dont tell me my camera is dying please help

andyt72

andyt72

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i have a canon eos 450d with sigma 18-250 lens and canon 18-55 lens
the picture counter has just done the 10,000 mark.
anyway today been taking pics as normal and this happened
looking thru the view finder it is all dark and not bright anymore i can barley see what im pointing the camera at i proceed to take a pic and the picture taken is BLACK this is mainly in M mode all the other settings i switch to sometimes work fine and some then turn out black again...
i then try my canon 18-55 lens and its fine on all settings except M mode where as above happens again...i finally try my 18-250 lens again camera turns on as normal but will NOT take a picture when shutter button is pressed.
please help anyone know what the problem could be
 
Sounds like it could be an issue with the 18-250 lens and not the camera? Tried cleaning the conections on the lens and on the Camera body?
 
try resetting all your adjustments back to factory settings then see if picture comes back
 
cleaned all connections ...still the same

reset all settings...still the same

18-250mm sigma lens will NOT take pics at all now unless the lens is set to manual focus and pics still turn out BLACK

im gonna put a sledgehammer to it all in a minute
 
andy1t72 said:
i then try my canon 18-55 lens and its fine on all settings except M mode where as above happens again...
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that could be the settings, for example too quick a shutter speed not letting in enough light.
If one lens is working on all other settings except manual then it would suggest a faulty lens
 
andy1t72 said:
im gonna put a sledgehammer to it all in a minute
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Pics please!! :D

No, but seriously, it sounds like the aperture blades or diaphragm is stuck.
If you look through the lens, you should see it - use the lever to open and close the diaphragm and see, if it isn't stuck...
 
Jan K. said:
Pics please!! :D

No, but seriously, it sounds like the aperture blades or diaphragm is stuck.
If you look through the lens, you should see it - use the lever to open and close the diaphragm and see, if it isn't stuck...
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What is a diaphragm and aperture blades are they on the lens or the camera and how do I open and close them and with what lever
 
if the sigma has a f stop ring at the back of the lens , mine has a f stop in red if its not set to this mine wont fire. i check your camera display its not flashing "FE" or the canon equivalent
 
andyt72 said:
Ok it's defiantly the aperture blades I look down the lens and ther are virtually closed so how do I get them open
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It sounds like they have stuck/seized.

I fixed a compact with seized aperture blades once by leaving it in a conservatory for a few hours on a sunny day. Luckily the expansion caused by the temperature was enough to free the stuck blades and it worked fine afterwards.

You could try something similar but otherwise (unless someone else has any ideas) it will need specialist repair.
 
andyt72 said:
Ok it's defiantly the aperture blades I look down the lens and ther are virtually closed so how do I get them open
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Unfortunatly, there is no way you can use any 'normal' options to open the aperture blades on the lens again.

The Canon EF fit has everything as electronic controlled. The lens will need either service or replacement.

Do you still have warranty? If not is is probably worth contacting the sigma service department to get an approximate price.
 
RichardtheSane said:
Unfortunatly, there is no way you can use any 'normal' options to open the aperture blades on the lens again.

The Canon EF fit has everything as electronic controlled. The lens will need either service or replacement.

Do you still have warranty? If not is is probably worth contacting the sigma service department to get an approximate price.
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It's totally out of its warranty now I'm afraid had the lens a good 4 years so I think it's finally time to get the sigma 50-500mm that I've drooled over for so long
 
RichardtheSane said:
The Canon EF fit has everything as electronic controlled...
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Didn't knew that - or anything Canon related for that matter :D

But Canon has a DOF button? Perhaps working this for a while may loosen the blades?

andyt72 said:
...I think it's finally time to get the sigma 50-500mm that I've drooled over for so long
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Or this should work too! :D

Isn't the lens worth servicing??
 
if its not worth servicing to you it might be worth it to someone on here so get it on classifieds as a lens in need of repair.
better than a paperweight
 
use the ask price section, i have not a scooby doo
 
andyt72 said:
Ok it's defiantly the aperture blades I look down the lens and ther are virtually closed so how do I get them open
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And if you look through the view finder with the lens removed? It's not black anymore?

Just covering the obvious.....
 
ZoneV said:
It sounds like they have stuck/seized.

I fixed a compact with seized aperture blades once by leaving it in a conservatory for a few hours on a sunny day. Luckily the expansion caused by the temperature was enough to free the stuck blades and it worked fine afterwards.

You could try something similar but otherwise (unless someone else has any ideas) it will need specialist repair.
Click to expand...

This has got to be worth a pop, with all the cold temps lately ??. Stick it in the freezer and then blast it with a hairdrier,
 
Steve T said:
This has got to be worth a pop, with all the cold temps lately ??. Stick it in the freezer and then blast it with a hairdrier,
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Not sure on freezing it, as when it comes out the glass will attract moisture to it (perhaps even on the inside), which would then leave water marks.

