Canon 24-70mm f2.8 ii flex cable ribbon problem again

[llehmann]

I have a couple of these lenses and I do really love them. They are the work horse in my stable of glass.

That being said, this is the 3rd lens now that has failed with the ERR code communication problem. I have had this happen a couple times before so was able to trouble shoot the issue and know that its the flex cable ribbon that is bad inside the lens.

It will work perfectly as long as you shoot at 2.8 (the wide open aperture setting). As soon as you change it and the lens needs to change the aperture for a image, it fails. 

Now, this is the 3rd  time with 2 different lenses that I've had to send them in for this repair. It would seem to me that this is a defect in the lens and I should not hae to pay for it. Or... Canon needs to use better parts so this does not keep happing over and over again.

Yes I use the lenses a lot. And yes, they are out of the warranty period. That being said, they should step up and repair without quesion. The have to know that this is an issue with the lens. 

Anybody else experiencing the same issue with their Canon 24-70mm f2.8 ii?

[llehmann]

I get that feeling to especially with this particular thread I started a while back. 

I was trying to post my problem and get some help with it. I was made to feel like it was something I was doing, and I started to defend myself. 

Just sticking to the facts and not trying to make up any interesting details. I take care of my equipment, who doesn't, when it costs this much. I also use it a lot!

If there is something I shouldn't be doing with this lens... let me know. Sometimes I pan and shoot... zoom and shoot ... looking for light bleed and action. Is this lens susceptible to failure when it's being zoomed and the aperture is changing?

I've never dropped the lens. Or I should say lenses. Not that my assistant would tell me. haha

Anyway. Stay positive people. The problem is real for some of us. And paying $200 to $300 per repair isn't fun. I've started using my local shop to fix my gear. Paying $50 and it's done! Works a lot better for me.

Im not going to get into the quality control of Canon I've had over the years. I have sent gear in only to get it back with a new problem or not fixed. Im sure they are doing their best. Don't just jump on the band wagon shouting Canon Canon Canon for everything.  I don't see any Canon Customer Service reps reaching out to me to talk about it. Well, maybe some of you do work for Canon. I don't know.

That's all. 
One Love

BTW: When the problem does happen and I get the ERR01 code. Sometimes its obvious and will happen every time I take a picture with an aperture other than 2.8. Sometimes when the problem is intermittent... I can replicate it by zooming and taking a picture at the same time. Guessing that the flex cable connection is loose. Or the movement of the lens is causing it to disconnect.

[RobertTheFat]

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@JaimeT wrote:
Yes, it seems that in this forum instead of helping Canon users with problems, the "top contributors" try to deny the fact of the problems we have. What do they think? That we are making up the problems?????

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Of course not. But if something is happening to you every few months that's unlikely to happen even every few years, then common sense requires that you look carefully at what you may inadvertently be doing to cause it. Even if it turns out not to be your fault, identifying possible causes may help Canon find and fix the problem. I think it's fair to say that Canon does listen to what professional photographers tell them.

[ebiggs1]

" I've had good service and bad service from Canon."

All  can do is relate is my experience with Canon service and for me it has been excellent.  I wish all companies modeled themselve after Canon CS.

"You may think its improbable but its true..."

All  can do is relate is my experience with Canon 24-70mm f2.8L lenses.  I have had al of them.  I have even owned the  original 28-70mm f2.8L.  It would be hard for me to imagine you worked your lenses harder than I do or have in the past. None of them has ever broke the flex cable. Now does that mean it won't break for the next guy?  I don't know and you must realize it is hard to believe it has happened multiple times on the same individual lens. Used by the same individual.   At some point you have to start suspecting something else is at fault.

The guy that installed it?  The way you use it? It's a lemon?  I don't know but I will guess that replacing the flex cable again is not the answer until you find the cause.

"U serious?"

....as a heat attack!

[ebiggs1]

"But if something is happening to you every few months that's unlikely to happen even every few years, then common sense requires that you look carefully at what you may inadvertently be doing to cause it."

Bingo!

[llehmann]

Yes... the problem is coming up around every 6 months give or take. 

"Common Sense"... funny expression. 

I have looked at everything I do and talked about it here in this thread. Again, I usually get a lot of resistance from the contributors. Kinda like what you wrote and was followed up by ebiggs1. Putting the blame on me.  I do not want to argue and start getting off topic so don't take that the wrong way. Im looking for a solution to the problem and listing the facts and what I do and use the lens for. Maybe it IS my fault. If it is... what could a person do to make a ribbon cable fail over and over? I have talked about my use of the lens. So just play devils advocate for a minute and make up a scenario where you could "abuse" the lens to make that happen? Other than just dropping it and causing damage. Because that is not happening. I do use a Rapid Strap which wraps around my shoulder and the camera sits on my hip. I guess you could say the constant bumping against me when I walk is causing the damage? Is that possible? Sure. Likeliness... I dunno?

Let's talk about "common sense" again. Another way to look at it, common sense would say there is a design flaw with the lens? Or at least a weakness in its construction. Now why isn't this happening to everyone? Again, I do not know. But I do know I’m not the only one having this problem. 

Stay positive people... this is a forum by us for us right!

[llehmann]

Just a FYI... I have 2 of these lenses and it's happening on both of them.

And it's not just one individual here.

So tell me a scenario of what I am doing to cause this problem over and over.

I also use the 70-200 f2.8 USM II and 16-35 f2.8 for many years and they are rock solid. Both used in the same way and carried the same way.

