Canon EF 100mm 2.8 USM Macro - Err 01

Hey folks,

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this but, just for "peace of mind", I wanted to check here.

My trusty Canon EF 100mm 2.8 USM Macro (Non-L) lens which I must of had for over 10 years now, suddenly threw up the dreaded Err 01 message the other day on my Canon 5D MKIV. I tried cleaning the contacts etc etc, but the error still persists. All my other lenses work fine, so I know it's not the camera. I have since tested the lens on an old Canon 500D and a Canon 70D, and both show the same error unfortunately. So, I'm guessing that the lens has decided to throw in the towel, as no amount of contact cleaning seems to fix anything.

The only strange thing is that I would have expected this error to appear as soon as I tried to use the lens. In my case, I was out in the garden shooting, I'd already taken 15-20 pictures, and the error suddenly appeared in between taking 2 shots. I didn't knock the camera, it wasn't wet, there was nothing that could have caused it to be fine one second, and dead the next. That's the only strange circumstance here.

Besides cleaning the contacts, are there any other tricks I could try to get it working! I love this lens, so I really want to see if there is anything I can do. I am guessing that my only other real option is to send it off for repair, but I'm also guessing that will cost about as much as buying a new lens anyway

Thanks in advance for any help,

Cheers,
James

There's probably not much you can do if somethings' broke inside, like a ribbon cable or focus or aperture unit.
Does the error occur if you have camera set to Av & set to f/2.8?

You could try setting a small aperture & see if you can press the depth-of-field preview button on camera to see if that works or errors, which may point to the aperture unit being the issue?

In the end I sent it over to an official Canon service centre, and they confirmed that it needed a "proper" repair. It's going to cost €250 which, although annoying, is cheaper than replacing the lens with the same one, or anything similar.
So I've gone ahead and accepted the quoted repair. Fingers crossed!

Cheers,
James