Saturday, December 8, 2012

Lens Woes, Again

I have been happy that my Canon EF 200mm f1.8L lens kind of fixed itself, after I found out it stopped working a couple of months ago.  The day before, I used it to photograph my kids' school concert, and it worked so perfectly.  Today, I took it to my kids' swim meet and it went dead at the as soon as I mounted it on the camera.  Everything else works, even the aperture, but no AF or manual focus.  Because this lens has the focus-by-wire mechanism, it needs electricity to engage and is not mechanically coupled to the focusing ring.  If AF does not work, manual focus will not work either.  The EF 85mm f1.2L works the same way too.

I guess I will take the lens to repair shop like I said I would.  The malfunction of the lens might be caused by moisture, as the swimming pool was very hot and humid.  I will give the lens a test again later to see if it rights itself again or not.  In any case, this is very frustrating, as it is the main lens I use for my kids' sporting events. I used the EF 135mm f2 for the whole event today, but it just did not have enough reach.  Hopefully, the lens can be fixed.

Dillon the Piano Man playing accompaniment for the school choir - 1D III & EF 85mm f1.2.

2 comments:

  1. hi, mine has the exact same problem, sometimes works sometimes, the AF just stops and gets stuck just before infinity focus.

    did you manage to get yours repaired? what did they say was broken, and how much was the works,

    cheers!

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    Replies
    1. Oliver, I have not had the chance to take the lens to the repair shop yet. Not really sure what the problem is, but mine is totally would not focus, though I can still take pictures at various apertures, but focus would not work. Will let you know when I get around to take it to the repair shop.

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