Are ALL brand new Canon lenses defective?

[Don Haines]

What I am saying is that I will send a lens to Canon and just ask for "clean and check". Then Canon identifies a problem. I am not telling Canon that I am having a problem with the lens. They are finding it, or so they say. Some lenses just come back saying cleaned, everything is within spec.

I see. Defective? No. Just outside Canon's quality control tolerances? Maybe. I'm sure Canon's equipment can detect alignment issues that none of us could detect, and those alignment issues happen through everyday use of lenses.

So you send an item off to the repair shop for "Clean and check"...

Step one, slap it onto a body and take a couple of shots to see if it actually works..... For this step, they don't care how well it focuses, just that the elements move and that there are no gross failures in the mechanicals or the electronics....

Step two... clean it. This means removing casings and elements....

Step 3.... put it back together, lubricating and aligning as you go....

Step 4... calibrate...

It does not matter if the lens was +50 AFMA units off or 0 AFMA units off when it arrived at the shop... after the disassembly and cleaning, they have to recalibrate the lens before they are done... at this point they adjust it to within specs. The fact that it was adjusted only means that they did the job right. I, for one, would be very mad at them if the took my lens apart and then put it back together without calibrating it.....

 

[Loswr]

What I am saying is that I will send a lens to Canon and just ask for "clean and check". Then Canon identifies a problem. I am not telling Canon that I am having a problem with the lens. They are finding it, or so they say. Some lenses just come back saying cleaned, everything is within spec.

I see. Defective? No. Just outside Canon's quality control tolerances? Maybe. I'm sure Canon's equipment can detect alignment issues that none of us could detect, and those alignment issues happen through everyday use of lenses.

So you send an item off to the repair shop for "Clean and check"...

Step one, slap it onto a body and take a couple of shots to see if it actually works..... For this step, they don't care how well it focuses, just that the elements move and that there are no gross failures in the mechanicals or the electronics....

Step two... clean it. This means removing casings and elements....

Step 3.... put it back together, lubricating and aligning as you go....

Step 4... calibrate...

It does not matter if the lens was +50 AFMA units off or 0 AFMA units off when it arrived at the shop... after the disassembly and cleaning, they have to recalibrate the lens before they are done... at this point they adjust it to within specs. The fact that it was adjusted only means that they did the job right. I, for one, would be very mad at them if the took my lens apart and then put it back together without calibrating it.....

Canon's clean and check is external only. They tighten screws, but that's it.

http://www.usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets/app/html/Support/11point.html

 

[Don Haines]

What I am saying is that I will send a lens to Canon and just ask for "clean and check". Then Canon identifies a problem. I am not telling Canon that I am having a problem with the lens. They are finding it, or so they say. Some lenses just come back saying cleaned, everything is within spec.

I see. Defective? No. Just outside Canon's quality control tolerances? Maybe. I'm sure Canon's equipment can detect alignment issues that none of us could detect, and those alignment issues happen through everyday use of lenses.

So you send an item off to the repair shop for "Clean and check"...

Step one, slap it onto a body and take a couple of shots to see if it actually works..... For this step, they don't care how well it focuses, just that the elements move and that there are no gross failures in the mechanicals or the electronics....

Step two... clean it. This means removing casings and elements....

Step 3.... put it back together, lubricating and aligning as you go....

Step 4... calibrate...

It does not matter if the lens was +50 AFMA units off or 0 AFMA units off when it arrived at the shop... after the disassembly and cleaning, they have to recalibrate the lens before they are done... at this point they adjust it to within specs. The fact that it was adjusted only means that they did the job right. I, for one, would be very mad at them if the took my lens apart and then put it back together without calibrating it.....

Canon's clean and check is external only. They tighten screws, but that's it.

http://www.usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets/app/html/Support/11point.html

Interesting!

I sent a lens back to Tamron and they did a free internal clean while they had it.... I had assumed (wrongly) that Canon did some internal cleaning as well....

 

[Loswr]

If you're having the lens serviced, I expect they'll do an internal clean and a calibration. When I took my 1D X in for the lubrication recall, they cleaned the sensor free. But not with a 'clean and check'.

 

[lichtmalen]

Sorry...but are you confusing Canon with Sigma lenses?

My 24 Art needed no AFMA at all and my (former) 35 and my 50 a little. Once they were set they were all spot on.

 

[Hillsilly]

Defective? Only on Canon bodies. On Sony bodies they are AWESOME!

 

[emko]

Defective? Only on Canon bodies. On Sony bodies they are AWESOME!

LOL you know why right? because the AF is on the Sensor you don't have to make any AFMA because there is nothing to adjust.

 

[scottkinfw]

Thank you for this post. I finally met someone with worse luck than me (sarcasm). The answer is no. Try afma.

sek

I have gotten in the habit of sending my brand new lenses to the Canon Factory Service Center for warranty repair immediately after I buy it. So far every lens has had something wrong with it. This week I sent in my 11-24/4 and my 16-35/4 and both of them had the same problem. The autofocus module was out of alignment causing slight front focus. Does the Canon factory just not get them right? Are the tolerances for new equipment not up to par with the way CFS specs are?

 

[emko]

Thank you for this post. I finally met someone with worse luck than me (sarcasm). The answer is no. Try afma.

sek

I have gotten in the habit of sending my brand new lenses to the Canon Factory Service Center for warranty repair immediately after I buy it. So far every lens has had something wrong with it. This week I sent in my 11-24/4 and my 16-35/4 and both of them had the same problem. The autofocus module was out of alignment causing slight front focus. Does the Canon factory just not get them right? Are the tolerances for new equipment not up to par with the way CFS specs are?

i think he would be better of with a mirror less camera not having to deal with these issues.