So if it is the way I'm carrying it... Why does it only happen to this lens and not the others? If that's true... Then we go back to a design flaw in how it's constructed. Or at least that's what my "common sense" leads me to believe.

[RobertTheFat]

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@llehmann wrote:
Just a FYI... I have 2 of these lenses and it's happening on both of them.

And it's not just one individual here.

So tell me a scenario of what I am doing to cause this problem over and over.

I also use the 70-200 f2.8 USM II and 16-35 f2.8 for many years and they are rock solid. Both used in the same way and carried the same way.

So if it is the way I'm carrying it... Why does it only happen to this lens and not the others? If that's true... Then we go back to a design flaw in how it's constructed. Or at least that's what my "common sense" leads me to believe.

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I can't answer your question, but you may be onto something. Because it uses the tripod socket as its attachment point, a Black Rapid strap (the ones I've seen advertised anyway) hangs the camera at a decidedly different angle than an ordinary (e.g., Canon or Domke) strap does. Conceivably, that plus the constant bumping against your hip could gradually shake the cable into a more vulnerable position. You might ask Canon whether anyone has posed that possibility before.

As for why it doesn't happen to your other lenses, the routing of their cables presumably doesn't leave them vulnerable, whatever the underlying cause is or how the lenses are carried.

I'm sorry if I confused or offended you by using the term "common sense". The phrase has been in pretty general use for most of my life. But since that goes back almost 83 years, maybe it has fallen out of favor and I didn't notice.

[ebiggs1]

"Stay positive people... this is a forum by us for us right!"

All my answers are aimed at help. None are meant to be taken as being rude,  The nature of an emotionless forum with simple b&w text may seem so sometimes.  Not intentional, I assure you.

"...what could a person do to make a ribbon cable fail over and over?"

Obviously we do not know.  My experience is no problems and I have had each and every version of this lens.  You are unlikely to work your lenses harder than I do or did. I also use a Black Rapid strap. If it happens to you every 6 months and you are having Canon fix them you should have warranty. Right?  Canon wil know why the flex cable is breaking at least after several repairs done on the same lens for several years in a row, they will know. Make sense?  You can see where the, "what is common sense" is in this issue?

The 24-70mm f2.8L just might be the best selling and most used Canon lens by pros. I guarantee you if a full time, making money, pro is having to do a repair every six months, they would stop using them. I would have!

Do flex cables break or come off their connections? I don't know first hand, I guess they do, but it has never happened to me on any lens form any manufacturer. And, I have had well over a hundred lenses. I have 20+ as we speak. 

Here is what you do.  Send it to Canon with a plain, not accusatory letter explaining what is happening, the history, any receipts (no matter from whom) and ask for help.  That is about the best Robert or I can offer. Besides that, I wish you the best of luck. Let us know, however, what happens.

[Pogol]

I have the same problem. Any aperture other than 2.8, gives error 01. Except at the wide end. As shown in this video 
https://youtu.be/v_9umlhqRao?t=27



The idea, about camera bumping on the hip and lens being damaged , is interesting. Because I have JOBY strap, and it places my camera, over my hip for the last 1,5 year (lens is 2.5 yo).

I am disappointed. If anything, Canon has a reputation. Not for their DR in cameras or good prices, or best high ISO performance. But for their equipment, being workhorses.  

[wq9nsc]

The only problem I have had with Canon gear was a camcorder built shortly before the transition from digital tape over to memory cards and it had horrible ribbon connectors and I would more precisely call those flexible printed circuit interconnects because they were much like a printed circuit board except the substrate was flex plastic instead of glass epoxy or phenolic.  It went to Canon three times, the first two times under warranty.  After the third time I grew tired of the game and made a permanent repair by replacing those (as I recall 4) components with higher quality cable.  The failure mode was copper fatigue breaks in the folds of the flex interconnects where they went through a sharp bend and were highly susceptible to vibration induced metal fatigue. 

That Canon camcorder reminded me of one of the few times Pravda got away with poking fun at the Soviet leadership.  They had a cartoon in one issue named "Consumer Sputnik" that showed a poor Soviet citizen in orbit between his home and the television service shop because of the poor quality television set constantly needing repair.

I am using the same 24-70 f2.8 I bought with my 1D Mark II back in 2005 and it has never given me any trouble.  I have a black rapid strap but I don't think it has ever been on that strap however it has gone on a lot of hikes either mounted to a 1 series around my neck or riding in a Lowepro backpack either mounted or bare and has been with me to the top of a lot of 14ers in Colorado without ever missing a beat.

It sounds like the 24-70 f2.8 may have the same sort of flex cable fatigue issue I ran into back in the 1990s with a Canon camcorder.  Unfortunately in the lens, there isn't room for a different style cable and that flex cable probably does flex a lot more than it did in my camcorder because in the camcorder those cables were just used to connect between several stacked but fix mounted circuit boards instead of going between fixed and moving points. 

The only Canon lens I have had issues with is the EF 50 f1.4L and after going through a couple of those when the second one failed it was replaced with a Sigma 50 f1.4 Art which I really like but I haven't had it long enough to see whether it is more robust than the Canon 50 it replaced.  I have a bunch of Canon lens ranging from the expensive great white 400 f2.8 and 800 f5.6 primes down to the lower cost EF 85 f1.8 and none outside of the 50 has ever failed me.  That camcorder did come pretty close to turning me into a non-Canon customer after years of using 35MM Canon gear because it failed twice when it was really inconvenient but after my upgrades to it I used it without problem until it was replaced by an updated unit which was later replaced by a XF-400 that I use now. 

Rodger