that's the one thing I hate when trying to take photos is people wondering around/walk in front of you.

 

 

Awesome photo of the badger too Lady Elanore.

Well after the sucess of repairing my lense I got hold of a couple more. Latest one fixed, yes the same problem, now working perfect.

 

Another one I picked up had a similar problem although the auto focus did work erratically. Well all I needed for this one was a pair of tweezers after I had took it apart, inside lodged between the contacts for the zoom mech was a short blade of dried up grass. Hmm... how did that get in there? All 100% working again now.

 

 

Edited 9 October, 201510 yr by MickA