C100: Canon 70-200 f2.8 Owners: Mine got STUCK in halfway rotation on C100. Beware!

[nedcam]

If you’re a busy EOS line shooter here is my cautionary tale for you. The C100 has the same lens mount as the rest of the line. I was on the road in my hotel room at 11PM, getting the camera ready for a 7AM call and the lens got stuck halfway through it’s rotation. Bricked the camera. Fortunately the local grip I hired was able to privately rent a Sony FS5 at midnight, but this cost me $350. The camera and lens were bought new 18 months ago.

Upon my return Canon service was excellent and fixed it for free but here is what happened and you need to look out for:

ONE OF THE FOUR SCREWS ON THE END OF THE LENS BACKED OUT SLIGHTLY. It was imperceptible to my eye and a crew member who inspected it earlier in the day when it first gave me a little trouble. What happened was the head of a lens screw got seated in the well of the screw head on the camera, so it was solidly stuck and all my tricks and strength could not rotate it back to the red dot. Canon Repair had to take off the entire circular part on the front of the camera to free the lens, destroying it in the process so they replaced the front ring.

CANON REPAIR PUT LOCTITE ON THE SCREWS AND I SUGGEST YOU DO TOO if one of your screws starts to back out. They had never seen this issue before because the screws are self tapping and can’t understand why one of mine backed out.

Also, don’t rag on me for not bringing a second camera as I often do. This was a shoot in Detroit and I consider myself lucky to get out of there alive. I’ve been robbed before so I travelled very lite.

 

[cpreston]

This would be a problem on any camera and on any lens. I'm almost positive that the 70-200 is not self tapping on the mount. The four mount screws attach into a metal bracket. Some of the newer lenses made out of the engineering plastic, specifically the 16-35 f/2.8 II from my experience screwing up a lens mount, have screws that embed into the plastic mount and might possibly be self tapping. I know this because I over tightened some screws on the mount of a 16-35 II and watched them start to turn freely and shed plastic filings.

 

[nedcam]

The man at the counter of Canon Repair said they are self tapping, so I believe him. It's in their interest to make sure those screws don't back out, right?

When I discovered this problem I was very upset and started to do research. If one Googles Lens Stuck On Canon Camera there seems to be a lot of people, especially DSLR users, that had this issue. I spoke with a former Canon salesman who now works at one of the largest video sales company that we all know and he said the term for someone like me is: over use. Meaning, say I work an average of 2-3 days a week, and on a typical day I do a dozen plus lens changes, often fast. I am not the guy the engineers designed for. I'm an abuser. Over Use.