Accidental Lens Release

[michaelgirman]

  My 24-105L just fell off my 5D mkIII and rolled into the Seine.  The lens release button is way too sensitive and it is so easy to accidentally unlock without realizing it.  I went to twist the zoom ring and the lens rotated and dropped off.  Blogs are full of compaints of this occurance on mkii's.  

  This is definitely a design flaw.  It's not user error.  The button should be relocated or made to require more force to release  or have a detent position.  

  It's a shame that you have to gaffer tape a $2300 lens to a $2000 camera.  Be forewarned.  

[michaelgirman]

" ... because the blame is solidly on the person using the camera and not on the camera nor on it's designers.  This is one of those "Hey!  You're doing it wrong, dummy!" conversations."

Tim - Wow!

I'm in my late sixties.  I started with twin lens reflexes until I bought a $500 Canon FTb in 1972 that had the old FD and FL breechlock lens mounts.  In the 45 or so intervening years, I never, ever had a lens come loose until I got the 5D Mark III.  For all these years, I never even gave it a thought.  I made it a habit to develop good habits about how to hold the camera and never had a problem and took lots of great shots (in all modesty).  Now you're telling me I'm a dummy and I've been doing it wrong for all these years?

And, apparently, it ain't just me.  This is a way too common complaint on other blogs.  5D's are expensive ... way too expensive to have the equally expensive lenses accidentally come off in your hands.

The lens is locked only with a 1/16" long pin that retracts when the release is pushed.  On my body, it takes only a very slight pressure to unlock the lens.  When you lock the lens, there's a solid click.  There's nothing when it's unlocked.  If the lens rotates the slightest amount when the release is pushed, it's not locked and you don't know it.  Be advised that after I lost the lens, I sent the body back to Canon Service to have the release looked at and they told me it was just fine (after I paid about $270).  

Just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't make the rest of us dummies.

[RobertTheFat]

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@michaelgirman wrote:

" ... because the blame is solidly on the person using the camera and not on the camera nor on it's designers.  This is one of those "Hey!  You're doing it wrong, dummy!" conversations."

Tim - Wow!

I'm in my late sixties.  I started with twin lens reflexes until I bought a $500 Canon FTb in 1972 that had the old FD and FL breechlock lens mounts.  In the 45 or so intervening years, I never, ever had a lens come loose until I got the 5D Mark III.  For all these years, I never even gave it a thought.  I made it a habit to develop good habits about how to hold the camera and never had a problem and took lots of great shots (in all modesty).  Now you're telling me I'm a dummy and I've been doing it wrong for all these years?

And, apparently, it ain't just me.  This is a way too common complaint on other blogs.  5D's are expensive ... way too expensive to have the equally expensive lenses accidentally come off in your hands.

The lens is locked only with a 1/16" long pin that retracts when the release is pushed.  On my body, it takes only a very slight pressure to unlock the lens.  When you lock the lens, there's a solid click.  There's nothing when it's unlocked.  If the lens rotates the slightest amount when the release is pushed, it's not locked and you don't know it.  Be advised that after I lost the lens, I sent the body back to Canon Service to have the release looked at and they told me it was just fine (after I paid about $270).  

Just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't make the rest of us dummies.

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Just to keep the record straight ...

It was I, not Tim, who first suggested that hand position might be implicated in the problem and related to its solution. I'm in my late seventies, and I didn't call anybody a dummy. All I said was that the way I hold my camera, my thumb doesn't come anywhere near the release button, but that with a different hand position, which I don't use, it does. (Though I didn't emphasize the point, this was with a lens that's used by a majority of Canon FF camera owners and whose zoom ring is fairly close to the front of the camera.)  So I suggested that there is a choice of hand position that may help avoid the problem. I didn't venture any opinion about whether the button is intelligently designed and positioned or about whether Canon should or shouldn't change it.

FWIW, I'm going to keep holding my camera the same way I do now, and I'll be surprised if any of my lenses ever come loose when I don't mean them to.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston and others,

As Bob knows I already sold my 5D Mk III so I don't have it here to try but I do have five 1 series cameras. I don't see how anybody is doing this either.  Not only do you have to press the button but you have to twist the lens at the same time!   On a 1 series, anyhow, that takes a bit of effort.  I doubt a Black Rapid is doing it.  Which I use quite regularly, BTW.

I am going to submit, if your 5D is guility, it needs to be checked out. 

PS, BTW, this isn't the place ot suggest changes or updatesd to Canon products.

PSS, I would be aginst anything that makes it harder to change lenses.  But this from a professional point of view and not a hobbists.  Hobbists generally have plenty of time and fingers!