Could certainly try placing it on a towel, on top of a radiator though. Or if feeling brave the domestic oven, set to 30-40 degrees (nothing should melt until at least 80c).
 
Steve T said:
This has got to be worth a pop, with all the cold temps lately ??. Stick it in the freezer and then blast it with a hairdrier,
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Lyonspride said:
Not sure on freezing it, as when it comes out the glass will attract moisture to it (perhaps even on the inside), which would then leave water marks.

Could certainly try placing it on a towel, on top of a radiator though. Or if feeling brave the domestic oven, set to 30-40 degrees (nothing should melt until at least 80c).
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It has to be worth a shot, doesn't it?

I wouldn't go the freezer or oven route, but on a radiator under an upturned box (or something to trap the hot air around the lens) for an hour-or-three could do the trick. The beauty of the leaving it in the sun, though, is the aperture blades get directly heated by the sun which is probably much quicker than convection alone.
 
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ZoneV said:
It has to be worth a shot, doesn't it?

I wouldn't go the freezer or oven route, but on a radiator under an upturned box (or something to trap the hot air around the lens) for an hour-or-three could do the trick. The beauty of the leaving it in the sun, though, is the aperture blades get directly heated by the sun which is probably much quicker than convection alone.
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ive got it on the radiator as we speak on top of a towel
now do i have it laying on its side or upright or is there no particular position to have it
 
andyt72 said:
ive got it on the radiator as we speak on top of a towel
now do i have it laying on its side or upright or is there no particular position to have it
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I'd put it on its side, under an upturned box. I wouldn't use a towel though - you want as much of that hot air to circulate around the lens as possible so if you're worried about marking the outside of the lens on the radiator you might want to put something small under each end instead.
 
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Sounds like the reverse of the problem i had with two Sigma 18-135mm zooms, both developed the same fault where the aperture would not shut down, which means i have two perfect lenses as long as i want to shoot wide open all the time. :D
 
I would contact Sigma to get an idea of how much a repair would cost and go from there.
 
Gremlin said:
Probably not as expensive as you might think, have a look here for an idea
http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/service-tarrif
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what i was going to say, the tarrif for that lens is £98.99

they'll do an aperture mech for that price, they might need to ship parts from HK however. they did one of our 70-200 (funnily enough after a very cold spell a few years ago when it went down to -10c) for the service tariff price.
 
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May seem strange thing to do but worth a try. Put quite a bit of metholated spirit in a flat try and suspend the lens over it as close as possible without touching the meths. Leave overnight at least and let the meths fumes do the work. This sometimes frees up equipment that can't be accessed easily. After all the lens is useless as it is.


Realspeed
 
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Both low post-count, similar usernames, 'sometimes suffers with sticky aperture blades'...fishier than the contents of Baldrick's trousers.
 
Meh... If it were mine, i'd have a go at stripping it down before trying to get rid of it.

But then i've been fixing stuff since I was 10 years old.
Much easier these days, photograph every stage, lay it all out on a white cloth, if it's been designed to be serviced, then it's not designed to break if you take it apart with the right tools.
 
Just dropped my 150-500 into them,, Yep I managed to drop it and it stopped focusing below 7m, also it seems the IS is out so they are going to fix that, total cost £131.99 and that will include posting it back :thumbs:
 
neil_g said:
looks like the OP (or at least a variation of his username :thinking: ) has the lens for sale in the classifieds..

"very easy and cheap fix" :shrug:
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He is even using BOTH user names in this thread! :eek:


Heather
 
andyt72 said:
my other account was made when i changed computers ages ago and id forgotten my user name and password
so everyone saying its fishy it isnt already told admin to delete one account
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No, but calling it a very cheap and easy fix is a bit misleading...

Also, is it the OS version or isn't it, you have two lens names in the title? the OS version is worth a lot more and is new enough that that it should still be in warranty, unless it was a grey import?

Fishy, non?

Anyway, the price is waaaaay off as the cost of repair will put it up to near the price of a new one. And you'll find that no one really values the price of a filter into the price of the lens - you're better off selling it separately.

I needed really have said all of this as you'll discover yourself when no one shows any interest. So, good luck with the sale...
 
Nawty said:
No, but calling it a very cheap and easy fix is a bit misleading...

Also, is it the OS version or isn't it, you have two lens names in the title? the OS version is worth a lot more and is new enough that that it should still be in warranty, unless it was a grey import?

Fishy, non?

Anyway, the price is waaaaay off as the cost of repair will put it up to near the price of a new one. And you'll find that no one really values the price of a filter into the price of the lens - you're better off selling it separately.

I needed really have said all of this as you'll discover yourself when no one shows any interest. So, good luck with the sale...
Click to expand...
 
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