topic Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Lenses falling off Canon 6D

borderjack — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 17:45:29 GMT

I was in Chicago last fall at a nephew's wedding. I was shooting some pictures of the wedding dance when I was bumped by another guest. Next thing you know my 24-70 lens was bouncing off the floor. I know the lens was locked in as it was functioning perfectly at the time (it just auto-focused an image and was re-focusing for another when I got bumped) My hand was nowhere near the lens release button and I cannot figure out how this may have happened. Also, if it was not locked in place, my lenses do not autofocus.

I had it repaired the lens and am using it again. I had put this out of my mind until a long-time friend an professional photographer of 40 years+ called and asked about the accident I had with the lens falling off. He had thought I was crazy when I told him the story originally. He then proceeded to tell me he just had the same thing happen with his 6D and a 100mm Macro lens.

He was shooting some high school team photos when his lens came off the camera.

I am wondering how many other 6D owners have had this happen. Is there a lock issue?

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

kvbarkley — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 18:19:18 GMT

Usually it is a 5DMIII:

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/Accidental-Lens-Release/m-p/17139#U17139

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

diverhank — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 18:43:42 GMT

I too like your friend used to think it was crazy or the user had done something wrong to have a lens fell off until it also happened to me. In my case I was lucky enough I caught it in mid-air by pinning it against my arm and my body.

What happened in my case was that I was walking around in rough terrain with considerable bouncing motion and my finger had brushed by the release button (without me knowing it) and the lens became unlocked but it did not fall out yet. After a while, because of the bouncing motion, the lens came off. Part of my workflow now is to occasionally twist the lens to see if it's locked.

I think it's a semi-design issue...the lens release works great normally but can come loose in some situations. Not sure what the fix can be though...

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

TTMartin — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 18:58:59 GMT

@borderjack wrote:
I was in Chicago last fall at a nephew's wedding. I was shooting some pictures of the wedding dance when I was bumped by another guest. Next thing you know my 24-70 lens was bouncing off the floor. I know the lens was locked in as it was functioning perfectly at the time (it just auto-focused an image and was re-focusing for another when I got bumped) My hand was nowhere near the lens release button and I cannot figure out how this may have happened. Also, if it was not locked in place, my lenses do not autofocus.
I had it repaired the lens and am using it again. I had put this out of my mind until a long-time friend an professional photographer of 40 years+ called and asked about the accident I had with the lens falling off. He had thought I was crazy when I told him the story originally. He then proceeded to tell me he just had the same thing happen with his 6D and a 100mm Macro lens.
He was shooting some high school team photos when his lens came off the camera.
I am wondering how many other 6D owners have had this happen. Is there a lock issue?

Let me guess you use a Black Rapid Strap? If so that seems to be the common thing with people complaining about lenses detachng from their cameera.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

Waddizzle — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 22:06:21 GMT

I don't understand how this could happen with a properly functioning lens mount. In order to release a lens, a "double action" is required, one which should require two hands. You must hold the button depressed, while turning the lens.

You can fully press the lens release button, and then release the button. The lens stays locked in place. So, just merely pressing the button should be insufficient to release the lens. That's not how it works.

Has it ever happened to me? I would have to say, "Yes."

Both times, I realized that I was at fault. The first time was a day or two after I bought my first Canon DSLR. I was lounging in the Lay-Z-Boy, experimenting with holding the camera and turning the zoom ring, when the lens dropped into my lap.

The second time it happened was when I had a super telephoto mounted on a tripod, when I wanted to rotate the camera to portrait position. Apparently, when I loosened the collar, I must have left it a bit too tight. When I grabbed the camera with both hands, like a steering wheel, and turned the camera body, it came right off the lens. One of my left fingers must have been pressing the button when I rotated the camera body.

The release requires what engineers call a "double action", which makes it difficult to have an accident. You almost have to do it on purpose, or just not pay attention.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

diverhank — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 22:37:29 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
I don't understand how this could happen with a properly functioning lens mount. In order to release a lens, a "double action" is required, one which should require two hands. You must hold the button depressed, while turning the lens.

You can fully press the lens release button, and then release the button. The lens stays locked in place. So, just merely pressing the button should be insufficient to release the lens. That's not how it works.

Has it ever happened to me? I would have to say, "Yes."

Both times, I realized that I was at fault. The first time was a day or two after I bought my first Canon DSLR. I was lounging in the Lay-Z-Boy, experimenting with holding the camera and turning the zoom ring, when the lens dropped into my lap.

