50mm f/1.4 Repair - a bit disheartened.

Well, a few days ago, the AF on my 50mm F/1.4 just stopped working on all my bodies (40D and EOS3). I cleaned the contacts, etc, and test my 17-40L on both the bodies and it worked perfectly. I waited a couple days, airing the lens out, to see if the condition would change, but it didn't. So, I shipped it to Canon, hoping they'd fix it since I purchased it in October and it's still under warranty. No exposure to water, sand, I didn't drop it... it simply stopped working.

I got an email from Canon today saying they had received my lens and everything was set to repair it. However, I came back from work today and received another email from Canon saying that they were shipping the lens back to me, unrepaired, and they regretted they could not be of further assistance.

This issue is sort of confusing to me. My online repair status says, "
We have received your equipment for evaluation and repair. Based on initial examination, the necessary repairs will be performed at no charge to you," yet the email I received states otherwise.

I guess I should wait for my lens to get back to me and hope it contains some sort of report! I was wondering if anybody has had a similar experience. I'm just hoping it's not something stupid I did.... I don't need a "special title."

Huh? Confused so was it fixed? or not?

That's what's confusing me... but I guess I'll find out tomorrow or Friday when it comes back to me. :P I'm just trying to think of what I could have done or what could have happened to have it shipped back to me "unrepaired," but I'm assuming the report will cover that.

so it just stopped working? ... didnt drop it or anything?

Nope! I was using it one day, no problems. The next day, I put it on my 40D and the autofocus didn't work. Tried it on my EOS3 and got the same results. So, I aired it out next to a fan in case, for some odd reason, it accumulated condensation or goblins or something else. It still didn't work as of the next day. That's the story and why I'm kind of confused and crossing my fingers the email was sent to me in error and the lens will arrive in working order (although I'm fairly certain this will not be the case :P)

I hope it works when you get it.

I am sure you did, but did you check that the AF/MF switch was on the AF position

Thanks, Sebastien, and yes, I did, in numerous combinations of switching AF on, reconnecting it with MF on then switching it to AF, reconnecting it already on AF, etc. LOL

can you quote the relevant parts of the email?

Second email:

We are returning your EF 50 1.4 USM to you un-repaired. We regret that we could not be of further assistance. Your equipment has been shipped back to you on 18-JUN-08 .

Online repair status as of this very moment:

We have received your equipment for evaluation and repair. Based on initial examination, the necessary repairs will be performed at no charge to you.

In the unlikely event that any additional damage is found during the repair process, an estimate will be sent for your authorization

cryptic! hopefully it works.

you are pretty close to irvine, did you consider 'walking in'?

I guess I'll be getting it tomorrow, since it was sent FedEx 2-day yesterday. I'm becoming quite interested to see what happens, especially because the tracking number they assigned me doesn't exist, even 24 hours after it was shipped.


Keep your fingers crossed!

Gorby, I was hoping to not have to walk in since I'm trying to drive as little as possible to save myself some money for either the 17-55 IS or 24-70L (won't open THAT can of worms!) since shipping it 15 miles was less expensive . "Times is hard, times is hard!" But, depending on the outcome of this situation, I may have to. Nuts.

Sounds like Canon didn't realize it was still under warranty.

Calicajun wrote in post #5756487
Sounds like Canon didn't realize it was still under warranty.

if that were the case canon would have quoted a price to fix the lens and would not have returned the lens until they heard from the OP.

i think there's a better chance that when he gets his lens it will be fixed.

ed rader

my guess is its coming back broken, call up and raise hell if you have a warranty

I sent a 50mm f/1.4 in that I didnt have a receipt for (not sure if it was still under warranty or not) and they fixed it for me for free. Said it was a 1 time courtesy repair. Had the same problem, stopped focusing. Got it back very quickly, and it worked like a charm.