who has experienced sending a lens to Canon for calibration

Enough is enough, my 5 month old 24-70 mk1 is about impossible to MFA well. Just at 70mm, one day the number is +5 and the next week it's -4. Every focal length floats and jumps throughout the month. On the advice of Chuck Westfall I have sent it to Canon.

From your experience what can I expect the outcome to be?

Where do you base those numbers off of?

If you are using FoCal, I have noticed with all my lenses the numbers change quite a bit, even just running the tests back after back. For example, my 35L will hit anywhere from -2 to +2 (which is not bad). My 70-200 II has a very hard time at 200mm trying to MFA... Numbers always come up different all the time. Quite annoying. But I think I got the value nailed for the most part.

Good luck with your lens though, I am sure Canon will do a great job with it. They have done a calibration on my original 24-105 which was 0 at 24mm but +9 at 105mm... After calibration both ends were perfect.

I do not have MFA so it was necessary for me. It was like I got a new lens back!

I sent my 400mm f5.6 as it wasn't as good. Came back same with little note saying "within calibration spec". Wish I sent my body with it. This was 6-7 yrs ago.

I sent my 100-400 back to Canon a few years ago as I didn't think it was as sharp as other 100-400 lenses that friends had. Canon wound up replacing a whole group of elements and also replaced the complete IS system. The lens is now very sharp. The lens was under warranty at the time and it didn't cost me anything. I sent another lens back to them, my 300mm f 2.8 and they sent it back saying it was adjusted to factory specs. I didn't feel the lens was up to the quality of others I had used so I wound up selling that one and buying another. That lens was not under warranty and it cost quite a bit but I can't remember exactly how much. I think it was about $150 three years ago.

I may send my body with my 70-200 II to get calibrated... It performs fine, but near MFD at 200mm I get softer images. This may be normal, but at least it would be calibrated to the body! Plus free check/clean for both. Both under warranty so free as well. I may also send in my 35L and 24-105L while I am at it... Let them do them all lol

One has to add cost of shipping insured items to canon. If under warranty then will ship back for free 9atleast they did for me) othwerwise you pay for that also. It adds up for expensive and heavy lenses.

Not necessarily...

You don't have to if you insure your gear through State Farm (not sure about other insurance companies). I asked my agent directly if my items got lost going to Canon for service/repair, if they would cover them under my personal policy or if I would be required to double up the insurance with Fedex/UPS. They contacted corporate offices (never had that question before) and confirmed that they cover it, even during shipping since I am still the owner of those items.

Because I thought it was silly if I insure through them, why do I pay more insurance to Fedex/UPS?

So I don't insure any of my gear that I ship to/from Canon... If it gets lost or damaged, State Farm covers it. Prob easier than dealing with Fedex/UPS in the event of that anyway.

I plan to send my 5D3, 70-200 II, 35L and possibly my 24-105L in one package shortly to Canon for check/clean/calibratio​n. Probably cost only $15-20 to send. With insurance? Probably $70 or more I would imagine.

When you ship the lens put a thorough letter enclosed with the exact problem your having.
I would even enclose a cd/dvd with the exact issues your getting. In the letter be clear on the problem.

My 24-70L was crap at f/2.8 but now its very sharp after calibration. This lens is a workhorse for indoor studio but I'm still accepting that the age shows with the performance I'm getting. The new version is worlds apart from the old brick.

Invertalon wrote in post #14985752
Not necessarily...

You don't have to if you insure your gear through State Farm (not sure about other insurance companies). I asked my agent directly if my items got lost going to Canon for service/repair, if they would cover them under my personal policy or if I would be required to double up the insurance with Fedex/UPS. They contacted corporate offices (never had that question before) and confirmed that they cover it, even during shipping since I am still the owner of those items.

Because I thought it was silly if I insure through them, why do I pay more insurance to Fedex/UPS?

So I don't insure any of my gear that I ship to/from Canon... If it gets lost or damaged, State Farm covers it. Prob easier than dealing with Fedex/UPS in the event of that anyway.

I plan to send my 5D3, 70-200 II, 35L and possibly my 24-105L in one package shortly to Canon for check/clean/calibratio​n. Probably cost only $15-20 to send. With insurance? Probably $70 or more I would imagine.

Thanks for the tip.

Question is why do your camera/lenses need so many calibrations? I thought you just picked a good copy of 35L. If I remember correclty your two copies of 70-200mm f2.8 IS II zoom weren't good either.

I figure because its free... Mainly...

35L is excellent. The 24-105 is fine as well, but has some creep that I would like fixed. The 70-200 performs perfectly except I question the IQ at 200mm near MFD. My previous issues of the 70-200 II had to do with IS only... My current one already had that fixed (yes, all three had the same IS issue). But every since being fixed it is perfectly fine (The IS). IQ is stunning from end to end, except at 200mm near MFD I tend to get softer images. Not sure if that is normal like it was with the 70-200 f/4 IS, or something with my copy. But instead of using my CPS check/clean on it, I will let them do it for free under warranty with my 5D3 and get them perfectly mated up, ideally.

The reason for sending the 35L in with it is because if they do any adjustment to the 5D3 as far as calibration goes, my 35L will no longer be perfect at the MA dialed in. So I figure let them check/calibrate them all for me versus me having to mess with it. Nothing to lose really! Canon NJ has always done extremely good service for me.

Still debating though what I will send... 5D3 and 70-200 for sure though, everything else not so much yet. But at the same time, if free, why not send them all and get everything looked over, cleaned, checked and calibrated to the body...

i personally brought my new 24 70 mk to canon for calibration...and really got pissed, it took them 8 days to calibrate it and i only have 14 days vacation...

mandon wrote in post #14986643
i personally brought my new 24 70 mk to canon for calibration...and really got pissed, it took them 8 days to calibrate it and i only have 14 days vacation...

I don't quite follow here? Did you take it to them on vacation? Did you take off and sit there waiting? 8 days doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Maybe I am confused.

Also, thinking about running my 5dii and 50L into canon irvine under 50L warranty. No charge right? Trying to decide if I should just take the whole lot in to make sure its all up to speck but never had any problems out of my 85L or 17-40L....

Any suggestions?

From my experience, the time it takes seems to be dependent on how busy they are. It is definitely faster and less stressing if you are able to drop off and pick up.

jerbear00. if you send both, the lens should be covered. If they find anything with the camera, which presumably is out of warranty, they may decide to charge you for that, but obviously they woudl run that by you prior to doing anything.