Canon 100-400 zoom ring bearings knackered?

[timuss]

It seems the zoom ring on my 100-400 is no longer tightining. I tighten it up and it just keeps going round and doesn't tighten very much at all. Now my question is has anybod else had this fixed and can they give a rough indication on price?? Other than that it operates fine no problems with it at all at a guess i'd say i've had it 3 or 4 years.

[Mictheslik]

I've got a similar problem. At fully tight, the zoom still extends easily to about 200mm. Mine's 3 years old...kind of ignore it as it seems too small a problem to warrant it sending it off...

.mic

[Haskey]

I had the opposite problem where the bearings came out and it was stuck near the fully locked position and very tight to zoom. I took it to Canon at Elstree and the chrage was £180 for new bearings and barrel, clean and service. This was about 4 years ago at which time the lens was probably about 4 years old.

[timuss]

I may make do for the moment seems like more hassle, than its worth. Thanks for the comments though

[rpstewart]

I had the opposite problem where the bearings came out and it was stuck near the fully locked position and very tight to zoom. I took it to Canon at Elstree and the chrage was £180 for new bearings and barrel, clean and service. This was about 4 years ago at which time the lens was probably about 4 years old.

Same problem here about a year ago, it seems the zoom ring is the achillies heel of the lens. Had it fixed for the same price at AJ Johnston in Glasgow. I'd guess £180 is the going rate for an out of warranty minor service still.

[DaveM]

Fixation quoted me about £110 plus VAT the other month - said the "zoom ring" had failed due to natural wear and tear. It started going about 9 months ago and went completely with a large strip of c3mm charcoal coloured 'paper' coming out of it in November last year. Canon got VERY indignant when I suggested they used paper to make a £1k+ lens work...

There is a thread on Birdforum of one guy who stuck some plastic circles (bike repair components?) around the base of his zoom which the zoom ring now gripped onto perfectly.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=190098

Not tried it myself yet but am wondering it magic tape will have the same effect added in sparing amounts?

[timuss]

Fixation quoted me about £110 plus VAT the other month - said the "zoom ring" had failed due to natural wear and tear. It started going about 9 months ago and went completely with a large strip of c3mm charcoal coloured 'paper' coming out of it in November last year. Canon got VERY indignant when I suggested they used paper to make a £1k+ lens work...

There is a thread on Birdforum of one guy who stuck some plastic circles (bike repair components?) around the base of his zoom which the zoom ring now gripped onto perfectly.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=190098

Not tried it myself yet but am wondering it magic tape will have the same effect added in sparing amounts?

Hmmm i have had little bits of black paper stuck to the barrell. Maybe i shall get it looked at.

[Excalibur1990]

I do wonder if a good proportion of these failures are due to people hanging the lens off the body and regularly allowing the zoom to rapidly slide out to the endstop with a nasty clunk.

[timuss]

The more i've thought about it i've decided to get it sorted, im going to drop it Park Camera's and they will send it to Canon for repair, Get them to service and repair the lens and get calibrated.

[Miramar]

Had the same issue with mine. Repaired at Canon, Elstree at Xmas. Cost £127 for repair, second time it's happened in 4 years. It's not like I use the lens every day

Dave

[timuss]

Its been suggested that i have the lens recalibrated by Canon at the same time, is this worth doing??? Its around 3-4 years old.

[Darren Currie]

Recently sent my 100-400 away for service and calibration due to not being happy with last years results. Contacted Canon as not happy with the 7d focusing as it did not appear spot on. Canon recommended four authorised service centres. Had heard good reports on Lehmann Ltd in Stoke on Trent so sent them both there. The 7d was still under warranty.

I contacted Lehmann Ltd - they sent me labels, instructions etc on E-mail and quoted a price of £165 for the service, calibration and return of the 100-400 plus additional parts if required. I offered to pay in advance and they said they would request payment when complete, confirming the charge of any 'additional' parts prior to completing.

Packaged and sent on Monday last week. Received a call from Lehmanns on the Thursday and fearing the worst, they confirmed service and calibration of camera and lens complete - total charge £165 as quoted including replacement of the lens focusing ring. Received back on the Saturday. Admitted I have not had the opportunity to test the lens and camera yet but the turn around time was great. Customer Service was top notch and they confirmed receipt of the package as I am not one to trust Royal Mail (due to items which required signature being dumped over the back gate!).

http://www.hlehmann.co.uk/index.html

Would recommend them as the repairs also have a six month warranty

Cheers

[aerobuff]

Hello,

While looking into the matter of cleaning my Canon 100-400mm L (AKA "The Dust Pump"), I ran across these instructions for disassembly of the Canon Lens. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=948918 So I got my tiny screwdrivers out and got started. While I was in there, I noticed the "paper" clutch tape that had all worn off and gummed up the focus bearing and prevented the barrel from sliding smoothly. I cleaned it all out and lubricated the bearing. I then went to the fabric store and paid $1.99 for a product called "Offray MicroSpool"; very fine black ribbon with a self-adhesive back. I split the ribbon down the middle because it was too wide, prepped the ring with a cotton swab and alcohol, measured out the ribbon to length and carefully laid the sticky back in place around the inner clutch ring. After removing the dust from the interior of the objective, I reassembled the lens.

This project was SUPER easy, 'took about 90 minutes and only required removing 10 screws. The barrel now has an incredibly smooth action and can be adjusted to very fine increments of tightness. The lens looks and feels better than the day I bought it.

If you do this, be sure to mark the points of the calibration screws or go through the calibration process.

While you're thinking about doing it, have a look at the pictures I took with this lens at the Mirimar Air Show at Top Gun in California. http://homepage.mac.com/cml9868/Mirimar%20Air%20Show/

[timuss]

Just got my quote £150 eeek its a good job i love this lens!

[sadlybrokeboy]

I had the dreaded cardboard coming out of the friction ring happen to me.

Apparently the use the cardboard to hold the bearings in place on the friction ring, if it goes completely you can end up damaging the barrel of the lens and having to get that replaced.

After prevaricating about sending it, I sent mine away to Canon Elstree using CPS and I was quoted £130 to fix - the lens came back inside 3 days and cost me £99.

Fair play to Canon they're communication was excellent throughout as was the quick turnaround.