50mm 1.0 Dies

that's too bad, it's a nice piece of vintage glass.

jabtas wrote in post #12767861
Maybe it can't be repaired, but is,there anyway that the motor can be 'disabled' so that it can be used manually

Nope. Electronic focus. Kind of neat if you ever get to play with a 85L. Not sure why only those two (as far as I know) have that kind of focusing mechanism.

If the OP can find out if that same motor was used in other lenses then he could order that component.

My understanding is that "focusing by wire" is done for those lenses, where for internal focusing to work well you have to move many groups of lenses around, with different pace, which make mechanical focusing impossible (or too complicated).

hold on to it! You never know you might be able to find some one trying to sell their broken 50 1.0 that can be used for it's motor.

since it's broken i'll take it for free. well i feel bad so i'll pay the shipping

So sad to hear this. Rest in peace...

Wonder if someone can ghetto-rig the AF motor for the 85L -> 50 1.0L. Any Macguyvers out there?

i would say sell it at the best price you can get then put the money aside until you have enough for the combo: Leica M9 + the Noctilux f/0.95(only around 21K if you want the Noctilux immediately)... ;D

IIRC the focusing mechanism for the 85L and 50 1.0L are very similar.

Sell it to me, or keep it.

Just make sure that you always put your subject at the focus distance where it was left. It becomes a fixed distance lens.

Or take it to a local repair shop. I have had several obsolete lenses fixed including new USM motors by Camtex in Vancouver, Canada. My EF 300mm f/4 USM (not IS) needed a focus motor and they were able to get it. My EF 80-200mm f/2.8 L had internal damage and they managed to get a new focus mechanism for it even though it took over a week to get the parts. They even were able to fix an infinity focus problem on a late 1980s EF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 by machining some parts.

My EF 28-80mm f/2.8-4 L USM also has the focus by wire where the focus motor is used for manual focus. I am hoping that it doesn't wear out as it is an excellent lens otherwise.

Don't give up too easily. Someone can probably fix it even if Canon won't.

Try requesting a quote from Midwest Camera Repair. They repaired a Magic Drainpipe for me last year, did a great job, and did it significantly cheaper than my local repair shop would have. You can also call the Canon Parts department and check if they have a replacement motor (it's totally possible, if not especially likely). Don't give up hope!

I have one too.

The parts list for the 50 1.0L is here. The lens most similar would be the 85 1.2L I whose partslist is here.

You'll note that a lot of the codes are the same, but unfortunately the focus indexing unit (assuming that is the broken part) is CG9-5384-000 on the 1.0L, and CG9-5385-000 on the 1.2L.

Your options are: a) The broken part is trivial and it can be mended easily; b) the broken part is shared by the 85L I after all and thus it can be repaired; c) to find a company which is very, very good to try and repair it; d) to find a equally broken donor lens e.g. front element damage and use it for parts; e) to have the lens set at infinity or at a distance of your choosing and just use it like that.

Also, yes the lens is focus-by-wire, as are a lot of the early EF telephotos. There is no way to manually focus this lens if the focus motor is gone. I did once see a broken focus copy up on ebay for ~$2k ish USD or so in about november '10 , so it's not a complete writeoff.

Best of luck.

You might try these folks:

http://www.midstatecam​erarepair.com/

Wow thanks everyone, some good advice there and I will certainly chase a few of those up........ except for the lens mug thing. I might hold off on that one for a while.

If I can get something sorted I will make sure I put it up here in case others need the info.

Still haven't given up on it yet.