Canon EF-S 17-55mm IS Problem

stirlsilver

Hi All,
I was hoping someone would be able to share some light on something I have been noticing with my Canon EF-S lens. I'm half way through a trip in Argentina and a few days ago I was setting up a shot and suddenly the image stabilizer started jerking side to side and up and down. Last time it happened I wasn't moving, simply standing still.

It doesn't happen all the time, but the fact that it does happen is a worry. I won't be able to take it in to a service centre until I get back to Australia, so until then does anyone have any light they can shed on this?

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Any help would be greatly appreciated, it is an expensive lens and I haven't had it long!

Stirling

ziggy53

stirlsilver wrote:

Hi All,
I was hoping someone would be able to share some light on something I have been noticing with my Canon EF-S lens. I'm half way through a trip in Argentina and a few days ago I was setting up a shot and suddenly the image stabilizer started jerking side to side and up and down. Last time it happened I wasn't moving, simply standing still.

It doesn't happen all the time, but the fact that it does happen is a worry. I won't be able to take it in to a service centre until I get back to Australia, so until then does anyone have any light they can shed on this?

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Any help would be greatly appreciated, it is an expensive lens and I haven't had it long!

Stirling

I've heard of several instances caused by different things. Unfortunately, the most likely cause is a true failure and requires Canon service to replace the gyro section of the lens.

If it were my lens on a trip like yours I would turn off the stabilizer until returning from the trip. That would be my recommendation for now; turn off the stabilizer until you can get the lens serviced.

A very unlikely cause is dirty contacts between the lens and body so you might try cleaning the contacts on both body and lens..

stirlsilver

ziggy53 wrote:

I've heard of several instances caused by different things. Unfortunately, the most likely cause is a true failure and requires Canon service to replace the gyro section of the lens.

If it were my lens on a trip like yours I would turn off the stabilizer until returning from the trip. That would be my recommendation for now; turn off the stabilizer until you can get the lens serviced.

A very unlikely cause is dirty contacts between the lens and body so you might try cleaning the contacts on both body and lens..

Thanks for the reply ziggy, I did suspect the contacts initialy, and I tried turning the lens in the mount a few times to see if that would fix it but it hasn't so it must be a true fault like you say.

I'll try avoiding using the stabilizer when I can and hopefully it will hold up until I get back in a week and a half.

Stirling

Blurmore

I've killed 2 IS units in this particular lens...and in my experience these are early death throes. It will become more and more frequent, until it just vibrates and buzzes and makes you turn it off. My suggestion is that if it is still doing it intermittently just live with it...or use it sparingly, its on the road to death and it won't fix itself, so you might as well get use out of it when you need it.

Scott_Quier

I've read a number of posts (here and elsewhere) of people experiencing problems with the IS in this lens (which I have and love). Knock wood, I've not yet experienced this problem but others have.

Blurmore has the right idea. Turn it off, use only when you really need it to extend it's life on this trip. Then, when you get back home, send it in to Canon for some work.

picturegirl

Mine has already been to Canon service to be repaired for IS issues, the second time was a complete fix on the IS.