"My 24-105 f4 L Died'

[William]

I was at the Fingal AP Meet yesterday and my 24-105 started malfunctioning, It now is a 24mm Prime sort of, Has anbody else except myself and Julie ann/Jules had this problem , I rang Canon and they have no record of it (The Problem) , Which is strange cause I had heard of this through this site , I'm sure of it , Jules got hers fixed for $600 I do have the repair place in Brisbane that Jules used or should I send it to Canon Sydney or some other place that you guys can recommend that fixes L Series lenses at a nice price , Or should I just dump it , Any help appreciated - Bill

[Tannin]

Ouch!

What's going on? You mean the zoom mechanism is physically stuck? $60?! That seems like a lot to spend on a lens that probably cost $1700 but you can now buy new for $1200ish

[William]

Nah Tony worse than that, Both Jules and mine suffered the exact same death symptoms I was taking a shot looking through the viefinder and as I took the shot I noticed a flicker in the viefinder, Nothing is stuck, but as soon as you zoom out , Even just off the 24mm I still have focus points but it shows up as an ERROR 01 on the newer cameras , And as a ERROR 99 on my 30D , The image Stabilizer goes crazy as well a lot of buzzing and whiring , I can still take a shot at 24mm all works fine No go if you zoom out , Tried it on three cameras , Did the same on all

PS ; I heard something about a ribbon that comes off inside , when that comes undone when you zoom the lens does'nt talk to the Camera , The lens has to be completely stripped to repair

[MarkChap]

Yep William you are correct, there is a Ribbon cable that attaches to the aperture mechanism, it IS known to break, with now yourself and Jules I know of at least 3 others that have gone the same way.
Canon will only replace the ribbon cable AND aperture mechanism as a single part, ie they won't just replace the ribbon cable.

I have a feeling that there was a crowd in Sydney that will repair the lens by replacing the cable only, considerably cheaper than the Canon option, I will see what I can dig up

[Tannin]

Nasty! And yes, that does sound expensive. I googled it a bit and I'm seeing typical repair costs around $US150 - so where did the $600 come from?

[William]

Quote Mark :I have a feeling that there was a crowd in Sydney that will repair the lens by replacing the cable only, considerably cheaper than the Canon option, I will see what I can dig up : Ooo ! That would be good , I was wondering why so much cost , The place in Brisbane must replace the whole lot as well from what Jules was telling me yesterday , Try hard for me Mark Please

Well , What ever it is that canon wont admit I found more here : http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=36104926

[agb]

Does rather sound like the same problem. When Jules had her problem I did a bit of searching on it and there are quite a few comments on various forums including this one.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...light=error+01
This post.
My 24-105 f/4 L IS is faulty. The first time I saw err 01 about a month ago. So the lens was about 4.5 years old.



The lens is playing up exactly the way other people experiencing:

works fine at 24mm any aperture
works fine wide open any focal length
gives err 01 at any position other than 24mm if aperture not wide open

It makes fancy noise from time to time (sounds like the diaphragm is closing and opening few time a second).




When I put camera in M and set f/22 and press DOF preview button I can see the following:

at 24mm lens diaphragm is closing and opening no issues
at any other focal length it's kinda sticks and doesn't open once I release DOV preview button. The only way to open it is to zoom out to 24mm and press/release DOV preview button again.

Today I went to the Canon Australia service centre. Canon tech had a quick look and he said it looks like it's a faulty diaphragm unit. And replacement would cost me up to $650 AUD ($592 USD at the current exchange rate). Well... It's about a half of new grey mport lens here. I didn't go for repair at this stage as I didn't expect this price. So I will have to decide if I can find a cheaper way to fix it.

[Scotty72]

Yep William you are correct, there is a Ribbon cable that attaches to the aperture mechanism, it IS known to break, with now yourself and Jules I know of at least 3 others that have gone the same way.
Canon will only replace the ribbon cable AND aperture mechanism as a single part, ie they won't just replace the ribbon cable.

I have a feeling that there was a crowd in Sydney that will repair the lens by replacing the cable only, considerably cheaper than the Canon option, I will see what I can dig up

I had this exact thing last year with the same lens - it is very common - but try getting Canon to acknowlegde or fix this known issue.

Canon wanted about 700-800 to fix it.

A camera repairer should be able to replace the ribbon and the aperture ring it is attached to for (I think it cost me $350-400).

