I have a rebelT5 the 75-300mm zoom will not zoom correctly, it catches or won't zoom at all?

[LoriB11]

I have a rebelT5, the 75-300mm  zoom lens will not zoom correctly, it catches or won't zoom at all, the 18-55 lens zooms fine (nice and smooth) Am I missing something ? 

[kvbarkley · Accepted solution]

Is there a zoom lock? I know there is one on the 70-300.

[Waddizzle]

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@LoriB11 wrote:

I have a rebelT5, the 75-300mm  zoom lens will not zoom correctly, it catches or won't zoom at all, the 18-55 lens zooms fine (nice and smooth) Am I missing something ? 

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What do you mean by "it catches"?  There is also a setting in the menu that will disable AF when the camera cannot lock focus, which saves battery power, as well as wear and tear on the lens motors.

Make sure you have sufficient light, and that you're not too close to the subject. 

If you look on the lens, close to where it mounts onto a camera you should see something that reads "MACRO   ## ft / ## m".  That is telling you what the MFD, minimum focusing distance is for the lens.  You must be at least that distance from your subject in order for the lens to be able to focus.

Sometimes lenses with long focal lengths can have trouble adjusting from close to subjects to distant subjects, or short range of the zoom to the long range of the zoom, and vice versa for each scenario.  In these cases, you may need to help the lens along by switching off the AF, and manually adjust the focus some, just to get it in the ballpark, and then turn AF back on again.

[LoriB11]

When I go to zoom it will stop and become very hard to zoom, when I received the camera I thought it didn't zoom very smoothly and I feel over time it has become worse. When I have 18-55mm lens it zooms very very smooth and the camera functions fine. My gut is it is the lens but I am new with the camera and thought I might be missing something. I have only had the camera 6 months. I have tried the lens in AF and MF mode and the samething happens in both cases, I have had the camera in auto mods and landscapes and the samething has happened, I am trying to give as much info as possible to help. Thank you for all of your responses. 

[Waddizzle]

Hmm.  I'm still not exactly clear on what you mean by "it catches".

Are you saying that the focus ring gets stuck and won't turn past a certain point?

If you take the lens off the camera, and shake it, does it make any noises?  It shouldn't.

It sounds like the lens could have something wrong with it.  It's not worth repairing, either.

[kvbarkley]

Waddizle:

The OP is talking about the *zoom* not the *focus*.

[Waddizzle]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

Waddizle:

The OP is talking about the *zoom* not the *focus*.

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Oh, duh.  Doing two and three things at the same time.

Okay.  If it is the kit 75-300mm lens, then there is no zoom lock on the lens.

[kvbarkley]

Then is is broken and needs to be serviced.

[kvbarkley]

It should zoom smoothly.

Is there a lock that keeps it from zooming when walking around? Check to see if that is partly engaged.

[LoriB11]

I just checked there is no zoom lock