35 L II, loose front end?? (Perhaps built in shock absorber?)

Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Hi guys,

I just got my 1dx back from yet another adjustment/repair. And it is still highly unstable with my 35 L II. I placed the front end down towards a table and did a focus from mfd to infinity, when I noticed the front tiliting back and forth on the table, I first thought the table was uneven, but soon noticed the whole part with the filterthreads and mount for the lens hood is loose!! I can push it in and it's like a spring action bouncing it back out!

There's a small gap between the focusing ring and the mount for the lens hood.

Does you 35 L II have this or what the hell happened to mine??
 
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

caMARYnon said:
It's a small gap (about 1 - 1,5mm). The hood mount (only the first front ring, it has no connection with first glass lens) has an axial movement on a very hard steel spring. I think it's about amortization in case of accidental fall.

Okay, so it actually should give a little?
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

caMARYnon said:
I noticed this move only after you wrote about this problem. On my copy this movement is possible only through a strong pressure on the ring.

What is strong pressure? I have a 6d and a 1dx and holding either camera with lens flat on a table and tilting while holding it down, but not with any excess force, it's giving.

I can also lay the camera with lens pointing up and use my fingertips with both hands and make it give a little. There is some force used, considering this is a lens and not cookie dough, but noy a lot. Perhaps twice what you use for the pinch lens cap?
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

8)
caMARYnon said:
Indeed, in the case of tilting while holding it down on the table, you don't need too much pressure.
My opinion is that this movement has nothing to do with the autofocus unpredictability.

That's somehow excellent news and at the same time, a reason to just sell the 1dx and move on.

Thank you so much for checking and writing back to me, it saved me a lot of panic and frustration :D
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

YuengLinger said:
Surprised this "feature" of...shock absorbing(?) has not been discussed previously.

Thought there was a good tear down of this lens.

Interesting discovery.

I know, right? I even read Roger's tear down again, but didn't see he mentioned it either, and I couldn't find anything else using Google.
 
Upvote 0

jd7

CR Pro
Feb 3, 2013
1,064
418
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

Just for interest, maybe the following para in the LensRentals teardown (http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/12/canon-35mm-f1-4-mk-ii-teardown) is relevant?

And when the screw was removed, we found that each hole contained a brass reinforcing spacer with a spring around it. So basically each of the 6 screws passes through the brass spacer and screws into the front barrel, with a spring maintaining tension. This is an expensive way to do things and obviously serves a purpose. It may be to maintain even tension on the focusing ring (which is right below the filter barrel), to provide a more even stress distribution, or probably is for something else entirely. But just because I don't know what it's for doesn't mean I can't appreciate the careful attention to detail taken here


Viggo, you do seem to have been punished very harshly by the camera gods - problems with your 1Dx and Sigma Art lenses. Hopefully, though, there is no issue with your 35L II.
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: 35 L II, loose front end??

jd7 said:
Just for interest, maybe the following para in the LensRentals teardown (http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/12/canon-35mm-f1-4-mk-ii-teardown) is relevant?

And when the screw was removed, we found that each hole contained a brass reinforcing spacer with a spring around it. So basically each of the 6 screws passes through the brass spacer and screws into the front barrel, with a spring maintaining tension. This is an expensive way to do things and obviously serves a purpose. It may be to maintain even tension on the focusing ring (which is right below the filter barrel), to provide a more even stress distribution, or probably is for something else entirely. But just because I don't know what it's for doesn't mean I can't appreciate the careful attention to detail taken here


Viggo, you do seem to have been punished very harshly by the camera gods - problems with your 1Dx and Sigma Art lenses. Hopefully, though, there is no issue with your 35L II.

Yeah, I've been very close to just give up everything photo related. Perhaps go Leica which I have used some and to manual focus a Leica is too easy, at least when nothing moves. But I love my Canon gear, when it works it's impossible to fail, but the line between that and setting it all on fire is wafer thin ...

Nice to know the 35 is okay though, and It seems okay on the 6d, but that camera is just too limiting to me.
 
Upvote 0