Lens Repair Service

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xxxgaryxxx

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ADDED 17TH Jan: Draft and incomplete article to show how I dismantled and rebuilt the lens

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens dismantling and rebuilding guide


original post...............................


Please accept my apologies if this has already been posted in the past and answered, I tried a quick search but couldn't find anything of relevance

I have just acquired a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM that's been dunked in salt water for a short period and it's no longer functioning (AF is dead), there's also water marks showing within the lens.

Has anyone given it a go at having a lens repaired that's been subject to salt water ingress?.. if you have and it was successful, I'd be immensely grateful if you could pass on the details please.

many thanks Gary
 
I would get in contact with
http://www.fixationuk.com/
i have used them a few times for repair - very good - if you send the lens to them they will give you a no obligation quote(phone to check first) - it will just cost you the postage (special delivery) - they have always been very helpfull and you can speak to the engineers directly.
 
Many thanks, I'll give them a call to see if they'll take it on at a reasonable charge.. I've also located a camera repair shop less than a mile from my house so I'm going to give them a try too.

if professional repair isn't viable, I may give the DIY dismantle option a go as I paid £30 for the lens so it's not much to lose but a fair amount to gain if I get it right... I used to be a PCB repair tech in my youth for aircraft navigation systems so can use a soldering iron in delicate environments but I'm guessing that this'll be a totally different ball game so I'll do some significant reading up before I turn the first screw. I'd appreciate advice on dismantling such a lens if anyone's had a stab at it themselves,

thanks again for the link
 
anyone any advice on whether it's a good idea to dismantle this thing? thanks again
 
I wouldn't personally, depends how much you get quoted for fixing it though, and the cost of buying the lens again if it can't be fixed.
 
So you paid £30 for it, im assuming that you have other lenses and the fact you cant currently use this one isnt a problem.

If that is the case, having a go at trying to fix it yourself may be a good thing, you will get the experience of taking it apart seeing how it all works, which if it goes well will put you in a good position if you happen across another broken bargain!

if you dont really care whether it works or not, give it a go, if you really want to get it working properly take it to a pro!
 
Go on get the toolkit out :eek:.:eek:

I've had my 70-300 and 28-80 apart, the 70-300 I fixed, the 28-80 needs a new part. AF was not working and I found a broken plastic gear. God knows where I'll get one of them from. If you're handy it won't be that much of a problem but draw digrams of what goes where and use a screwdriver that fits or the heads of the screws will get chewed up.

All the best with it.

Chris
 
and take lots of pics along the way
a) for the write up
b) so you can remember what came from where
 
thanks everyone... I'm in a bit of a pickle as it goes.. I took receipt of the lens yesterday and popped it on the 350D.. no joy what-so-ever.. all electronic functions are stuffed and I got an err 1 code when I tried to take a shot... however, I've taped over the larger contact on the rear of the lens and I'm now able to use it as a pure manual focus lens with the water deposits on the front element having no degration to the quality of the shot... effectively, I now have a manual focus lens with great optics for 30 quid!

this now poses a decision, don't mess with it and keep it as a manual focus or mess with it and risk breaking the thing.

the big question I have is if I take it apart now, what chance do I have of getting the electronics working.. gutt feel says close to zero considering the corrosion effect of salt water.

final option is to sell it on ebay (giving an honest description of the fault) as a manual focus lens to invest whatever I make, if anything, in a new one.

what do you think keep, sell or still have a crack at fixing the thing?

cheers Gary
 
dizzledazzle said:
So you paid £30 for it, im assuming that you have other lenses and the fact you cant currently use this one isnt a problem.

if you dont really care whether it works or not, give it a go, if you really want to get it working properly take it to a pro!
Click to expand...

I do have a couple of other very basic consumer level kit lenses as I'm just starting out in to SLR photography and finding it interesting so far (so much to learn!!).. seeing the difference between the L series and kit lenses has instilled a sense of needing to get my mits on a quality lens for general photography in situations such as wildlife, portrait and fairly close up shots... I'm a carp angler so take lots of shots of lakes, birdife and of course, fish. this lens I'm trying to repair seems to tick all the right boxes from what I read.

p.s. I sent mails to all the Canon certified repair guys in the UK + one down the road.. all but one said it was not possible to repair the lens.. the one that didn't, said they'd want me to send it in before they could make a statement, which I guess is fair enough but great potential for an unecessary expense considering the likely outcome of those checks i.e. it's knackered for good electronically.. I'd prefer to save the cash for investment in a new lens if that's what I end up having to do.
 
