Tamron returned faulty lens after repair

Dan Leach

Dan Leach

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I've just got back from a nightmare journey fighting the Preston traffic to collect my Tamron AF 70-300mm lens which i had put in for repair. The problem was, anywhere between about 200 and 300mm the lens would just return an error99 and i would have to switch the camera off and on again. I got a letter this morning that said the lens was ready for pickup but it wasn't fixed because 'no problem was found'.
I got the lens back home and its still as bad as it was, it wont take a picture at all between 200 and 300.
I really dont know what to do, if i take it back to Jessops they will simply send it to Tamron who will presumably just slap it on a camera, run off a few pics, think 'oh thats fin' and send it back again

Anyone else come up against something like this?
 
Know anyone else local with a Canon camera you can try it with? just to eliminate some conflict with your particular camera. Is your camera on the latest firmware?
 
RobertP said:
Know anyone else local with a Canon camera you can try it with? just to eliminate some conflict with your particular camera. Is your camera on the latest firmware?
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Its not, but the lens works perfectly everytime at low focal length (70-200) and has been working perfectly for 9 months or so, and all my other lenses work fine (including a 90mm Tamron).
I dont know anyone else with a canon, so wont have a chance to try it out :(
 
A shot in the dark here......

Error 99 is posted when the camera detects a problem that doesn't have a specific error code assigned. The various codes used by Canon for "common" problems start at 1.

One possibility is that the aperture vanes are sticking and the camera is sensing that it can't get the correct setting. Its possible that in TV mode the camera is trying to open up the aperature and the lens is slow or not responding at all.

A couple of tests.....
Does the problem exist in AV mode?...try some test shots.
Try flicking the DOF button a dozen or so times before shooting and then take the shot....this would be my #1 guess.

Bob
 
Hmm well i think ive found it.
It seems to be a communication between camera grip and camera problem, but only on long focal lengths.
I took off the battery grip, tried the lens and it worked perfectly, put the grip back on...and it worked perfectly... for a while. Then i got an error a few times, took the grip off and on and its been working ok since.
I suppose one of the 12 contacts between the grip and the camera is for long focal lengths and one for short and its the long one that is causing the problem. Thats the only way i think this error can be happening, because when it goes wrong it works perfectly at short foacl lengths, and not at all at long ones....

...hhhmmmmmmm...
 
chrisiow said:
Are the batteries fully charged?
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When i was getting the error constantly, before i sent the lens to the shop, i got the error with full, empty and medium battery, so im not sure its that, i think it must be one of the 12 contacts that run between the camera and the grip..
....hmmm...
 
It might be worth cleaning the contacts on the grip, if the lens uses more power when focussing at the longer length a bit of dirt could cause a slight voltage drop which could cause the error message.
 
chrisiow said:
It might be worth cleaning the contacts on the grip, if the lens uses more power when focussing at the longer length a bit of dirt could cause a slight voltage drop which could cause the error message.
Click to expand...

Yeah i'll do that and hope it works.
It is a bit worrying because the grip is rather new, ive only installed it once (so not given it much chance to dirty up)and before i got the grip the contacts in question on the camera side had never been used.
Oh well, heres hoping it works :)
 
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