EF 100-400L IS USM Failure.

[Cadwell]

My 100-400L has developed a fault. It is related to the IS system. Keeping the shutter half depressed for three or more seconds with IS enabled (either mode) causes the lens to “crash”. You can feel the IS mechanism spin down and the camera loses communication with the lens (the aperture value displayed on the camera drops to “00”). Any attempt to take a photo causes the mirror to flip up but the shutter doesn’t activate. The camera displays “Err 01”.

Removing and refitting the lens or removing the battery from the camera clears the fault. Cleaning the lens contacts has made no difference. The failure never occurs if IS is switched off.

This is completely repeatable and happens with both my EOS 1D Mark II and EOS 10D bodies. Both bodies work perfectly with my other lenses.

The lens is 8 months old and has been fairly lightly used as it is not my preferred lens for those focal lengths. It will be being shipped to Canon for repair under warranty on Tuesday.

[lomond]

:shock: That's bad news.
Thank Christ I've got a 3 year warranty.

[kiwimichael]

as it is not my preferred lens for those focal lengths

Hi,

I'm interested in your comment above and wonder if can elaborate as I'm contemplating purchasing the 100-400 lens for motorsport photography.

I currently use a 70-200/4 L, a (borrowed) 300/4 L and the Canon 1.4 TC. These work well, but involves a lot of lens/tc swapping.

Cheers
Michael

[Cadwell]

Hi Michael,

To answer your question, I have a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX which is my preferred lens (with 1.4x TC as necessary) for motorsport photography. It's better optically than the 100-400L and is two stops faster at the long end. Even with the TC it's a stop faster giving me 420mm @ f/4. The wide aperture is important to me due to the low light levels I often have to cope with because of the UK's weather. The Sigma's down-side is it's weight and bulk which means I pretty much use it with a monopod most of the time.

I bought the Canon 100-400L to be "lighter alternative". Something I can use on brighter days and when I know I'm going to be doing a lot of wandering about and hand held shooting.

[Nigel Wallace]

Cadwell

I know the feeling well, it happened to me just before xmas and Canon repaired it within a couple of weeks, something to do with the gyro in the IS. Very frustrating too as mine was about 4 months old. Seems ok now......it happens i guess. Mind you i bet you will miss it when you don't have it to hand. I know i did :(

Cheers

Nigel

[steven]

You've probably already tried this but . . . did you have a fresh battery (newly recharded) when this happened?

[danphoto1]

I have had my 100 - 400 IS for about five years and it gets a great deal of use I use it for both baseball and scoccer. cross country and track and field events. If I'm not mistaken the IS allows one or two shops less when shooting. I also have the 120 - 300 f 2.8 sigma and it is a great lens as well.

[Cadwell]

You've probably already tried this but . . . did you have a fresh battery (newly recharded) when this happened?

Both cameras had freshly charged batteries, so I don't think it was a lack of power issue. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Cadwell]

If I'm not mistaken the IS allows one or two shops less when shooting.

You're not mistaken, unfortunately the IS doesn't make the cars go any slower so whilst it compensates for my shaky hands it does very little to cancel out the motion blur of a 100mph+ race car heading straight at me. Only a reasonably high shutter speed @1/320th does that and in order to maintain that throughout the day in UK lighting conditions a large aperture lens is often needed. That's why the 100-400L doesn't always cut it.

[Cadwell]

Update:

I've just got off the phone from the Canon service centre who have had my lens for two weeks. They have confirmed that the IS mechanism in my 100-400L had failed and it has been replaced. They have also "cleaned" the lens. I should be receiving it tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

[Jon]

Mine's going in for the same thing today.

[robertwgross]

I wonder about how much that lens service costs.

---Bob Gross---

[CyberDyneSystems]

This is the trouble with IS lenses...

To quote a certain Mr. Scott,...

"The more complicated you make the plumbing,. the easier it is to stop up the works"

[Cadwell]

I wonder about how much that lens service costs.

---Bob Gross---

I don't know, Bob. Mine was a warranty job thankfully.

[danphoto1]

So far I have been very lucky with mine. I hope you have good luck now.

[Jon]

I don't know, Bob. Mine was a warranty job thankfully.

Mine had better be too. It arrived at Canon NJ today, and the invoice from Adorama said 4/22/2004 (just under the wire!).

[Longwatcher]

I wonder about how much that lens service costs.

---Bob Gross---

I suspect the price will be different, however, when I had my manual focus go out on my 100-400L IS it ran me around $300 (can't remember exact number, but I do remember it was about 1/4 the cost of the lens), they also replaced the IS switch plate, which had a crack in it, at the same time.

