Problem with brand new 35mm F1.4

Hey all,

So I just received my new Canon35L F1.4 from DigitalRev. The unboxing experience was great (as always!), but I was dismayed to find a 2mm long hair embedded in the paint surface of the lens barrel, about 1" to the right of the 35mm marking. Obviously this is a manufacturer defect.

It bugs me that it is there, especially given that I just paid $1500 for it...it should be perfect. DigitalRev gave agreed to exchange the lens, but that means I'll be without a 35mm lens for a couple weeks.

My question is, if i decide not to return it, assuming the lens is (functionally) a perfect copy, would the presence of this hair 'devalue' the lens in the eyes of a prospective buyer should I ever decide to sell it down the line?

Has anybody else experience this?

Never seen or heard of an L come from the factory with that sort of problem, QC should have picked it up, I would return the lens just in case it was a refurb, return or something that was patched up. Every L I have got has been pristine out of the box.

Return it in a heartbeat.

Obviously, it would be a problem if you were the buyer.

A picture of the defect? 2mm is kinda small, if it's a good copy I would keep it. However, obviously, if it bugs you exchange it. You spent your hard earned money so be sure you're happy with the product

TheFarmer wrote in post #14495846
A picture of the defect? 2mm is kinda small, if it's a good copy I would keep it. However, obviously, if it bugs you exchange it. You spent your hard earned money so be sure you're happy with the product

I would like to see a photo as well

yea, i want to see photo too

Quite the hairy situation.

Paintwerks wrote in post #14494571
Hey all,

I was dismayed to find a 2mm long hair embedded in the paint surface of the lens barrel, about 1" to the right of the 35mm marking. Obviously this is a manufacturer defect.

35L's are not painted, they have a molded plastic sleeve over the lenses internals. So any defect would be a molding issue. I suspect molding defects for camera parts are extremely rare.

2mm is not very long, slightly more then 1/16 of a inch and a hair is not very thick, averaging about 80 microns. So you have very good eyesight, but so may a potential purchaser if you ever decide to sell.

Add me to the list of people wanting to see a pic of this

I've never looked that close at any of my lenses to notice something like that. I've always been over the top to be sure the lenses performed though.

I've never looked that close at a lens either. I'm the type that would just give the lens a little trim with fingernail clippers. Landing stips are pointless, just brazilian that lens!

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments. Yep, you can definitely see the hair and it's (permanently) half-embedded in the lens body. I'm a spraypainter (who also owns a body shop), so detail-oriented things like this irk me. I wouldn't send out a customer's vehicle with a hair like this in the paint, so I'm pretty disappointed that Canon's QC dept didn't pick this up. It's just a hassle to have to send this back to Hong Kong.

Just as an aside, I have been readmitted to hospital for a complication resulting from a day procedure. The doc said I should be discharged on Wednesday so if you can bear with me, I'll post images at that time.

Cheers,
Sime

^ get well soon!