My Recent Lens Repair – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Plus a mini-review of Canon Professional Services (CPS) and some test photos of birds taken on the day I got my lens back from Canon’s California repair facility.

I’ve been having intermittent but increasingly frequent and severe focusing and sharpness issues with my Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens for several months so recently I sent it to Canon Factory Service for repair. I belong to Canon Professional Services (Gold level) whose benefits include expedited service (turnaround within 3 business days), a 20% discount on labor and parts and free return shipping.

Two days after FedEx tracking told me my lens had been delivered to Canon I still hadn’t heard anything from them about my lens (even that it had been received) so I called them. Turns out that they had no record of receiving it, “It isn’t in our system”. In other words my lens was lost.

I… was… not… happy! Right from the get-go this definitely wasn’t going well.

 

After speaking to multiple Canon folks in both Costa Mesa, CA and Virginia they finally found record of having received my lens, although for some unexplained reason it had sat in limbo for nearly two days so the repair hadn’t even begun. The only excuse they gave me was that because of the pandemic every item that comes into their repair facility has to be sanitized before it’s touched by their technicians and parts are often hard to obtain so they’re seriously backed up and overwhelmed. They were apologetic, seemingly to the point of embarrassment, about their mismanagement of my lens repair and promised that they would put a rush on my supposed “expedited service” and get my lens back to me as soon as possible.

Yesterday afternoon FedEx delivered my repaired lens to my door, five days after it had been received at their Costa Mesa repair facility. Screw-up on their part or not that seems to me like pretty quick service.

Later yesterday afternoon I took my lens down to a local pond to take some test shots of the Mallards that hang out down there and see if my camera was once again communicating reliably with my lens and giving me sharp photos. The midafternoon light was harsh but I wasn’t after prize-winning photos. I just wanted to test my lens.

 

So far, so good. As far as I could tell every Mallard shot I took at the pond that should have been sharp, was sharp.

And then I had a major surprise. While I had one of the Mallards in my viewfinder I heard a very loud splash in the water very close to me, much too loud to be made by the many frisky Mallards on the pond. Instantly I thought a large tree branch had fallen in the pond or perhaps some person I hadn’t seen might have thrown a large rock into the water.

I had to look away from my viewfinder to find the source of the loud splash.

 

 

It was a breeding adult American White Pelican still retaining the “horn” on its upper mandible that it will lose in June after the breeding season. In over a decade of visiting this small pond several times each week I’d never seen a pelican there, not a single time, so to say that I was surprised is a major understatement.

This photo was taken about five seconds after “he” had landed (making the splash I’d heard) and his bill is open as he threatens the nearby Mallards. The splash he made was unusually loud because it’s a small pond with trees surrounding it so his flight angle as he approached his landing on the water had to be unusually steep. A 16+ pound bird coming in at that angle isn’t going to make a quiet landing.

 

 

The pelican spent most of his time with his head underwater as he was fishing but I managed to get a few portraits with a good light angle. Damn it’s nice to get reliably sharp, detailed shots again, even when the photo has been significantly cropped. For this shot I didn’t have my active focus point on his eye but I’m still pleased with the overall sharpness.

 

 

Here’s part of the document Canon included with my lens when they sent it back that includes most of the information relevant to my repair. Internally recalibrating my lens and installing new electrical contacts and a new lens mount assembly (camera mounting ring) are apparently just what the doctor ordered.

The nearly $100 I saved on parts, labor and shipping essentially covered the $100 annual fee I have to pay to Canon to belong to CPS Gold Level on just this one repair. And the expedited service included with CPS Gold got my lens back to me fast, even with Canon’s two day faux pas.

 

 

Here’s my new gold electrical contacts and stainless steel? lens mount assembly. What a difference! My old contacts had deep grooves worn into them and were heavily scratched (from taking my teleconverter on and off so often for so many years) and my mounting ring was really beat up too. I’m surprised those old parts could make any electrical or reliable physical contact with my camera and/or teleconverter.

 

When I started writing this post it was the intention of this retired teacher to give Canon and CPS a letter grade for their repair service but in these unusual times that include dealing with the many effects of a pandemic I’m having a hard time coming up with a grade that would be fair and accurate to both Canon and to my readers. In normal times I’d probably be upset enough by them losing my lens to give them a C- at best.

But these aren’t normal times. I get the distinct impression that they’re trying and they’re trying hard. Under these conditions I’d still say their service was quick to very quick and as far as I can tell at this early point my lens is repaired. For me CPS is an excellent value and it’s my intention to never let it lapse again as long as I’m photographing birds.

Final grade for both Canon and CPS? An A-. It might have even been a full blown A if I hadn’t had to wait so long to get a real live person on the phone the first time I called them. They were much better about it after that first time.

At this point I’m not naïve enough to have 100% confidence that my lens is repaired and all of my focusing and sharpness issues are behind me. Past experience has taught me that it’ll take a week or two in the field to be sure of that. But so far I’m feeling pretty darn good about it.

Thank you Canon and CPS.

Ron

 

Note:

I know, there’s a lot of photo-geek in this post but there’s more to the story (isn’t there always?) When I sent my lens to Canon I also sent them one of my two 7D Mark II cameras that needed repair. One of the parts they needed had to be ordered and they didn’t receive that part until yesterday so my camera won’t be shipped back to me until today. Sh*t happens, especially during a pandemic.

The good news is that because of my 20% discount CPS will save me another $137 on the camera repair. I’ll also get free return shipping again. I’m becoming a dedicated CPS fan. If you’re curious about the benefits, costs and qualifications of the several levels of CPS here’s their link (you need to scroll down to get to the relevant info).