Of my L lenses the 100-400 lens gets used the least, but I love it when I need it. Of course I do mostly model photography so range is not something I normally need.

Just my experience,

[wildhiss]

Recently, I bought a Canon 180 mm Macro `L' series, paid full amount in advance as it was bought on line. The lens made me sweat and shiver, it was `D-O-A'. And further shock came when Canon did not listen to me for 1o days at all. They are selling defective items too these days, the want to scrounge money like this.

Now, I am being forced to settle for a repair. Why should get it repaired when I have paid for new lens. Canon has gone a step further, saying warranty doens't cover all parts, which I suspect will be another painful rip-off. Be careful.

Beware, Canon warranty is a big hoax, rip off.

to know about my painful story and learn about Canon, please write so me wildhiss@rediffmail.com wildhiss@yahoo.co.in

Please write to me, I will send you the details of the whole story. It is quite a lesson for all.

[Steve Parr]

Please write to me, I will send you the details of the whole story. It is quite a lesson for all.

Probably not "all".

When you consider how many individual products Canon makes, say, in a year (How many lenses? How many bodies?), it's statistically likely that there will be some type of failure in some of them. Perfection is unattainable...

Steve

[RichardtheSane]

Recently, I bought a Canon 180 mm Macro `L' series, paid full amount in advance as it was bought on line. The lens made me sweat and shiver, it was `D-O-A'. And further shock came when Canon did not listen to me for 1o days at all. They are selling defective items too these days, the want to scrounge money like this.

Now, I am being forced to settle for a repair. Why should get it repaired when I have paid for new lens. Canon has gone a step further, saying warranty doens't cover all parts, which I suspect will be another painful rip-off. Be careful.

Beware, Canon warranty is a big hoax, rip off.

to know about my painful story and learn about Canon, please write so me wildhiss@rediffmail.com wildhiss@yahoo.co.in

Please write to me, I will send you the details of the whole story. It is quite a lesson for all.

You get it repaired as that is what happens when you send something away in warranty. What do you expect, Canon to ship a brand new lens out every time someone sends one back with a fault.

If the lens was DOA then it is the responsibility of the retailer where you bought the lens to replace it. You should have contacted them.

[Cadwell]

Oh dear, and things were going so well... I've just had my first opportunity to test the Canon 100-400L since it came back from having it's Image Stabiliser replaced. Without a doubt the IS is fixed, what also is not in doubt is that what used to be a wonderfuly sharp lens isn't even close anymore.

I've called Canon and they're taking it back to be recalibrated. Not impressed.

[Jon]

Mine's showing as repaired, waiting to be shipped (accepted as a warranty repair). Should be here within 4 days they say. We'll see how NJ does on the repair.

[Huckaback Photo]

Glen
that does not sound at all good news surely Canon should set this up and test prior to dispatch.
Maybe a new approach let the customer tell us whats wrong the we can do something about it !!!

Best of luck with the lens
Martin

[Cadwell]

Glen
that does not sound at all good news surely Canon should set this up and test prior to dispatch.
Maybe a new approach let the customer tell us whats wrong the we can do something about it !!!

Best of luck with the lens
Martin


Thanks Martin, yes they SHOULD have rested the lens prior to it being sent back to me. In fact, the note I got from them detailing the work done said that they HAD tested it. That's obviously either a) a lie or b) was done by someone totally incompetent. Perhaps it was the same person at Canon service who I talked to on Friday and promised to rush me some UPS labels so that I could return the lens to them? Needless to say, I have not seen the labels. Tomorrow I am going to phone them back and be rather less understanding than I was on Friday I think.

[Jon]

Well mine arrived back from Canon NJ yesterday (the Canon repairs web site was still reporting it as "awaiting shipment, although FedEx picked it up Friday), and it's in great shape. Filled the buffer wiht IS on, no problems. Still looks good and sharp at 400. So I'm happy.

[HMetal]

Regarding the 100-400 with eperture "00" and ERR01, SEND IT TO CANON.

I sent mine in recently and they "repaired" it by replacing the IS unit and calibrating the lens. They shipped it back and it was still getting ERR01 and the aperture "00" problem.

I called them, they asked me to ship it back COLLECT and they'd look at it again. I mentioned that the problem was easy to reproduce by simply putting a little pressure on the lens to "break" the body contact.