Don't panic too much.

Scotty

[William]

For a start they wont acknowledge it !! I asked today (Canon Sydney that is) they have no knowledge of this fault on their records , I say bul#sh%t Scotty can you remember where you got your's fixed for that price ? ps ; dont panic to much !!!! you say

[Scotty72]

For a start they wont acknowledge it !! I asked today (Canon Sydney that is) they have no knowledge of this fault on their records , I say bul#sh%t Scotty can you remember where you got your's fixed for that price ? ps ; dont panic to much !!!! you say

I know. I had the same problem with Canon. They are [self edited for legal reasons ]!

I have heard of it from several people and I know it to be a very common problem.

Anyway, it may have been less than $350. I am sure it was $300 and something dollars.

http://www.cameraservicecentre.powerup.com.au/

Scotty

[unistudent1962]

Same problem exists with the EF-S 17-85.
Had one repaired by Canon last year for approx $300.
The same problem is now back again, just over 12 months later.
Canon's response: Send it in and we'll charge you another $300 to fix it.
After a chat to the ACCC, they suggested that I send Canon a letter of demand, trying to compel them to repair what is a wide-spread problem with this lens, and apparently the 24-105 f4L as well!!

[ksolomon]

Bill, Im sorry your lens died yesterday, hope you can get it fixed at a reasonable price either that or convert it to a coffee mug

[William]

Same problem exists with the EF-S 17-85.
Had one repaired by Canon last year for approx $300.
The same problem is now back again, just over 12 months later.
Canon's response: Send it in and we'll charge you another $300 to fix it.
After a chat to the ACCC, they suggested that I send Canon a letter of demand, trying to compel them to repair what is a wide-spread problem with this lens, and apparently the 24-105 f4L as well!!

Thanks Mark for that info did you send the letter of demand ? after Scottys comment about there attitude to the problem , I was going to see if something could be done as well , So have we got a legal %#$@ , Ooops were not aloud to talk about that

[davearnold]

I am also a victim of the 24-105 IS failure.

Still deciding if/when to fix, or buy another lens instead.

I talked to Jules about hers, and the $600 repair cost, those dollars would go a long way to getting another lens, I could use in conjuntion with my 17-55.

But I MISS my 24-105, it is a great walk around lens.

Watching this thread with a lot of interest.

Cheers Dave

[William]

Good news Scotty and markchap Got onto http://www.cameraservicecentre.powerup.com.au/ Thanks mate , already have an Email estimate for $420 from these guys , I did ring and talk, what a friendly aussie guy , and he was one of the techs !! knew what i was talking about straight away ring these guys and ask for Richard , very friendly and helpfull , well the the repair cost is coming back into the ball park , as they say how , low , can we go

[William]

hey Dave , Maybe we can get a group discount

[Scotty72]

Good news Scotty and markchap Got onto http://www.cameraservicecentre.powerup.com.au/ Thanks mate , already have an Email estimate for $420 from these guys , I did ring and talk, what a friendly aussie guy , and he was one of the techs !! knew what i was talking about straight away ring these guys and ask for Richard , very friendly and helpfull , well the the repair cost is coming back into the ball park , as they say how , low , can we go

$420 sounds about right (and prob half of what canon will charge). My $300 and something was probalby in the high $300s (bad memory ) and I guess it's gone up a touch since then.

Scotty

[davearnold]

hey Dave , Maybe we can get a group discount

May be if we sent them in together we might, for that price could probably justify getting fixed sooner then later.

[William]

@ Dave , my son Joel is going to Sydney 2nd Week of August, They have a 7-10 day repair time , Joel said he would pick mine up while down there , I still have to find the money also, I'll check on a discount , will get back

[mikew09]

Crikey Bill, sorry to hear about the lens. I have heard a lot about this issue and now it seems more common than my expense acct can handle. Have been saving for a while would be hard pressed to foot a $600 repair if it failures in the short term. It really has put me off getting one. I have also been looking at the 10-20 sigma and the way my photography is going may get more use out it it. My Tamron SP AF 17-50 f2.8 is serving me well and though a bit short does ok for general lens usage.

I am thinking I may wait for canon to get their act together and resolve the fault in a 24-105 mk II and I might by one. Seems pretty poor for L series lens

I hope it works out for you Bill.