Chuckurbarla said:
Go on get the toolkit out :eek:.:eek:

I've had my 70-300 and 28-80 apart, the 70-300 I fixed, the 28-80 needs a new part. AF was not working and I found a broken plastic gear. God knows where I'll get one of them from. If you're handy it won't be that much of a problem but draw digrams of what goes where and use a screwdriver that fits or the heads of the screws will get chewed up.

All the best with it.

Chris
Click to expand...

thanks for the encouragement Chris.. I've heard the L series lenses are easier to take apart than those mentioned above but I'm not sure if that statement factored in USM and IS lenses.. did any of the lenses mentioned above have any of these features? cheers Gary
 
xxxgaryxxx said:
did any of the lenses mentioned above have any of these features? cheers Gary
Click to expand...

No mate, 28-80 was the kit lens with my 50E and the 70-300 was the old type sigma, about 13 years old. If you're happy with the manual focus leave it alone. Corrosion and shorting out will still be going on if there's any salt in there though, if it were mine I'd try giving it a good soaking in fresh water then dry it for a couple of days in the airing cupboard or on top of the hot water tank.
 
Chuckurbarla said:
No mate, 28-80 was the kit lens with my 50E and the 70-300 was the old type sigma, about 13 years old. If you're happy with the manual focus leave it alone. Corrosion and shorting out will still be going on if there's any salt in there though, if it were mine I'd try giving it a good soaking in fresh water then dry it for a couple of days in the airing cupboard or on top of the hot water tank.
Click to expand...

that makes sense to me..... can you elaborate a little please? actually submerse it fully in a bucket of water? do you think this will also help remove the water marks on the front element or actually, risk putting more there? sorry for the dumb questions btw, there's one more;) should I swoosh it about in the bucket of water, run it under a tap or anything else to get the clean water oving around all the internal parts?
 
I'd use distilled water or de-ionised rather than plain tap
clean bowl and "swoosh" it around to get the water wherever the salt water went, excercise focus (and zoom?) under water

rinse and repeat

shake off as much external (and internal) as possible

dry thoroughly

but then, I'd have a go at stripping it down too!
 
mmcp42 said:
I'd use distilled water or de-ionised rather than plain tap
clean bowl and "swoosh" it around to get the water wherever the salt water went, excercise focus (and zoom?) under water

rinse and repeat

shake off as much external (and internal) as possible

dry thoroughly

but then, I'd have a go at stripping it down too!
Click to expand...

I was thinking the very same, use water with as few mineral deposits as powsible... I've got the water filter filtering ome tap water as I type or do you think that's still insufficient and I should get a bottle of distilled water.. god knows from where though (halfords?).. to be honest, I think I'll end up doing one of two things

1. use it for a good while until I get tired of the manual focus element and then sell it to fund a new, similar lens.. as a newbee, it may be a great way to force me to use every facit of the camera as opposed to falling back on auto and P modes when the going gets tough.

2 do the water treatment thing to stop the rot, use it for a while until I get tired of it and then take it apart.

after typing all that, I've just realised that my options pretty well remain the same as those I typed above, doh! just a little more structured I guess:)
 
battery top up is probably ok
just make sure it's just water and not acid!!!!!
 
mmcp42 said:
just water and not acid!!!!!
Click to expand...

:lol:

I've gone ahead and flushed it with filtered tap water for now until I get hold of some distilled water.. on the thinking that it has to be better than leaving the salt deposits there for a moment longer.. it's certainly got rid of the water mark on the first element so looks promising in that respect... many thanks to those who suggested this action, nice one:clap:
 
Yes, method as mmcp42 says, distilled or de-ionised, filtered might be ok too, can't do much harm now.

Ooops, too late. Well looks like it might be ok.
 
Chuckurbarla said:
Yes, method as mmcp42 says, distilled or de-ionised, filtered might be ok too, can't do much harm now.

Ooops, too late. Well looks like it might be ok.
Click to expand...


mmmm, maybe I was a bit premature:) the intial rinse with the filtered tap water resulted marks being left on the lens but to a lesser extent than before... I've just rinsed in some de-ionised water and the lens is now in the airing cupboard drying out again.