They looked at it the second time, found an apparently HUGE problem and, as a courtesy to me, they replaced the lens (yes, that's right, a BRAND NEW lens to replace a 1 year old one) and (get this) DESTROYED the old one. I'm very happy with Canon's service and warranty policy, this being my first time experiencing problems with a Canon product.

Bottom line: 00 aperture and ERR01 means either an IS unit problem or something faulty in the contacts or communications section of the lens. Send it in for repair ASAP!

[Andy D]

I have an IS problem, but thankfully not on my 100-400. I inherited a 75-300 IS that only works with 1 body!
It refuses to work on my 10D, my 20D, neither of my 100(Elan) bodies nor my EOS5; I get the 00 apeture reading and the cameras lock up, but it works perfectly with the oldest EOS body in my collection; the EOS10. As it's old, it's not worth bothering about!

[Cadwell]

Regarding the 100-400 with eperture "00" and ERR01, SEND IT TO CANON.

Yes, yes... thanks for the advice but I have already done that :) The issue now is that Canon Service have shipped me back a lens (with repaired I.S.) that is SO far out of whack optically that it's unusable. They also appear to be putting no particular urgency into resolving the problem, despite repeated phone calls.

I have defended Canon Service in the past, but their current performance is nothing short of disgraceful. Any company can make a mistake, the telling point is how they attempt to rectify it. Canon don't seem to be making much effort.

[Belmondo]

I would imagine there is a wide range in the quality of service between the various Canon facilities and among the various people working within each location. No doubt there are people in positions of authority that want very much for Canon's reputation to not be soiled, so it seems a matter of screaming and hollering, and working your way up the chain of command until you get to somebody who cares.

Too bad you're having the problem. It shouldn't be that way.

[defordphoto]

It took three trips to Calif to get my 100-400 repaired properly.

[Cadwell]

I thought I'd indulge in a little necromancy and resurrect this thread.

My EF 100-400L IS USM is currently enjoying its third holiday at the Canon service centre. Canon UK’s complete inability to perform a competent repair on my lens is quite frankly starting to annoy me. I have not had a useable lens for nearly two months now despite Canon’s “best efforts” – note that this is allegedly an “accelerated repair” under Canon’s CPS programme. God help their customers who have to go through the normal repair channels.


Poor performance Canon; very, very poor. :evil:

[Jon]

Mine came back from Canon Nj working just fine, and quickly. Seems to be a marked difference in the skill/attention levels at the various facilities.

[cfcRebel]

Cadwell, i'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with Canon CS. Currently i am shopping for a 100-400L. Now after seeing so many IS problems reported by the users, and some poor customer service, I began to hesitate. I've never spent >US$1000 on lens so far. These stories are quite scary to hear.
I hope they fix your lens properly this time.

[Cadwell]

Well, I've just gotten off the phone with the Canon Service centre. According to the man there, it's "been assigned to a technician today". Which means Canon have sat on this for just over a week and done precisely nothing. :evil:

Once again, I have to conclude that Canon's efforts in this matter fall well short of anything I would consider remotely acceptable. I would expect a little more urgency from them considering the lens is back with them for the third time.

Who wants to bet the lens will still be in an unusable condition when I get it back? So far all that Canon UK have done is display shocking incompetence and poor customer service. I have no confidence in receiving a correctly functioning lens back from them.

[Cadwell]

The lens came back from Canon yesterday in what I now *think* is an acceptable state. Some back to back tests with it on the 10D showed it not much worse than my Sigma 120-300mm at 300mm and looking OK at 400mm.

Why do I say *think*? Well I haven't been able to test the edge performance of the lens on the 1D Mark II yet because that "died" on Sunday. Canon professional equipment? Do me a favour :evil:

I hope Canon managed to fix the 1D Mark II faster than the ten and a half weeks it took them to do a competent repair on my lens. So much for "Canon Professional Services". :evil: In fact "Canon" is a bit of a swear word around my place at the moment...

[SDK^]

A worrying thread for people that need to use UK Canon CPS.

My 100-400L IS also needs to goto CPS for repair for exactly the same reasons. I'm hoping I get a better service :/

[Cadwell]

A worrying thread for people that need to use UK Canon CPS.

My 100-400L IS also needs to goto CPS for repair for exactly the same reasons. I'm hoping I get a better service :/


Good luck to you.

My friend has his EOS 300D in for repair (under warranty) and has received a letter telling him that "in order to keep repair times short", his camera has been passed to a third party authorised repair centre. Seems Canon can't even be bothered to fix things themselves, now.