The second time it happened was when I had a super telephoto mounted on a tripod, when I wanted to rotate the camera to portrait position. Apparently, when I loosened the collar, I must have left it a bit too tight. When I grabbed the camera with both hands, like a steering wheel, and turned the camera body, it came right off the lens. One of my left fingers must have been pressing the button when I rotated the camera body.

The release requires what engineers call a "double action", which makes it difficult to have an accident. You almost have to do it on purpose, or just not pay attention.

Nobody said it wasn't their fault - at least partly. The fact that it could happen at all points to the fact that the design is not robust enough to be foolproof. Even in your experience that you described, it didn't take much for the stupid lens to fall out. In my case the bouncing motion was enough to turn the lens to the fall out position. Believe, it was not hard to reproduce it.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

Waddizzle — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 23:05:48 GMT

@diverhank

Maybe so, But. It should still require a "double action". My advice is for people to test their release buttons. If merely pressing and releasing the button unlocks your lenses, then your lens mount needs to be repaired.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

TCampbell — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 23:20:37 GMT

The lens lock is designed to make this unlikely... but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

On the camera body (I don't have a 6D, so this photo of my 5D III will have to suffice... all Canon EOS cameras use the same mechanism) you'll notice a small pin on the lens mounting flange (front of camera body) which is adjacent to the lens release button.

If you press the release button with no lens attached, you'll see the pin retracts and this allows rotation of the lens.

Meanwhile on on the lens (this is my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM original... not the "II") you'll see there is a small hole milled into the mounting ring.

When the pin "clicks" into that hole, the lens cannot be rotated without pressing the release button to retract the pin.

But pressing the release button alone isn't enough to make the lens come off. The lens must also be rotated counter-clockwise about 60º.

I have had this happen to me only once in all my years of shooting... but I caught the issue before the lens came off the camera.

It turns out that it's possible to hit the button and rotate the lens just enough so that the locking pin is no longer aligned with the locking hole -- it's resting on the edge of the locking hole. The electronic contacts that allow camera & body to communicate are still touching because the contacts are large enough. This gives you the illusion that your lens is attached because the camera can control it.

Generally you will make some adjustment to either a zoom ring or to the focus ring... and that rotates the lens the rest of the way.

In my own incident, I retraced my actions and I realized that I had allowed myself to develop a bad habit -- not of how I was holding the lens -- but rather of how I was retrieving it from my camera bag. My most-used lens is a 70-200 and it lives on my camera body. My camera bag is configured so that it fits in the bag with the lens still attached. But the easiest way to retreive the camera is to grasp the lens with my left hand and lift it out of the bag... then put my right hand on the camera body. When doing this, the knuckle on my left thumb was pressing up against the lens-release. While I wasn't deliberately attempting to release the lens, the weight of the camera body (and the fact that my right hand wasn't holding it) allowed just enough rotation to prevent the locking pin from re-engaging.

Consequently, I developed a better method of pulling the camera from the bag and giving the lens a gentle twist when I retrieve my camera to make sure the pin actually is still locked.

I've never had a recurrence.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

Waddizzle — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 00:59:27 GMT

"But pressing the release button alone isn't enough to make the lens come off. The lens must also be rotated counter-clockwise about 60º. "

Exactly. Releasing a lens from a properly functioning lens mount requires a "double action" to release it.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

diverhank — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 01:12:01 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
"But pressing the release button alone isn't enough to make the lens come off. The lens must also be rotated counter-clockwise about 60º. "

Exactly. Releasing a lens from a properly functioning lens mount requires a "double action" to release it.

In my case the double action was: 1. accidentally touched the release button and 2. the bouncing rotated the lens. This was my 100-400L f/4.5-5.6 II and the tripod mount helped with the bouncing and gravity.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

Waddizzle — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 01:23:44 GMT

@diverhank wrote:
@Waddizzle wrote:
"But pressing the release button alone isn't enough to make the lens come off. The lens must also be rotated counter-clockwise about 60º. "

Exactly. Releasing a lens from a properly functioning lens mount requires a "double action" to release it.
In my case the double action was: 1. accidentally touched the release button and 2. the bouncing rotated the lens. This was my 100-400L f/4.5-5.6 II and the tripod mount helped with the bouncing and gravity.

