Great! - Kit Lens getting stuck.

[pippin88]

Well my Kit lens zoom is now getting stuck.

Just noticed tonight that it won't go wider than 18mm, and sometimes depending on angle etc won't go wider than 35 or longer than 50 or any combination of them. Even when it isn't getting stuck at 35 or 50, it is noticeably clunky or gritty.

There are no marks or scratches, and I've ever really banged or dropped the lens.

So it looks like I'll drop the camera and the kit lens into Maxwells on Monday morning. They can have a look at my drowning of the sensor too (though pictures seems to be coming out fine, my current picture threads are post drowning).

[Geoff]

Sorry to read this, maybe it's a sign that you should upgrade? Maybe the 17-55DX

[birddog114]

Well my Kit lens zoom is now getting stuck.

Just noticed tonight that it won't go wider than 18mm, and sometimes depending on angle etc won't go wider than 35 or longer than 50 or any combination of them. Even when it isn't getting stuck at 35 or 50, it is noticeably clunky or gritty.

There are no marks or scratches, and I've ever really banged or dropped the lens.

So it looks like I'll drop the camera and the kit lens into Maxwells on Monday morning. They can have a look at my drowning of the sensor too (though pictures seems to be coming out fine, my current picture threads are post drowning).

Don't you know the kit lens get shrunk after certain time of use?
You won't be happy with the 17-55Dx btw, send them back to Maxwell for de-shrunk

[pippin88]

Yeah, going to drop it in.

Do I need receipt or anything else?

[birddog114]

Yeah, going to drop it in.

Do I need receipt or anything else?

Yes, you do.

[kipper]

PIPPIN MINE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM!!!!

Seems like a common fault. Mine just got back from Camera Clinic after being repaired under warrantee by Teds.

I noticed this problem when I was up at Sydney for the AAW. I tried to show Thanh the problem but I think he was a bit preoccupied with the mini meet
Anyway as soon as I got back to Melbourne I took it to Teds and it was repaired. Took roughly 3 weeks to repair. They repalced the whole Zoom/Focus front section of the lens and made some focus adjustments to the lens.

Nick my symptoms were this:

* Front zoom section noticeable loser than when first purchased. Fair amount of play between the telescopic section when fully zoomed to 70MM eg. wobbles side to side.

* When zooming to different focus lengths it wouldn't go down to 18MM and would tend to get stuck around 24MM. Occasionally it would stick when zooming back up at around 50MM.

The only possible reason I could see this happening was due to the attaching/removal of the lens hood. Mine when fully locked tended to be really hard to get off and required a fair amount of torque to remove it. So I'm wondering if something snapped off internally and was left floating in the zoom/focus mechanism.

Btw, the manager at Teds pretty much grilled me over it. He looked at the lens, rotated it. Put it down on the bench. Asked me if I've dropped it, which I said the lens doesn't get much use and my 70-200VR is pretty much permanently attached to my camera. He then started filling out a form on the PC. Picked it up again rotated it and looked at it closely. Put it down again. Filled out the form some more. Told me it would be roughly 2-4 weeks.

What made me laugh was he put down on the form going to Camera Clinic there was some scratches on the lens cap. You should see the so called scratches. They're like nylon burn were the lens has been floating in my lowepro bag.

[pippin88]

Those are my exact symptoms Kipper.

Got the looser side to side thing - I assumed it was my imagination for a while, till this problem cropped up.

[kipper]

Out of interest Nick, did you find it hard to get the petal hood off at times and had to put a fair bit of torque behind it to release?

[pippin88]

Early on yes, it required a ton of torque, but now it doesn't - I presumed the plastic wore down a bit.

[kipper]

I'm guessing the torque from removing the hood has weakened a part internally. I'm considering filing/sanding down the little raised areas inside the hood that lock it in place.

[endymion]

Nick,

I'd suggest you just take it directly to Camera Clinic as all the store will do is post it off to them. Camera Clinic are happy to receive warranty work directly and you'll save yourself an extra layer of communication and the associated hassle.

Cheers,

Bruce

[kipper]

Endymion, he's in Sydney so I think he'll be dropping it off at Maxwells.

[MattC]

I'm guessing the torque from removing the hood has weakened a part internally. I'm considering filing/sanding down the little raised areas inside the hood that lock it in place.

Just a thought. The hood on mine is fairly tight - it feels like I am going to break something when simply rotating the hood off. To get the hood off this lens I squeeze the two sides (the short petals) together. It then comes off easy.

Cheers

[Oneputt]

MattC is right squeeze it gently and off it comes as easy as pie, if you don't it can be very hard.

[kipper]

Cheers. Maybe they should put on the outside of the petal (Squeeze here to releaes).

[pippin88]

Well, got the camera back.

Lens is much improved, now back to new. No real slop in the zoom side to side.

I can't read half of their comments on the invoice, as they are printed into a big area of random characters (presumably a document authenticity thingo).

But as far as I can make out, they fixed up the lens and cleaned and checked the camera. However, I think the last line says "please note... ...presented scratched". Presumably low pass filter. Ah well, don't think it appears in pictures.

[birddog114]

Great to hear you've got it back and working nicely! Now go out and shooting!!!! you missed out in the last two weeks.

[pippin88]

Great to hear you've got it back and working nicely! Now go out and shooting!!!! you missed out in the last two weeks.

Certainly have.

Now I have the run up to uni exams