What to do with my 50mm

A while back I got a shiny new 50mm f/1.4 USM canon lens in. A short time later the bag I had it sitting in took a dive off the freezer. The 50mm was sitting on top of a 24mm f/2.8. Well, something jammed the focus and most of the time the thing will not focus past a certain point. Every so often it will. Both manual focus and autofocus has been affected.

This was probably 6 months ago. I did send an email to canon, never heard back, perhaps I sent the email to the wrong location?

So now I am stuck with a 50mm paper weight. I guess I got a few options.

Contact canon again and send it in. Anyone got an email address?
Sell for parts
Just buy a new one.
Save for the L
Get the sigma (which I understand has its issues)
get an 85mm f/1.8 and if I want to get closer, use my extension tubes
Forget the nicer 50s and just use my old plastic standby the 50mm f/1.8 II

suggestions?

can i haz?

Get the lens repaired.

It's likely not going to be fixed under warranty, since it was damaged by "misuse".

Probably will cost about $120-160 for repair (that's what I've seen on previous repairs)... That's a lot less than the cost of a replacement.

If you don't already have it, get the lens hood and keep it reversed on the lens when it's not in use. It protects the focus ring from getting bumped. Might have helped.

Phew, for minute there after reading your post, I though all the search engines might have gone dark...

http://www.usa.canon.c​om …/standard_displ​ay/support

Mine was sticking around the 0.8m point although it didn't take a dive. It went through the rest of the range fine but would generally struggle to get past this point. I followed a tutorial on how to fix it and mine now works flawlessly.

How to fix a stuck AF

amfoto1 wrote in post #11334380
If you don't already have it, get the lens hood and keep it reversed on the lens when it's not in use. It protects the focus ring from getting bumped. Might have helped.

I would think you would want to keep it forward facing to prevent the front element and the focusing tube from being impacted. I don't see how a side bump would damage the internals assuming it does not split open.

Quick, sell it on eBay.

Try getting a quote for repairs. Have you ever tried Ray's Camera repair? He's located in the same building as Denver Pro Photo and/or LSI (Alameda and Cherokee) he might be able to fix it up. I've seen him work on all sorts of things. That might save you the money of shipping it somewhere. Couldn't hurt to try.

Watsy wrote in post #11334403
Mine was sticking around the 0.8m point although it didn't take a dive. It went through the rest of the range fine but would generally struggle to get past this point. I followed a tutorial on how to fix it and mine now works flawlessly.

How to fix a stuck AF

That is an awesome tutorial... Bookmarking, just in case...

I had Canon fix a 50 1.4 with a broken USM for $80. YMMV.