 

[Dick]

i think he would be better of with a mirror less camera not having to deal with these issues.

Wouldn't we all? Don't get me wrong, I do AFMA and all that crap. I still think that it I shouldn't be forced to do that. I'd rather spend that time with my kids.

That being said, I don't really understand why people use AFMA with f/4 lenses, especially the wide ones. Almost everything is sharp in the pics taken anyway. On the other hand with fast primes AFMA can help, but with the shallower DOF comes also the AF inconsistency, where each shot is slightly differently focused and it is visible too. So doing a +1 or -1 AFMA might not even result in a larger amont of shots with nailed focus. To me it seems that AFMA is almost pointless. I use AFMA with primes, but would likely have just as many keepers without the micro adjustments.

And in addition to that, different distances would require different AFMA values. My 85LII now focuses nicely if the distance to subject is "normal". It will definitely not nail the focus on distant subjects. In fact, it will fail every time unless shot using live view. If I setup the lens to focus perfectly on distant subjects, it will surely miss the most common distance shots.

 

[emko]

since Canon now has AF sensors on the sensor cant they use that to fix the AF sensor adjustments?

 

[Eldar]

I am, like most of you, just One. Statistically I only count for One, so that would make me rather invisible. But I have been a loyal Canon shooter since the mid-seventies and I have had GAS for most of that time. More than 100 FD and EF lenses has been through my bags (I currently have 11 L-lenses with AF, plus a couple of TS-Es and non-Ls). I am also rather picky when it comes to quality and for an AF lens, AF in particular.

I have never in my 40 years with Canon returned a lens. I have only used CPS on a couple of occations, beyond sensor cleaning and one call-in warranty job on a 1DX, to repair/try to repair damages caused by myself. I AFMA all my lenses and don't even consider it a hassle. When you know how, it is rather fast and I feel I get to know my lenses by doing so.

So, even though I am statistically insignificant, my 100% success rate with Canon lenses does not support the heading of this thread.

As a contrast, I have a 100% return history with Sigma, because their AF has been inconsistent and useless (have just ordered my 3rd 50 Art, to see if they have fixed it).

 

[docsmith]

I have gotten in the habit of sending my brand new lenses to the Canon Factory Service Center for warranty repair immediately after I buy it. So far every lens has had something wrong with it. This week I sent in my 11-24/4 and my 16-35/4 and both of them had the same problem. The autofocus module was out of alignment causing slight front focus. Does the Canon factory just not get them right? Are the tolerances for new equipment not up to par with the way CFS specs are?

I am going to go against the tide here a little bit. I would look at this a bit different. To me, this is not saying that each Canon lens is "defective" but rather a trained Canon technician can take an assembly line lens and want to change something and hopefully make it a bit better. At least, even for my own work, give me another 3-4 hrs on something that is "finished," I could always find something to tweak and make it a bit better.

And I say hopefully make it a bit better just because I can also see a technician "fixing" something just to make you feel better but the lens may function the exact same as before.

 

[tron]

NO they are OK. In fact most of them do not even read AFMA (I exclude 35 1.4 and 85 1.2)...

 

[mnclayshooter]

Dear Friends.
I am very Lucky, I have 22 Canon Lenses for long, Long time and never have any problem at all---May be very Lucky or May be I am too old and can not see the difference of Right on Focus or Miss Focus.
BUT, When I miss focus, I must blame my self, Instead of use 1 Point focus aim at my dear wife, But that one spot focus miss my wife and right on the target = the beautiful young lady walk pass her.----Ha, Ha, Ha, I just delete that Photo and shoot another one. Yes, I am a dead man if I show that mistake Photo to my wife.
Good day.
Surapon

Another great reason to have 61 AF points.

 

[Famateur]

...aim at my dear wife, But that one spot focus miss my wife and right on the target = the beautiful young lady walk pass her.----Ha, Ha, Ha, I just delete that Photo and shoot another one. Yes, I am a dead man if I show that mistake Photo to my wife.
Good day.
Surapon

Too funny! Thanks, Surapon!

 

[JPAZ]

Just back from a trip where I used my old 100-400 Mki at 400 mm HAND-HELD as slow as 1/30 sec at an outside concert after sunset. You know what, focusing was tough and I did not get 100% keepers. Now that I've been reading this thread, it is obvious to me that I'd better send in this lens for service. The blurry ones could not possibly be due to anything else.
: :

 

[tpatana]

Same like with cars, usually the problem is the loose nut behind the wheel.

 

[curtisnull]

You people are missing the point of my original question/statement.

I am sending lenses to CPS repair after purchase and just asking them to "check autofocus". I am not telling them that their IS a problem. However, Canon almost always identifies a problem on their own and fixes it.

Several years ago I was told to do this by a CPS rep at a trade show. Since then, I have done it soon after purchasing a new lens and the majority of times Canon has found something that was not up to spec.

 

[Orangutan]

You people are missing the point of my original question/statement.

I am sending lenses to CPS repair after purchase and just asking them to "check autofocus". I am not telling them that their IS a problem. However, Canon almost always identifies a problem on their own and fixes it.

Several years ago I was told to do this by a CPS rep at a trade show. Since then, I have done it soon after purchasing a new lens and the majority of times Canon has found something that was not up to spec.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if they're trained to say they did something (of significance) even if they didn't. It's customer care -- you want to make buyers of expensive components feel cared-for.

Your assertion would have some meaning if you had tested it thoroughly before and after, and had found significantly different performance.