Faulty Canon 300mm f2.8

Somebody has a Canon 300m f2.8 for sale that only operates on f2.8. Apparently when you try any other aperture the message ERROR 1 appears.

Does anybody have any ideas what the problem could be and if so how much it could take to repair?
or
Would you not buy the lens?

Thanks.

Which version is it? The first IS version or an older one?

If it is older, it can likely not be repared anymore and I wouldn't buy it. If it is newer and can still be repared, I would find out how much repairs would cost and if the price + repair cost is significantly lower than the price of a good second hand copy, I'd buy it.

freddyronny wrote in post #16013815
Which version is it? The first IS version or an older one?

If it is older, it can likely not be repared anymore and I wouldn't buy it. If it is newer and can still be repared, I would find out how much repairs would cost and if the price + repair cost is significantly lower than the price of a good second hand copy, I'd buy it.

It's this one, thanks.

http://www.ebay.co.uk …enses&hash=item​4d0d3ccf46

That version won't be serviced by Canon now. Not to say you couldn't get it fixed elsewhere, but I'd want firm quotes (if anyone will work on it at all)

hell of a portrait lens...

I'm looking for a used 300mm for football (soccer) so just having 2.8 available wouldn't be too bad a thing.

He says in the listing it came back from a Canon service like that,a bit odd eh? It would be sent right back to fix If it was mine.

Looks like it has no hood either, I'd personally let this one go unless it was VERY cheap.

How about the 300 F4 IS?

freddyronny wrote in post #16013815
Which version is it? The first IS version or an older one?

If it is older, it can likely not be repared anymore and I wouldn't buy it. If it is newer and can still be repared, I would find out how much repairs would cost and if the price + repair cost is significantly lower than the price of a good second hand copy, I'd buy it.

nellyle wrote in post #16013982
Looks like it has no hood either, I'd personally let this one go unless it was VERY cheap.

How about the 300 F4 IS?

£600 plus £30 p&p.

Hadn't considered the f4,

The current bid is £600, I should imagine it will climb higher in the next 24 hours.

With the F4, you don't get 2.8 (obviously) but you do get IS and it's still serviced by Canon.

nellyle wrote in post #16014089
The current bid is £600, I should imagine it will climb higher in the next 24 hours.

With the F4, you don't get 2.8 (obviously) but you do get IS and it's still serviced by Canon.

The trouble is though I need one for shooting football and for night games. It's non league, so as you can imagine the floodlights are not up to league standard and I need all the aperture I can get. I'm up to ISO 10,000 sometimes higher with my 70-200.

Technically he didn't say Canon did the service...

It might be fixable by a third party shop but you'd have to ask them about it. If anything you can think of it as a very special purpose lens.

aegid wrote in post #16014532
Technically he didn't say Canon did the service...

You're correct ,my mistake, still ,you send a lens in anywhere for work to be done, and it comes back with the aperture stuck wide open, you send it right back to them demanding it fixed.

Yeah. Surprised he didn't raise hell about that. They probably fed him a line about how because it's old it wouldn't work on modern DSLRs but he knew it worked beforehand.

i wouldn't plan on getting it fixed...it'll probably go a lot higher than you think, because someone will either buy it for parts, to fix one that they already have, or someone will buy it thinking they can fix it themselves...