I've had a thought though.. how about rinsing in a mild solution of de-ionised water and something like dishwasher rinse aid?:eek: I guess tryng wouldn't harm and the write up for these products suggest it'll be harmless and beneficial e.g.

http://www.twenga.co.uk/offer/42951251.html

the only risk I can see is that glass going in to a dishwasher doesn't have the same characteristics as a coated lens so there may be some unexpected reaction nd I don't now if this stuff only works with hot water. On the flip side, if it works, it'd be of great benefit not only to myself but also members of this forum who have lenses with internal water marks

I realise this is a tough question as I doubt anyone has tried it to date... what do you think, could this work well? or have an adverse reaction?
 
dishwasher stuff is a bad idea
I believe some of them contain chemicals to "fill in the cracks" and give the illusion of cleaner glass
not what you'd want for your best L glass
 
mmcp42 said:
dishwasher stuff is a bad idea
I believe some of them contain chemicals to "fill in the cracks" and give the illusion of cleaner glass
not what you'd want for your best L glass
Click to expand...


nice one, glad I asked.:thumbs:. the solution to aid film drying in the second link looks promising
 
perhaps try it on a spare filter first - see how it really dries
 
blummin typical.. as with the days when I used to strip engines down as a lad, there's ALWAYS, a nut, bolt, screw that decides it's going to stay put! :bang:

Have decided to dismantle the lens after finding that water gets trapped between some of the closer knit elements towards the centre of the lens, which will no doubt leave residue etc.. the lens is opaque when you look through it after 2 and a bit days of dying out in the airing cupboard.

I've got as far as the last tiny screw pinning down the USM housing and it simply won't budge.. I'm contemplating drilling it out with a dremmel drill that I have and replacing it with a slightly larger screw that should cut itself a new thread... all it does is secure the USM housing so shoudn't be a problem.. have come on here to give myself a break and a re-think before taking such drastic action, would be far better to find a way to get the screw out without drilling for obvious reasons.

one thing's for sure.. salt water really does knock the metal components of a lens for six, there's white powder corrosion and rust in several places... will have a go at cleaning it up but I doubt the electronics will ever function properly again.

the goal is now to get at all the elements (should reach them once I have the USM out) to give them a clean and half heartedly give the corroded parts a clean.

it's been amazingly simple so far to dismantle the lens, I've taken photo's at each stage, marking the position of moving parts where needbe and have all the little screws and components stored in a compartmentalised box with each compartment labelled as to what's in it... nothing has ben broken (so far)

I'll put the photo's up on here if I successfully manage to get this b**dy screw out and complete the dismantling / cleaning process.:lol:
 
not a left handed thread I suppose?

tiny drop of WD40 leave for couple of hours?

oh - and looking forward to the write-up!
 
just had a thought
look on flea-bay for a similar lens - maybe with broken glass - to cannibalise the electonics?
 
Are you sure it's a screw? Some of these crafty bu**ers use a screw headed rivet sometimes. Does the head look exactly the same as the others? In watchmaking a left hand threaded screw has a different head to signify it.
 
great advice as always.... took the plunge as you were writing them and hack sawed a straight cut in the cross head screw (it's exactly the same as the other three I'd previously removed)... had the hoover going as I was doing it to minimise the metal dust getting in to the lens and successfully managed to remove the screw with a small flat head screw driver... yipee!!

this has now enabled me to remove the whole of the zoom shroud.. 3 more screws and out came the zoom barrel from the first element casing... I've now got access to all the elements so job done from a pure dismantling perspective.. I might dig in to the USM motor a little more as there's another smaller cct board within the body of the thing... it looks fairly complex so I'm going to resist the urge for now.

I've laid the main components out and will take a picture to show you how few their really are... quite an eye opener really.

thanks for the great idea about watching out for a similar IS USM lens cct board that's broken through something other than water/electric damage.. could well do the trick I'll certainly watch out for it... for now though, I've ordered a trusty fibreglass eraser pen to clean up the micro chip contacts (can work wonders).

will post the picture up of the lens components in the next 10 mins or so.

thanks again, Gary
 
Here's a shot of the major components of the lens... the photo's rubbish to be honest... I'll do a write up on the procedure to dismantle (and hopefully put back together!) with better shots..

surprising just how few major components there are

component layout.JPG
 
a shot of what seems to be the zoom barrel that I might need to take apart.. it contains 2 elements and the circuitry that drives the USM motor (at least I think it does).. I've seen another write up of a different lens that includes this component so I'll refer to that first I think.