Right now I'm personaly on a 33% failure rate with Canon's "professional" hardware in 18 months. This is not impressive by anyone's standards.

[lomond]

This worries me, I've heard too many horror stories about Canon UK.
Somebody, somewhere is failing in Canon UK.

Who should we contact to highlight our concerns.
From reading some other posts Canon UK are the last port of call. :?

[pturton]

This is a rant!
When Canon gear is working properly it is a pleasure to use and the optics are superb BUT...

I'm still waiting for warranty repair of the IS on my 300mm f/4 L IS which displayed the exact symptoms described above. Canon service received my lens on May 11 but in their letter to me only acknowledged that it was received 2 1/2 days later. According to the service rep that I talked to, Canon Canada Service in Mississauga receives "hundreds of cameras a day". _Not a good sign_. A month later and they are still waiting for parts. Maybe I should charge them a lens rental fee.

My faith in Canon gear has fallen to the point that I'll not consider a new camera or lens in the near future. After spending $24K for Canon gear in the past 2 years and having $8500 worth of equipment fail I am quite peeved to say the least. The failure of a 10D at 5 weeks, another at 18 months and a 300mm lens failure at 10 months not to mention a cold solder joint in a off-camera flash cord has proven to me that today Canon quality is a myth. I'm almost sorry that several people have purchased Canon gear on my recommendation.

Unfortunately, Canon is not the only company that has problems with a quality product. My 2 year old GM Pontiac has peeling paint and 1 recall for brake fittings; my $16K Climate Master geo-thermal heating system needed the entire compressor replaced before it finally started to work properly after 4 months of frustration with it. And I could go on with other examples.

CDS acknowledged that the more complex a piece of equipment the more chance for failure but I've had laptops and handheld transceivers that have taken a real kicking and keep on ticking for years. All the failures I've had with my Canon gear have been electrical in nature; internal flash short circuited, battery saver circuit failure, IS module, cold solder joint.

And before someone says something about me having bad luck, I am one of the most blessed persons alive even though I must remind myself of that some days;-)

Paul
http://www.iaw.com/~pturton/

[bikerider]

I've been a Canon user for approx' 13 years and have had very few quality problems. CPS here in Oz has always been very responsive to a few issues over that time. I still use a combination of film (medium format) and digital, the latest being a 300D......no probs' so far. However I have had the same problem discussed here with an IS lens, both on a previous film and my 300D cameras. I just stopped using the IS on the lens, now no problem! I now find myself proposing to spend about 25k Aust' on new gear and since reading this thread I'm getting nervous.
Roger.

[Spatch]

There seem to be quite a few people with IS problems. I would hope it is not a common problem as I would assume that there must be a vast majority of IS lenses that are fine.

Cheers,

[lomond]

I agree with you, there are many happy IS users out there.
The failure rate is probably small and inside the bounds of acceptability.

However, what's not acceptable is the after sales service to UK customers from Canon.

I have read many bad reports on this and other forums regarding Canon UK.

[Spatch]

As I have always said, having an equipment failure does not necessarily make the manufacturer a bad one, however, poor support there after is another matter.

Cheers,

[Tom W]

There seem to be quite a few people with IS problems. I would hope it is not a common problem as I would assume that there must be a vast majority of IS lenses that are fine.

Cheers,

I have 4 and they're all OK so far (knocking on wood). Hopefully, if there is a design issue, Canon will deal with it.

It does sound like their UK service is a little lacking though. I hope that they sort that out.

[Harlequin67]

Cadwell,

I think Canon UK is suffering from too much success.

By that I mean the 20D/350D are selling like hot cakes/muffins. That means about 1% are likely to be bad.

So Canon UK gets hit by 1% bad gear, if you are selling say 10,000 items that means 100 items back, no problem. With the new sucessful products you are selling 100,000 items then 1000 very complicated pieces of kit turn up.

I would guess no new repairers have been trained or hired. I noted you mentioned a third party repairer being given your lens to repair. This does not sound like the actions of an under worked service centre!

I do not know what to do, just hope the Canon powers that be read these posts and get there finger out!

[Cadwell]

Cadwell,

I think Canon UK is suffering from too much success.



Could well be.


I noted you mentioned a third party repairer being given your lens to repair. This does not sound like the actions of an under worked service centre!


No, to be fair about this I said that a friend's EOS 300D had been sent to a third party repairer. My lens was worked on at the Canon Service Centre in Elstree on all occasions.


I do not know what to do, just hope the Canon powers that be read these posts and get there finger out!

Amen to that!