New here, big problem

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Hi everyone. I ordered a Canon EF300mm f/4L IS USM from the store. It arrived last night and the annoying UPS guy never rang the bell so the box spent the night outside in 20 degree cold. I opened it this morning and it had some fogging on the glass but it went away after a short time. I put the lens on my 30D and shot some pictures. I became aware of a noise, a quiet whirring noise that begins when I depress the shutter for the auto focus and continues even after the shot has been taken and the shutter is released. i called canon and they said that it seems like a problem. Now I must return the lens. But it took perfect pictures and I hate having to return it, especially this time of the year. Does anyone have this lens or a similar one and do they know what I am talking about? Thanks!

Digital Matt · Dec 6, 2006

Whenever you take a lens out into cold weather, and you plan to bring it in, you have to be careful because the heat of the warm house will cause moisture to condense on the lens, and ultimately inside of it as well. It's important to keep the lens in something airtight until it reaches room temperature, which can actually take several hours. Cold steel and glass don't warm up very quickly. The fogging you saw was indeed this moisture condensation. I seriously doubt it was enough to damage the moving parts of the lens, unless the electronics in the IS or USM were wet when you started using it.

Your only option is to send it back and hope for the best. In the future, keep a big plastic bag handy, and cover the lens with this bag and tie it off, before bringing it in the house on cold days.

Orgnoi1 · Dec 6, 2006

Hannah said:
Hi everyone. I ordered a Canon EF300mm f/4L IS USM from the store. It arrived last night and the annoying UPS guy never rang the bell so the box spent the night outside in 20 degree cold. I opened it this morning and it had some fogging on the glass but it went away after a short time. I put the lens on my 30D and shot some pictures. I became aware of a noise, a quiet whirring noise that begins when I depress the shutter for the auto focus and continues even after the shot has been taken and the shutter is released. i called canon and they said that it seems like a problem. Now I must return the lens. But it took perfect pictures and I hate having to return it, especially this time of the year. Does anyone have this lens or a similar one and do they know what I am talking about? Thanks!

ok... first things first... on the side of the lens there is a switch for the IS... turn it off and attempt a shot again... if its still doing it with the IS off you have a problem... but what it sounds like to me... is that you are hearing the IS motor running... the reason that the "whirring noise" doesnt stop as soon as you shoot is that it gives the camera time for mirror movement and processing so that you dont screw up a longer exposure which is what the IS is for...

Big Mike · Dec 6, 2006

I don't have a lot of experience with IS lenses...but it sounds like your IS system may be making the noise. I don't think that is normal...so I would send it back. Maybe you can wait till after the holidays before you send it.

Orgnoi1 · Dec 6, 2006

In the larger lenses it is normal to hear some IS noise... no so in the smaller lenses though... my 500L makes a bit of noise if you arent used to it...

Big Mike · Dec 6, 2006

Good to know :thumbsup:

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Digital Matt said:
Your only option is to send it back and hope for the best. In the future, keep a big plastic bag handy, and cover the lens with this bag and tie it off, before bringing it in the house on cold days.

Do you meen a zip-loc type bag? How do you know when it has reached room temperature?

fmw · Dec 6, 2006

If the lens spent the night in the cold, it will take the about the same amount of time to thaw. The freezing shouldn't hurt a thing. You should see what I've done to some of my lenses. Don't panic. Check out the IS and give it another day. I'll bet all will be just fine.

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Orgnoi1 said:
ok... first things first... on the side of the lens there is a switch for the IS... turn it off and attempt a shot again... if its still doing it with the IS off you have a problem... but what it sounds like to me... is that you are hearing the IS motor running... the reason that the "whirring noise" doesnt stop as soon as you shoot is that it gives the camera time for mirror movement and processing so that you dont screw up a longer exposure which is what the IS is for...

I shut the IS off and there was no noise. I questioned TWO Canon techs at the service number and they both said the noise was not normal. I asked each of them whether it was the IS and they said the IS is silent and that I probably heard the motor for the focus and I should only hear it until the lens focuses and the fact that I heard it continue after the shutter was released is troublesome.

bla · Dec 6, 2006

Do you meen a zip-loc type bag? How do you know when it has reached room temperature?

Very cold air generally tends to be very dry, since cold air has problems holding any moisture and humidity. Not so for warm air, which tends to have very high humidity. As such, when warm air contacts a cold surface, it deposits any humidity it has onto the cold surface. An example is your windows fogging up in winter whenever you turn up the heat in the kitchen.

Say you have a camera and lens outside in the cold. As soon as you bring the camera inside, the warm air contacts the cold camera and lens and any moisture would quickly condense on your equipment. If the warm air finds its way into the camera and the lens, then water can condense inside the equipment, and that could lead to a problem.

The trick is to make sure that no high-humidity warm air contacts the camera and lens. To do this, as Digital Matt pointed out, take an air-tight plastic bag (a large zip-lock should do fine) and put your equipment in it while you're still outside in the cold air. Seal the bag, bring the bag inside, and wait until the bag and its contents have warmed up to the ambient temperature. Since the air inside the bag was from outside, it had no humidity to begin with, and nothing will condense on your camera as it warms. After everything has warmed up, you can safely take out your equipment, and now, since everything is warm, no condensation will occur.

Note that this may take several hours, and you could squeeze out as much air as possible when sealing the bag to speed up the process.

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Orgnoi1 said:
In the larger lenses it is normal to hear some IS noise... no so in the smaller lenses though... my 500L makes a bit of noise if you arent used to it...

But do you hear it even after releasing the shutter? For about 3 seconds?

Orgnoi1 · Dec 6, 2006

Hannah said:
I shut the IS off and there was no noise. I questioned TWO Canon techs at the service number and they both said the noise was not normal. I asked each of them whether it was the IS and they said the IS is silent and that I probably heard the motor for the focus and I should only hear it until the lens focuses and the fact that I heard it continue after the shutter was released is troublesome.

And just think... then I should send ALL my IS lenses back... because they all do the same thing :lmao:

Your lens sounds fine... I wouldnt worry... :thumbup:

Orgnoi1 · Dec 6, 2006

Hannah said:
But do you hear it even after releasing the shutter? For about 3 seconds?

Yup... if I remember right for the short time I had one of the 300/4L IS lenses it did the same thing... if you time it, it should realistically be closer to about a second and a half... which would be how all my lenses (sans the 28-135IS) are...

Hope that helps you out!!

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Thanks for the bag advice!

Hannah · Dec 6, 2006

Orgnoi1 said:
Yup... if I remember right for the short time I had one of the 300/4L IS lenses it did the same thing... if you time it, it should realistically be closer to about a second and a half... which would be how all my lenses (sans the 28-135IS) are...

Hope that helps you out!!

Wow! Why did the Canon people tell me it's defective? They even insisted I bring it back because it would be very expensive to repair and as long as I have that window of 7 days, I should do it.