Canon 24-70 Repair - Where? (Warning! Graphic Pix Inside!)

I sat my 5D with my 24-70L mounted to it on a bench at the race track. This bench is normally a safe haven, but a friend decided to climb up onto it and inadvertently knocked my camera and lens to the ground.

The lens was wearing its lens hood, but I suppose it popped off. (I wasn't there and didn't see it happen, so I can't say for sure how it all happened, but anyway). The brunt of the impact was absorbed by my B+W filter (and this is a reason why I use filters). The impact jammed the filter onto the lens's threads; I cannot remove it. The lens's glass was not damaged that I can tell.

My local camera shop man said he's done this work before -- he carefully cuts the old filter ring off the lens. He said it's tricky work and the cost would be $90 and maybe more, depending on the level of effort.

Maybe my camera guy can do the job, but maybe I need more? Where to send it for repair? The lens, which is a brute, of course, seems to function just fine, but in reality it probably needs a check-up.

bend filter back with pliers. if that doesn't work just cut it off yourself. shouldn't be too hard, and considering you took a picture of it on top of some snips, you can probably just do it yourself.

why does the lens need repairs? just because you think so? should be fine.

people treat lenses like babies, they are both more resilient than they appear.

Wrong title: "UV filter SAVE my lens" will give far more respond

BTW the lens should be ok.

This is why I don't use filters.

And let the party begin.

I've peeled some of it back, and have even used a punch, but still can't get it to budge. All the glass is out of the filter now, so it's just the frame.

And agreed, filters save lenses.

Also agreed that lenses are tough. This lens has been dropped before and didn't get a scratch.

^ I start to believe buying an used lens is a BAD idea

BTW you are making the whole thing worser as my gut feeling.

You will get some heated arguments on the filter helping or hurting this situation (I will let others get into that!).

With the 24-70, I know hard bumps can easily put the lens out of alignment due to the centering elements not exactly being robust in construction. It may be worth sending to Canon to let them check it out, depending how it looks optically once you get the filter off. It is well known that the 24-70 does not take bumps very well and can easily put the lens out of spec.

So that is one concern with dropping this lens.

Invertalon wrote in post #16837868
You will get some heated arguments on the filter helping or hurting this situation (I will let others get into that!).

With the 24-70, I know hard bumps can easily put the lens out of alignment due to the centering elements not exactly being robust in construction. It may be worth sending to Canon to let them check it out, depending how it looks optically once you get the filter off. It is well known that the 24-70 does not take bumps very well and can easily put the lens out of spec.

So that is one concern with dropping this lens.

^This.

(and I still won't use a filter)

I've dropped lenses that sustained more damage to the filter ring without ill effects on the lens. Seems to me that the only reason you had to stop shooting that lens is because you had a filter on it. Had it been naked, you could have kept on shooting, and not have risked scratching the lens with glass shards. I've never used protective filters in environments that did not require them. I've never so much as scratched a front element. Perhaps I over-coddle my equipment, though.

If you pick out alot of the glass off the filter ring, the filter ring will collapse off the lens with a twist from the pliers. Its easy. Just take out the glass first.

no help on the filter issue, but I dropped my camera (5dc) and Canon 24-70 out of my arms. I'm about 5'11 and the combo was cradled in my arms... so about 4 feet off the ground. The lens didn't have a filter, but after impact, it wouldn't change apertures, not could I really focus it. The camera was goofy too, and didn't really get the proper exposures either. So both were sent in. Sure, your lens might be ok. So it depends on how critical this setup is to you and if you have paying clients it should be more evident- have it checked out.

BTW- my catastrophy happened after the wedding ceremony, during formals at the church

As suggested above, I fixed it myself by breaking off bits of the brass filter ring until I got it to a point where I could peel the filter's brass ring off of the lens's threads. I protected the lens's glass using painter's tape and took as much effort as I could to keep bits of filter glass and brass grindings away from the lens glass. (In fact, I removed the broken glass from the filter by holding the lens upside down so the broken glass could fall downward.) When I was done removing the old filter ring, I used compressed air to blow away any small bits of metal and then cleaned the glass well.

It appears as though the lens's glass is unscathed - no marks in the coating at all. The lens's threads are fine, too. The lens isn't bent anywhere and still looks 98%. It seems to function fine, but I'd still like to get it looked at someday soon just for peace of mind.

I know there's always a raging debate about using (or not using filters), but I know I saved my lens by using one in this case. YMMV.

glad it worked out!

Everyone who advocates (or otherwise) filters seems to only talk about the actual glass itself. In this case it appears the filter glass was irrelevant, it was the frame of the filter which took the brunt of the impact and, in that way, acted as a bit of an additional crumple zone.

Those who dislike filters can drone on all they like about how the front element could be damaged by shards of filter glass but the fact remains that didn't happen here. What is obvious in this case is that, had there been no filter attached, the lens casing itself would have taken the direct impact and suffered some degree of damage, as opposed to the zero damage it sustained with the filter.

This is one case where the filter quite clearly helped preserve the lens.

I dropped my camera and 18-135mm STM once and did this same exact thing. No doubt it saved my lens case. I'll keep my filters, thanks haha