Dropped lens, not focusing

I dropped my Canon 35mm EF f/2 lens on my carpeted bedroom floor and now AF and MF will not work.

Is it easy to repair myself or should I try to find someone to repair it? I really do not have the money to purchase another one at the moment.

Lack of both AF and MF sounds like something might be jammed versus an AF electrical problem. Hard to say if you could fix it yourself, but I would guess not unless you've fixed rather delicate mechanical things before.

I fixed a cheap EF35-80mm zoom that was jammed. It was not too tough to get it apart and then get it back together, but I didn't care much if it worked or not since I probably paid $15 for it.

If you fix it yourself it may need calibration afterward, and if you can't fix it you can probably sell it on eBay for maybe $100 as a "for parts or repair" lens.

Humm..I'm not that mechanically inclined so I'll pass on doing it myself, I have no idea of where to start. I have a quote from a place they will fix it for $105. If they in fact will do that, it may be worth it.
If not then I will try to sell it for parts like you said. thanks.

Shooting wrote in post #16509534
Humm..I'm not that mechanically inclined so I'll pass on doing it myself, I have no idea of where to start. I have a quote from a place they will fix it for $105. If they in fact will do that, it may be worth it.
If not then I will try to sell it for parts like you said. thanks.

Make sure this place not only fixes it mechanically, but they also have calibration equipment on site. You might pay $105 and get a lens that will focus again, but be totally out of calibration.

The trouble is that until you open up the lens to assess the problem, no one can give you an answer. It could be something as simple as a stuck gear or lever arm, or it could be a broken wire, or it could be a blown board or something completely different. Opening and taking apart a lens is simple, pretty much if you can use a screwdriver, you can take a lens apart. Getting it back together and working properly is a bit tougher.

I dropped a 24-105 f/4L attached to a body. Not far, from a seat to a bus floor, and somehow it stopped focusing as well. No AF or MF.

This may help the OP: I discovered shortly afterwards that I was able to re-engage focus by racking focus very far in both directions, and it would eventually catch (only one or two tries in each direction). Once it catches, AF and MF work fine. It does stop working occasionally now, but racking focus always fixes it.

I've been thinking about popping it open to see if I can fix it myself...

gjl711 wrote in post #16510766
The trouble is that until you open up the lens to assess the problem, no one can give you an answer. It could be something as simple as a stuck gear or lever arm, or it could be a broken wire, or it could be a blown board or something completely different. Opening and taking apart a lens is simple, pretty much if you can use a screwdriver, you can take a lens apart. Getting it back together and working properly is a bit tougher.

But I have no idea of what to look for. There are about 5 screws on the back I can take out and then what would I be looking for? I don't know the contents or what they should look like to determine if it is something I can "spring" back into place or not.

waterrockets wrote in post #16510781
I dropped a 24-105 f/4L attached to a body. Not far, from a seat to a bus floor, and somehow it stopped focusing as well. No AF or MF.

This may help the OP: I discovered shortly afterwards that I was able to re-engage focus by racking focus very far in both directions, and it would eventually catch (only one or two tries in each direction). Once it catches, AF and MF work fine. It does stop working occasionally now, but racking focus always fixes it.

I've been thinking about popping it open to see if I can fix it myself...

I'll tried that and the ring keeps turning non-stop. Is there a limit of how far it should turn? I'm doing this with the switch in MF and it is so hard to turn.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and send it to Canon repair.

Shooting wrote in post #16510808
But I have no idea of what to look for. There are about 5 screws on the back I can take out and then what would I be looking for? I don't know the contents or what they should look like to determine if it is something I can "spring" back into place or not.

My point was that if you don't know what you are looking for and not resonably confidant you can get things back together and have the lens still be calibrated, send it in.

gjl711 wrote in post #16510857
My point was that if you don't know what you are looking for and not resonably confidant you can get things back together and have the lens still be calibrated, send it in.

That is true. Or since it is almost totally broken, get a rubber hammer to lightly bang around the ring and see if it releases something.

advaitin wrote in post #16510822
Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and send it to Canon repair.

True but I'll try not to do that, costs a lot. I'll have to weigh the pros and cons on it. No job, no photography jobs coming up so got to watch my pennies at the moment.

Well, I took a wooden handled knife and started firmly tapping the focusing ring all around a few times, turning, hitting, about 5 cycles and now it turns as smooth as anything and autofocuses now. Acts like it is fixed and I tried various ranges and all are in focus still so I guess it doesn't need any calibration. If it holds then it is fixed, if not - Canon here it comes. I got the estimate a few hours ago from them, about $109.00

Skillful fix!

hahaha. Thank you. Who said ingenuity doesn't exist. I shot some today with it and it still works perfect.