[RobertTheFat]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

Bob from Boston and others,

As Bob knows I already sold my 5D Mk III so I don't have it here to try but I do have five 1 series cameras. I don't see how anybody is doing this either.  Not only do you have to press the button but you have to twist the lens at the same time!   On a 1 series, anyhow, that takes a bit of effort.  I doubt a Black Rapid is doing it.  Which I use quite regularly, BTW.

I am going to submit, if your 5D is guility, it needs to be checked out. 

PS, BTW, this isn't the place ot suggest changes or updatesd to Canon products.

PSS, I would be aginst anything that makes it harder to change lenses.  But this from a professional point of view and not a hobbists.  Hobbists generally have plenty of time and fingers!

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I don't like changing lenses on the fly. It's a good way to get them dirty or broken. I'd rather just carry two cameras. So the size and stiffness of the release button isn't much of an issue for me.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston,

On a job I, normally carry 4 cameras.  In the past I have had as many as six, when I had second shooters (they had my Rebels).  All 1 series, now, however.  But changing a lens on the fly is a way of life, plus batteries, plus CF cards, plus .......

On the Chicago job I only took two cameras and three lenses so I didn't change very often.

[schmegg]

How many 5D3's?

[ebiggs1]

Are you asking me?

I had only one of each a 5D Mk II and a 5D Mk III.  Never had the original 5D.  They are both fine cameras but I got a 1Ds Mk III not too long ago (about a year or so) and sold everything that wasn't a 1 series.

[schmegg]

Just asking because the first time I had this issue it was possibly because I was carrying two cameras and had the 5D3 on the black rapid and it was bouncing around a bit.

I know you find it difficult to believe, but it CAN happen.

I'm not here to bash or make up stuff. I've been shooting for over thirty years. I know what I'm doing and I can tell you that it's more than possible for a lens and 5D3 body to detach accidentally.

If it hadn't happened to me I guess I'd find it a little difficult to believe too.

[ebiggs1]

"I know you find it difficult to believe, but it CAN happen."

Oh, on the contrary, I believe you. I did not mean to imply, if I did, it couldn't happen.  It has just never happened to me.  I had the 5d2 for quite a while but I had the 5d3 only for a short while.  I am not a 5d expert to ask by any sense.

[TCampbell]

I still have my 5D II which uses the same release button (same size, same position) and as I compare my 5D II and 5D III buttons, they feel "about the same" and if anything... I think the spring on the 5D III is a tiny bit stronger.

Rationally, I think we'd all agree that if a person were to just attach a lens to a camera and come back to check on it after several years, the lens would still be solidly attached.  Without something to push in on the button, it's not going to release the lens.

Something must have pushed the lens release button.  

I use a Black Rapid strap and if I'm using a lens with it's own tripod collar then the strap is attached to the lens mount instead of the body mount (I attach the strap to whatever component has the most weight).  As the camera rests at my side, I'm inspecting the position of the button and since it's in that crease of the side of the camera body and lens, nothing at my side can touch it... I've tried.  I've deliberately moved it around to see if there's anything that could possibly "catch" on the edge of my camera and hit the button -- but nothing can hit it.

If I carry any spare accessories, they're in a pack that's either around the opposite side of my body or my back -- but nothing is ever on the same side of my body as the camera.

Given that force = mass x velocity, I can imagine that if the camera were allowed to swing and did hit something on that same side of your body, that it could hit the button with enough force to release the locking pin and since the camera would be syspended by the lens and not the body, the force might also allow the body to "twist".  That would require something for the camera to hit (it certainly can't do this on it's own).  The problem with that scenario is that even if Canon made the button twice as hard to press, it wouldn't be enough (a 5D III with an EF 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is a lot of mass... it hardly need much velocity to result in enough force to press the button.)  

You wouldn't have this issue when using a factory neck-strap because the camera isn't allowed to twist... it has to hang lens-side facing away from your body if you sling it on your shoulder.   I still prefer my Black Rapid strap though... I can wear a heavy camera and lens all day long (vs. a basic neck strap.)

I have heard lots of horror stories about cameras becoming detatched from the Black Rapid strap too.  Usually these stories involve either the mounting bolt wasn't torqued down enough (or worked it's way loose) and I've also heard people report that the carabiner clip coming unlatched (even though they have the threaded sleeve to lock it -- people claim that works it's way loose too.)  I've never had either of these incidents but it scared me enough that I found myself constantly re-checking the security of it.  Ultimately I switched Black Rapid's arca-swiss style mounting clamp (which I think works much better.  Now I don't have to remove the dovetail plates from my camera bodies and lenses anymore.)

I suppose if you wanted to make sure this can't happen anymore, you could mold a guard around the button.  You'd need to know someone with a 3D printer and scanner.  Make an impression of the camera body & lens release area with modeling clay, scan it, then use the scan to create a guard.  Use some strong 3M adhesive to adhere it to the camera.  (there are some staggeringly strong 3M adhesives.)