A look inside an EF lens

[GeForceFX]

I just found this link showing the inside of an EF lens:
http://www.photoscene.com/sw/tour/inside.htm

I thought it was interesting enough to share with you guys :)

[pierrot]

Yes, this guy sure has a good understanding of what he fiddles putting apart ;)

[Jim_T]

Very interesting :)

[DaveG]

I just found this link showing the inside of an EF lens:
http://www.photoscene.com/sw/tour/inside.htm

I thought it was interesting enough to share with you guys :)

This is off point (what else is new, eh?) but seeing that lens apart caused a flashback.

In the mid 1970's I got a job in a small camera store. About six months before I started they had a customer who bought a used Canon F1 system with about eight lenses. According to my co-workers - and they had no reason to lie to me - the gear was in as-new shape.

Well Mr. X took all of it home and used it for a few weeks. He concluded that there was something wrong with the lenses and his solution was to take everything apart. He did this not to one lens, but to all of the lenses. Then he discovered that he couldn't put them back together again.

This became our fault of course except that the manager had had enough with this boob. He told him flat out that it was his (the customer's) fault and that the store wouldn't pay one cent towards their repair. We would send them to a local repair facility on his nickle and they would be re-built over time. I think that he got the last lens back about two years later, paid for all of the labour, and I'm sure were never all that good again.

So if you're tempted to have a look inside ...

[PhotosGuy]

:D:D:D Long ago, I disassembled the lens from my Argus SLR & missed a groove when I put it back together so it wouldn't quite focus at infinity. So I just made sure I stopped down after that! :o

[ron chappel]

Wow that canon F1 story is funny :)
Imagine trying to blame the store AFTER you've pulled it all apart.I thought only the modern moron generation were like that.
There is a very interesting story somewhere on the web at the moment where someone has taken the apart the image stabilization unit of his 70-200/2.8 IS .He intends to install some new guide pins (a bigger tech challenge than simply working on the lens!) then reassemble it all.Unfortunately i can't seem to find the page at the moment,i'll keep looking.

I've worked on heaps of lenses now and feel reasonably confident i can do it without damaging anything (i have no formal camera tech training but am a mechanic) .Surprisingly ,some lenses are an absolute joy to work on where it's impossible get anything wrong.The nikkor 105/2.5 Ai/Ais lenses are like that.

Others are just plain demon possessed :lol::lol:
The variety of construction methods are amazing and you just don't know which lenses are going to be easy or pigs.

Early canon EOS lenses were a pain -all the electronic connections were soldered instead of being detachable like the modern ones.

Everyone says that zooms are extremely complex but alot of old zooms are amazingly easy to work on,especially old metal ones
Some of the most difficult lenses i've had to deal with are old peantax takumar primes:confused:

[Vega$50]

That was a great article...Shows that quite a bit of thought goes into the design...

[joeseph]

Some years back when my eyesight could manually focus a camera, I has an AE-1 which the strap lug came loose on. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to take the top off to tighten it. Sure enough, off came the top - sure enough other bits immediately fell off!
I loved the guy who came up with the exposure system, complete with string and pully.
After my local camera shop put it all back together again, I'd figured out how to wire an electric switch instead of the cable-release, so sure enough - off came the top again to get a 3pin socket fitted. This time it all went back together perfectly and I'm sure it's somewhere in the U.K. now still taking really good shots.