Ow. Ow. Ouch. I hope that lens wasn't a total loss. Anything is possible, but "double action" means concurrent events, not sequential events.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

TTMartin — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 01:37:12 GMT

@diverhank wrote:
I too like your friend used to think it was crazy or the user had done something wrong to have a lens fell off until it also happened to me. In my case I was lucky enough I caught it in mid-air by pinning it against my arm and my body.

What happened in my case was that I was walking around in rough terrain with considerable bouncing motion and my finger had brushed by the release button (without me knowing it) and the lens became unlocked but it did not fall out yet. After a while, because of the bouncing motion, the lens came off. Part of my workflow now is to occasionally twist the lens to see if it's locked.

I think it's a semi-design issue...the lens release works great normally but can come loose in some situations. Not sure what the fix can be though...

Was a Black Rapid Strap involved with your incident?

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

borderjack — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 05:26:54 GMT

Not using a Black Rapid strap. I was using a sling strap that is no longer sold in the USA and forget the name. The sling fastened to the bottom camera mount and is one of the best I have found. I just recently switched to the Spyder Holster and love it. In either case, nothing there to even come close to the lens release button.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

diverhank — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 06:15:59 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
Ow. Ow. Ouch. I hope that lens wasn't a total loss. Anything is possible, but "double action" means concurrent events, not sequential events.

Luckily I caught the lens before it hit the ground. I was extremely lucky so no damage there. I was simply feeling sheepish after that happened because I was one of the people who thought it could never happen to me.

@TTMartin, I wasn't wearing the Black Rapid strap...it was a Optech USA sling strap...I guess when having the camera dangling, it's doubly easy to get into this situation. But I heard of instant of it happening while people were holding their cameras also...

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

TTMartin — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 14:40:12 GMT

@diverhank wrote:
@Waddizzle wrote:
Ow. Ow. Ouch. I hope that lens wasn't a total loss. Anything is possible, but "double action" means concurrent events, not sequential events.
Luckily I caught the lens before it hit the ground. I was extremely lucky so no damage there. I was simply feeling sheepish after that happened because I was one of the people who thought it could never happen to me.

@TTMartin, I wasn't wearing the Black Rapid strap...it was a Optech USA sling strap...I guess when having the camera dangling, it's doubly easy to get into this situation. But I heard of instant of it happening while people were holding their cameras also...

All of the lens disconnection issues I've heard of have been with straps that attach to either the tripod mount of the camera or the tripod mount of the lens.

Where was your OpTech USA strap attached?

I have mine attached to the camera strap mounting point on the camera and battery grip.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

RobertTheFat — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 14:48:05 GMT

@borderjack wrote:
Not using a Black Rapid strap. I was using a sling strap that is no longer sold in the USA and forget the name. The sling fastened to the bottom camera mount and is one of the best I have found. I just recently switched to the Spyder Holster and love it. In either case, nothing there to even come close to the lens release button.

Have you had the lens come loose since you switched to the holster?

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

borderjack — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 06:26:47 GMT

Not so far. I am much more diligent in checking to see if the lens is locked. Not just when I first take it out of the bag or change lenses, but each time I bring it up to my eye. Love the holster, I have the dual setup and carry the %d on one side and the 6 on the other.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

borderjack — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 06:36:06 GMT

I looked at the strap today, It is a CarrySpeed. I love way the strap allowed me to get the camera up and ready, but didn't like the way the camera flopped around as it is with most straps especially when a long lens is attached.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

RobertTheFat — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 13:32:31 GMT

@borderjack wrote:
I looked at the strap today, It is a CarrySpeed. I love way the strap allowed me to get the camera up and ready, but didn't like the way the camera flopped around as it is with most straps especially when a long lens is attached.

Some have reported that the flopping around caused their cameras to unscrew themselves from the mount, which would be an absolute deal breaker for me.

Re: Lenses falling off Canon 6D

Waddizzle — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 13:53:34 GMT

@RobertTheFat wrote:
@borderjack wrote:
I looked at the strap today, It is a CarrySpeed. I love way the strap allowed me to get the camera up and ready, but didn't like the way the camera flopped around as it is with most straps especially when a long lens is attached.
Some have reported that the flopping around caused their cameras to unscrew themselves from the mount, which would be an absolute deal breaker for me.

Having a big and heavy, naked camera bouncing around on my hip bone seems rather uncomfortable to me, which is why I bought a holster. A holster is safer when I'm hiking. It is less conspicuous when walking city streets. It has become my "go to" bag whenever I leave the house. Camera in the holster. Lenses and a spare body in a messenger bag.