zoom barrel.JPG
 
again, not the most detailed of shots (I'l get a macro shot later)... here's part of the main board with salt water damage.. I've used a watch makers eyepiece to have a good look and it's proper knackered by the look of it... I bet NAND gates'll be thinking they're NOR's causing all sorts of weird symptoms... I'm hoping that cleaning the chip legs might sorts things but as above, I'm not hopeful

cct boad damage.JPG
 
you may find that the electric bits are ok
I once fixed a PC motherboard that had coffee spilt in it (*&%(£^%(^&% users) just by cleaning off all the crut then rinsing and drying thoroughly
the crut (technical term) shorts out bits of circuit, so you have to remove it
the hard bits are between the legs and under the components
surface mounts are ok - there is no underneath!
 
mmcp42 said:
you may find that the electric bits are ok
I once fixed a PC motherboard that had coffee spilt in it (*&%(£^%(^&% users) just by cleaning off all the crut then rinsing and drying thoroughly
the crut (technical term) shorts out bits of circuit, so you have to remove it
the hard bits are between the legs and under the components
surface mounts are ok - there is no underneath!
Click to expand...

that's what the glass fibre pen's for mate... if you've not seen one, here's an example

http://www.crawfordsmd.co.uk/accessory_details.asp?ProductID=141&CategoryID=37

the bristles get right between the chip legs.

I may also get hold of some PCB cleaning fluid that disolves excess flux etc but it's a bit of overkill for what I need.. I think the main problems are around the chip legs and the strip connectors (the pins are fouled up too)... I'll do whatever's necessary to give it a thorough clean and then put it all back together with crossed fingers;)
 
AndyBorzi said:
I can't add anything but this is one heck of an interesting thread... :) I really hope you get the electronics working!
Click to expand...

thanks Andy:thumbs: if I don't get the thing working I'll make sure I post as much up here as possible for the benefit of the forum members, cant be many L series lenses that get dismantled so I guess it's worthwhile recording what I learn for future reference.
 
:thumbs: yup looking good
if they gave prizes for effort you'd have a new lens in no time!
keep the posts coming - I'm fascinated by the thread and your progress reports

would make a good mag article in due course - especially if (when) it works
 
Chuckurbarla said:
use a screwdriver that fits or the heads of the screws will get chewed up.

All the best with it.

Chris
Click to expand...

took a trip out to the local model shop on this advice and glad I did! the screws that secure the USM housing are secured in place with some form of epoxy resin to ensure they don't vibrate loose.. the one I had trouble with must have had a double dose of resin:'( if I hadn't got hold of a set of watch repair screwdriver today of the right size (there's some tiny screws in the lens), I'm guessing I'd have more than one screw to hacksaw before now.. nice one Chris:thumbs:
 
Ah the joys of thread lock, there is always one screw that doesn't want to come out.:shake:

Hope you get it working after all this effort, and it's definately a learning experience for everyone, very interesting. :)
 
mmcp42 said:
:thumbs: yup looking good
if they gave prizes for effort you'd have a new lens in no time!
keep the posts coming - I'm fascinated by the thread and your progress reports

would make a good mag article in due course - especially if (when) it works
Click to expand...

I'll keep them coming mate;).... I'm not so sure of the outcome though, I still think I'm on a hiding to nothing:'(... I'm also not so sure that Canon and their certified repair outlets would welcome a mag article that basically states an amateur can take apart and re-assemble one of their top range lenses
 
went to Maplins and got a glass fibre cleaning pen, a PCB cleaning aerosol ad some silicon grease for the moving parts when I come to re-assemble the thing.. the pen and aerosol has done a great job, the main board now looks as good as new from the naked eye and OK through the watchmakers eyepiece, no contacts are shorted anymore that's for sure... I've also cleaned up all the contacts that are visble on the other major items such as the strip contacts, AF & IS switch etc...

I still have two hurdles to get over before I can re-assemble the lens and test it... the elements encased in the zoom barrel and the double element assembly that slots in to the end of it are still misted up through condensation... the zoom assembly, as mentioned before, looks quite complex to dismantle and the double element thing is put together through compression (elements are pushed in to place) so I'm a little reluctant to have a go at them just yet... they're in the airing cupboard now and hopefully, they'll have cleared by the morning. knowing me though, I'll probably have a bit of a tinker with the barrel tonight as it contains the other cct board and I'm pretty sure it'll need a clean too.

whatever happens, I'm hopeful that I'll be in a position to put the lot back together again towards the back end of tomorrow
 
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