"L" stands for lemon

I invested in an EF 70-200 f/4 USM lens a while back primarily to take photos of my kids playing soccer. The focus of the photos I took were inconsistent - about half were sharp and half were very soft, blurry even. I thought it was me and played with the settings on the camera, higher shutter speed, etc., to no avail. I finally set the camera and lens up on a tripod and tested it. What do you know - the lens can not focus at 200mm wide open. Just goes from blurry to blurrier (is there such a word?). It gets better at shorter focal lengths and is pretty clear at 135mm. I sent it to Canon (Irvine, CA) for repair, and even though it was just out of warranty, they attempted to fix it for free. Problem is, they never did fix it, even after three tries. I am about to give up. Anyone else ever had this problem? Suggestions on how to proceed?

How about posting some examples. What equipment are you using?

I suspect that your experience with the 70-200 is 1-in-a-million. This lens and the lot of canon 70-200 are the best team of lenses that exist on earth.

lankforddl wrote in post #10307694
I suspect that your experience with the 70-200 is 1-in-a-million. This lens and the lot of canon 70-200 are the best team of lenses that exist on earth.

Not really there was one a couple of weeks ago, https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=874190 , but I guessed they was able to fix this one.

Example with exif would be very useful here.

Anything mass produced is not going to be perfect. There will be a small chance that a few lemons slip by QC and end up in the hands on the end user. That doesn't necessarily mean that they all suck. Have you contacted Canon again that after 3 tries it is still not working?

Have you tried the lens on a different body? If you have not, I would highly recommend you doing that to rule out the body.

That's really a shame. Its one of my favorite lenses.

Here's mine at f/4...

Mine is amazing, I think you must have got a lemon. I wish you had waited to buy a bad lens so I could sell you mine so I can get a 135L lol

Please show us some examples with exif info. What body are you using? Did you try it with other bodies?

I find it peculiar to say the least, that Canon would send out the same lens 3 times, without rectifying the problem.

leo_jb wrote in post #10307670
Suggestions on how to proceed?

After 3 trips to Canon repair with a VERY highly regarded lens I would start to consider what else in the image making chain could be causing problems .. test the lens on another body to be sure it's not a fault with the cameras AF system, also shooting sports is not as easy as the Nikon ads on TV suggest .. so post a few sample shots here with full EXIF as a start.

lankforddl wrote in post #10307694
I suspect that your experience with the 70-200 is 1-in-a-million. This lens and the lot of canon 70-200 are the best team of lenses that exist on earth.

I wouldn't go that far. But its not to bad for a zoom.

To the OP, Are you shooting at shutter speeds that are to slow?

airfrogusmc wrote in post #10308343
But its not to bad for a zoom.

I wouldn't go too far (this time in the other direction)

So you sent this lens back to Canon not once, nor twice, but three - count 'em - three times, and it still doesn't work?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think something else is afoot....

leo_jb wrote in post #10307670
I invested in an EF 70-200 f/4 USM lens a while back primarily to take photos of my kids playing soccer. The focus of the photos I took were inconsistent - about half were sharp and half were very soft, blurry even. I thought it was me and played with the settings on the camera, higher shutter speed, etc., to no avail. I finally set the camera and lens up on a tripod and tested it. What do you know - the lens can not focus at 200mm wide open. Just goes from blurry to blurrier (is there such a word?). It gets better at shorter focal lengths and is pretty clear at 135mm. I sent it to Canon (Irvine, CA) for repair, and even though it was just out of warranty, they attempted to fix it for free. Problem is, they never did fix it, even after three tries. I am about to give up. Anyone else ever had this problem? Suggestions on how to proceed?

I'm willing to take it off your hands for the price of some lemonade

First I do agree your best bet is to post up some examples with the full details of the shots to ensure that user error is not a part of this problem. This is the first step and the cheapest (And quickest).

Secondly - if the above fails to identify a flaw within your shooting methods then I would consider sending the lens back, with your camera body. It might be the case that the lens itself is performing within canons tollerance zones, but when mated to your camera body the two together are not giving images outside of the lenses performance abilities. Supplying the camera body as well - whilst depriving you of it - at least lets canon fully test and calibrate the lens specificially for that body.

Have you tried duplicating your test shots with the lens on a different body? What area are you in? I'm sure there are several other photogs in the area that could test it for you.

Jon.