300 and 400 mount bearings flogged out

Howdy

Has anyone had serious issues with the bearings in the 300 2.8 and 400 2.8 mounts flogging out?

Mine have gone after a year of use and I'm just about to try and work out my next step to cleaning them up hopefully for the weekends use.

Any ideas?

Matt

I cannot recall where exactly - maybe this forum, maybe a different site - about somebody pulling it apart and replacing the bearings themselves after finding the appropriate size. I think they even replaced the 'open' bearings with shielded/sealed ones to make them last longer.

I'm curious, do you regularly spin it around to portrait orientation etc?

Yeh my lenses are never locked into place even when they go in their cases. I shoot alot of AFL so I am constantly switching depending on the angle and shot I want to get.

Are you talking about the lens mounts or the tripod collar?

Same diff... The collar that connects to the lense which also allows you to attach to a pod.

HUH? Lens mount is how it attaches to the camera. Tripod collar is a whole 'nother thing. When you say "pod" do you mean tripod, monopod? Then you are talking about the Tripod collar which has nylon bearings inside of it which do wear out and are available as a part from Canon.

http://www.sportsshoot​er.com …ge_display.html​?tid=26905

The pics of the bearings, which I've seen before btw, really make me think Canon cheaped out there. Wearing out after a year of use, for such a simple rotation, is pretty piss poor. I'd certainly be trying to fix that myself.

I was just reading Canon's press release for the new mk II lenses and one of the things mentioned is:

"Improved Revolving Mechanism: A newly designed non-removable tripod collar has stronger moving parts and is easier to operate due to improved lubrication. This feature is beneficial for sports photographers as well as nature and landscape shooters."


Apparently you were not the only one dissatisfied with the design of the tripod collars.

You know, I'm reading that last sentence and thinking "who else is buying these super-tele lenses?"

woos wrote in post #12041173
http://www.sportsshoot​er.com …ge_display.html​?tid=26905

That was from 2007-2008, are the newer date codes still having the same problem?

My 300 L IS f/2.8 is also not really smooth. I'll have to see if I can improve that.
On the other hand the 200 L IS f/2 is rolling like a dream and the 90° click is a great feature.

gasrocks wrote in post #12040510
HUH? Lens mount is how it attaches to the camera. Tripod collar is a whole 'nother thing. When you say "pod" do you mean tripod, monopod? Then you are talking about the Tripod collar which has nylon bearings inside of it which do wear out and are available as a part from Canon.

Sorry...

The collar (which can be removed on the 300 2.8 and unremoveable without pulling it apart of the 400 2.8) is the problem. Lens Mount to some people can mean different things in this case as I was talking about bearngs so I thought you meant where the lens is able to connect to a tripod/monopod.

I may research an upgraded bearing as these are a POS (Piece of ****). After 1 years use and not heavy use at that they are buggered.