18-55mm II repair

[rfdesigner]

Hi.

When I upgraded to my 6D and mid primes my wife inherited my old 30D and 18-55 kit lens.

The other day it started throwing error 99.

I problem solved it back to the aperture motion of the lens.

it feels like a loose cable as the problem is intermittent (80% failure 20% ok). I've cleaned all the contacts and there's no improvement, but my primes work fine on the 30D. Using the aperture preview button you can see sometimes it doesn't stop down.

So I'm going to dive in and check all the wiring and make sure it's all doing what it should be.. but before I pull the thing apart I thought I'd see if anyone has been there before me, anything to watch out for? I have googled and the aperture failure is not unknown, but there's not much out there that I could find, presumably most people just write the lens off when it goes wrong.

FTR I paid £50 for it 5 years ago, second hand.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

EF-S 18-55ii is a lens known for flat cable breakage and repair costs the same amount of the same lens used.

On the other hand, has so far not heard of any similar problem with the 18-55 model STM.

 

[iaind]

Labour on repair will probably exceed cost of replacement making it beyond economic repair so just junk it or keep as paperweight

 

[rfdesigner]

EF-S 18-55ii is a lens known for flat cable breakage and repair costs the same amount of the same lens used.

On the other hand, has so far not heard of any similar problem with the 18-55 model STM.

thanks, I'll look out for all the kapton flexi cables.

This won't be my first lens dissasembly so there's a chance I'll breath life into it.

 

[Josh Denver]

Get an EF-S 18-55mm STM IS.

I've owned the EF-S 18-55mm III (no IS-still produced). The lens was absolutely crap in image quality. Only a slightly sharp center and too dim without IS assistance means only Daylight lens. It took a very light hit and the focus ring got stuck, opened it up and disovered the barrel was bent. So I left it as small lens groups as desktop decoration.

Then owned the EF-S 18-55mm IS II. Much much better optically but still a soft lens in the corners and the build quality is flimsy.

Then I got the EF-S 18-55mm STM IS. Oh my god, what a lens! It's tack sharp across the frame, colours and contrast are more vibrant, image stabilization is FAR improved and makes some amazing results. Built is very hard and much improved. No moving elements while focusing. Focus ring is cine smooth. Image is sharper and better, takes much lower shutter speeds thus lower noise,

I say all this to convince you to just get an STM version. The jump is too big to ignore. Hard to imagine how Canon is making an EF-S 18mm f3.5 IS STM for that price and quality.

 

[pwp]

Darn, that's annoying you're getting the dreaded error-99. You don't repair these entry level lenses. It's probably landfill. Check your local pricing on a mint pre-owned copy. A lot of these kit lenses quickly get put aside as photographers upgrade to classier glass.

£50 for it 5 years ago second hand! I'd say you've got your moneys worth. The new versions of this lens are a huge improvement.

-pw

 

[d]

It's a throwaway lens, and as others have said the newer versions are much improved.

If you have time to kill, by all means open it up to try and earn bragging rights, but I'd still grab the STM version and enjoy the improved shooting it offers.

d.