28-135 USM IS Maintenance question

Hi there,

Just purchased this lens used. It seems to be ok but when I tried rotating the zoom ring, everything seems to work ok but if I rotate the ring _slowly_, it seems not lubricated enough to zoom in or out smoothly. It kinds of "hops" if you know what I mean. I kindof just figured this out after I bought the lens.

Is there any maintenance that can be performed to help in this respect? Some sort of WD-40 or lubricant I can squirt/apply somewhere?

Thanks,
Ken

I have this lens and have not experienced this. I woul dlike to know as well just in case this ever happens on a new lens.

I might GUESS, that it will loosen up a bit over usage. Sounds a bit odd though.

Oh I would definately keep away from squirting any lubes in there.

If you think about the zoom function and the way that it uses a cog wheel to move the lens parts, you will see what the "hopping" might mean. There is one other possibility, and I had this on one lens that is very close to the 28-135 IS. The zoom was getting kind of cranky, and then one day it got worse, and then POP. It broke. It would not zoom and would not focus. I called Canon and then sent it in. They replaced some screw that holds the cog in place, and I had it back in a week.

---Bob Gross---

My copy behaves this way. It just doesn't seem possible to rotate the zoom ring smoothly. I think it's the design. The lens extends quite a bit when zooming, so you're moving quite a bit of mass.

In contrast, my two L zooms are buttery smooth. That was probably not what you wanted to hear.

I would not recommend using any lubricants. Just zoom to 135 and clean the exposed barrel with cloth. That's probably about as much as you should do.

Thanks all for your replies.

I guess I'm stuck with it, although it seems to be "loosening up" a bit the more I use it.

Cheers to all
Ken