EF 18-55mm Rubber Focus Ring is very sticky to the touch.

[JosephLand]

I have a EOS Rebel T5i I bought a Costco about 12 years ago. I have not used it for about 2 years and during that time it was stored in the Canon camera bag. I got it out yesterday and found that the knurled focus ring has become very sticky to the touch and is leaving a black sticky residue on my fingers.The lens is the EF 18-55mm Imaged Stabilized lens that came with the camera when purchased. I could not find anything on the Canon website on this problem. The storage was temperature controlled the entire time and none of my other Canon lens are showing this problem. Is this fixable? Was there a factory recall I missed? These are not expensive lenses and go for about $50-60 use on Ebay.

Any help would be appreciated.

[deebatman316]

What is the FULL NAME of the lens in question. Canon has made 9 different versions of that lens so saying "EF-S 18-55mm Image Stabilized" is NOT a complete name. A complete name would be "EF-S 18-55mm F/4-5.6 IS STM" lens. An example lens is pictured below to help you find the complete name of your lens. This is not the lens you own just an example.

[JosephLand]

Got it. The complete name on the front is as follows:

Canon Zoom Lens EF-S 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS STM

At the other side of the front is show 58mm

Serial Number is 040204215754

[deebatman316]

Older lenses do suffer from the rubber getting sticky on the zoom and focus rings. There is no factory recall on that lens.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Your camera and lens are celebrating their 12th birthday 🎂 this year.  Your lens is not defective and you didn't miss any recalls.  The finish on the rubberized focus ring has just broken down.  You can squeeze a little more life out of it by carefully rubbing it with a cloth lightly saturated with isopropyl alcohol.  However, once the breakdown starts, it eventually comes back.  

What are your options?

Rub it down and live with it.  

Get lucky and find a repair shop that can replace the ring. (You may need lots of luck)😄

Buy a refurbished replacement (KEH, Adorama or B&H).

You can find new ones too.  (However, investing in DSLRs or EF/EF-S glass isn't a great long term investment strategy)

Better option.  New camera day.  After 12 yrs you have probably earned it.

[Tintype_18]

That happens to rubber after a time. Not a lot you can do about it.

[JosephLand]

Shadowsports: I'm going to test the effects of 3 things I read about using a small test area on the ring to see its effect. I know I will never get it restored to its factory condition so if none of these work, not a big deal.

1. Rubbing Alcohol, 2. Acetone, 3 Magic Eraser.

What the heck, got nothing else to do today.

[JosephLand · Accepted solution]

Well that did not take long at all. Took an old soft rag and put some Equate 91% Isopropyl Alcohlo from Walmart and went around the ring about 4 times until nothing came off and the only thing left is just good old hard plastic. Problem solved.

Thanks for all the tips everyone.

[Stephen]

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@deebatman316 wrote:

What is the FULL NAME of the lens in question. Canon has made 9 different versions of that lens so saying "EF-S 18-55mm Image Stabilized" is NOT a complete name. A complete name would be "EF-S 18-55mm F/4-5.6 IS STM" lens. An example lens is pictured below to help you find the complete name of your lens. This is not the lens you own just an example.

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I LOVE THIS PHOTO! For illustrative purposes, it's so perfect! 😍

[deebatman316]

It would be nice if Canon put the name on the front of all of their lenses but they don't. Some lenses have a metal plate with the name engraved or its written on the side of the lens.

EF 300mm F/2.8L USM (Canon's First USM lens)