Canon recall - EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

Owenw

Peeps,

I have been lurking around here recently enjoying the banter, gear-talk and, above all, the excellent images.

I just found out yesterday that Canon is doing a recall of certain EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lenses. If any of you have one of the affected models you can call Canon and arrange to have it checked out.

Affected models have a "0" or "1" as the 3rd digit in the 8-digit serial number:
xx0xxxx or xx1xxxx

Details
Click Cameras and from the dropdown list choose EF lenses > IS

Page with list of IS lenses opens.
Choose 70-300mm IS USM.
Another page opens with a popup announcement.
The announcement details the fault and range serial numbers affected.

The Canon Helpdesk rep will give you the number for Canon Service Ireland: 01-2052400.
Ask for camera & lens support and you will be redirected to Canon Camera Repairs.
They will ask you a few questions and get you to send in your lens to this address:


Canon Camera Repairs
Arena Road,
Sandyford Industrial Estate,
Dublin 18

One more thing, I was told it could take up to 3 weeks(!) to turn around my lens.

I saw a few mentions of this recall on the Fred Miranda review page for this lens, so it appears to affect lenses sold worldwide, not just in Ireland or Europe.

440Hz

I have been following this for a while as I am trying to buy this lens. No shop online or high street has this lens for the past 2 months or so and Canon say shops will not be re-stocked until mid to late September. Only the specified serial numbers are being recalled yet Canon will not release the other lens until Sept, its so frustrating. Ah well, better to wait than get dodgy glass I suppose

Owenw

That is a pain alright, 440hz.

I only got mine in March after humming and hawing for ages.
Almost went for the 70-200 f/4L, which is about the same money, but wanted the extra 100mm.

I'm no expert on lens quality, but for the most part it seems to be good and gets a lot of use.

There are a few annoying things you probably already know about this lens:

- the barrel creep. You can lock it at 70mm, which i do between shots, but this soon becomes tiresome if you're using it for several hours.

- IS motors make a grinding noise when you're focussing.

- the lens hood was €30 extra.

- when it loses focus in AF mode, it's quite slow to refocus compared to other USM lenses. No bad thing to learn how to use MF I guess

adrian522

I have the non IS version of this and found it to be quite good for the price. If I was more into telephoto I'd get a better one, but I'm not. I dont get that much use out of it so thinking of selling it for a 28-135 Canon.

dragon1016

It is February 2011 and I just sent out my lens today that I purchased on eBay just last week, it has this issue. (Blurry focus in vertical position)
First thing, I registered my lens on the Canon web page and then called the service center with my problem.
They said they will pay for shipping and repair for this issue.
I was not asked if I purchased the lens new or used and I was not going to offer that info. Received a free UPS label by e-mail and was informed they will fix within 7 days and 2 day ship back to me. That is awesome ! I love the IQ of the lens while shooting it in the horizontal position. Canon stands behind there stuff !

Owenw

Forgot all about this thread! Sounds like a good result dragon. I did get my lens repaired in 2006. Took 3 weeks or so because it had to be sent to Canon UK. It was definitely sharper when it came back. IIRC The repair was valued at £300 stg so it's good to see them still honouring the recall.

dragon1016

Well I had to pay for labor (only, not parts) after all.
They replaced the entire AF system and also the inner lens housing and extension tube.
They cleaned and calibrated the lens and completely fixed the lens creep as well. (No need to even use the lock anymore to hold the extension inside the lens.
I feel that $90 US is a great price for them replacing basically all the moving parts in the lens with new ones!
Bottom line is the lens takes awesome shots now at 300mm length with my camera in the vertical position now. This lens works great on my new 60D !

CanonLoyalist

Dragon,

I just sent my lens in for the same failure. Did yours performed better after coming back from Canon's repair center? And how long did it take for you to get it back?

Thanks,

dragon1016

CL
If you read the thread, both answers are already provided.

Good luck,