Problem with my 50mm 1.8 lens

[Moldy_Sandwich]

I haven't used my camera for about a week, which is an 80d, or my 50mm 1.8 lens, which I store on the camera. Then I picked it today and the lens won't focus on anything further then about 2 meters away, I tried a couple other lenses I have and they all worked perfectly. After looking at my lens a little bit more, it looked like the part that moves to focus won't go all the way in so it doesn't focus on things very far away. I have no idea what the problem could be since it just sat around for about a week and before it was working fine. Hope someone has some insight! Thanks!

[RobertTheFat]

That kind of problem can be a symptom of a camera having been dropped. Is it conceivable that someone knocked it on the floor during the week that you weren't using it?

[Moldy_Sandwich]

It's possible, but it is kept pretty low to the ground so if it was dropped at all, it would be a very short fall. Do you know if there is any remedy for something like that?

[MikeSowsun]

I am assuming the  "1.6" is a typo.....

Which lens do you have? 

50mm f/1.8

50mm f/1.8 II 

50mm f/1.8 STM

50mm f/1.4 USM 

The 50mm f/1.8 II build is mostly plastic and it is rather fragile. There are reports of them literally exploding into pieces from a 3' drop to the floor.  I would just throw it away because the repair will cost more than the lens is worth.

The 50mm f/1.4 USM has a weakness in it's AF system which makes it very sensitive to front impact.  Canon will usually repair it for about $100. 

In either case I would consider replacing the lens with the 50mm f/1.8 STM because it is very well made with great optical performance for a very reasonable price.  

[ebiggs1]

Some of the 50's do not like it if you move the focus ring while they are trying to AF.  Did you perhaps do that?   Even by accident?

Call Canon 1 (800) 652-2666

[jrhoffman75]

If you look closely at the extending part does it look like it is "bent" to one side? I.e. not in line with the rest of the lens?

Is so, try carefully pushing it in the opposite direction to straighten it out.

If that doesn't work replacement with a new one would probably be less expensive than repairing yours.

[TCampbell]

The 50mm f/1.8 lenses are all very inexpensive ... about $100-125 new.  

If you had the EF 50mm f/1.8 II (possibly the most common prior to Canon releases the newer “STM” version) that lens was very easy to break.  It’s not really worth repairing (for the cost of repair it would be a better deal to just buy the newer “STM” version of the lens.)

The STM has a better build quality and has a 7-blade aperture.  The previous lens had a 5-blade aperture making for poor quality in the background blur (low quality “bokeh”).  The new STM version’s 7 blade aperture creates a significantly improved (smoother) quality to the blur.

“STM” actually refers to the focus motor system.  These lenses have a “focus by wire” system in which rotating the focus ring doesn’t mechanically move the focus elements... it just sends input to the computer which responds to your input.  As such, you can’t damage the focus system by trying to manually force focus when the lens is in auto-focus mode (which is possible on the non-STM version of the 50mm f/1.8).  Also the STM motors are remarkably quiet.

Basically for $125 you get a new lens with better build quality (fewer plastic parts that are easy to break), better/faster/quieter focusing system, better aperture blade with better background blur quality, and the same optics (the actual optical elements are identical... Canon didn’t change that part of the lens, but the optical quality of the 50mm f/1.8 II was already extremely good.).