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.  

[RobertTheFat]

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@SportsPro wrote:

I'm not trolling or trying to be argumentative but I make my living shooting sporting events and games, from the NFL to the Olympics, ...

I don't claim to be a professional. But for the past eight or nine years, until my retirement in September, photography was part of my job. So I'm not exactly a newbie.

and no one that I work with holds a lens with their hand on top of the lens.

Well, they don't speak for me. And if their lenses aren't falling off, I have no reason to try to speak to them. And BTW, my hand is to the left of the lens, not on top of it.

 
Download the 5D manual here: 
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/8/0300007348/06/eos5d-mk3-im8-en.pdf

and refer to page 43 - Holding the Camera.

Yeah, I know what they say. But it's easier to draw somebody's hand in that position than it is to actually hold it there.

Hold the camera as instructed. Now pretend you're following a running back sprinting down field toward you. Quickly switch the camera from landscape orientation to portrait orientation. As the body rotates, the Lens Release Button rotates right past the meaty part of your thumb.

The nice thing about the way I hold it is that it doesn't. As my right hand moves up and to the left, the button moves away from my thumb.

It's a big button. It's got a very weak spring. Now try it with gloves on. The problem is exacerbated. With all due respect, you just can't hold a camera steady and work the zoom ring with your hand on top. While you may have potentially solved the problem of your lenses falling off, your pictures won't be of the highest quality.

In what way won't they be? Please tell me now, because in March my wife and I are going to try again to get our pictures into the juried show at the Griffin. (As it happens, she holds her cameras the same way I do.)

This a design problem related to the size, position and spring weakness of the Lens Release Button.  
Lots of posters here maintain the following:

1.) This has never happened to me.
2.) Therefore, this cannot happen.
As Spock would say, "This is highly illogical"

Actually, I didn't say that. So I guess Spock wasn't talking to me. 

[Edward]

Same thing has happened to me several times particularly when handling big white lenses...the button is to large and a second action to prevent accidents would be welcomed.

[Ron2]

I was taking pictures of markings on the ground for work. With camer facing down and the same time using the zoom

It is very easy for your largest knuckle as it turns past the lens release button while zooming to push it in

The button unlike the marke 2 and mark 1 is exposed no housing around it

The lens screwing off has a very smooth and similar feel as the zoom rotation

I realised it was not zooming through the view finder but before I knew what was happening the lens fell off and out of my hand 24-70 1:2.8

I have the 5d1 the 5d2 and the 5d3

The problem is on the 5d3 the button is totally exposed where as on the 5d2 and 5d1 is is partly built into the lens holder on the camera body tucking it effectively away from a rotating knuckle

With a lense release button not protected, so close to the zoom ring it is quite possible for you knuckle to come in contact and depress the release button while zooming. Hence why so many people have expereinced problems

The motion can change from 'zoom' to 'undo lense' in an instance and before you know what is happening the lense will be either lose in your hand or worse on the ground

Design floor in my opinion

[ebiggs1]

"I realised it was not zooming through the view finder but before I knew what was happening the lens fell off and out of my hand 24-70 1:2.8"

The ef 24-70mm f2.8L II ?  Hmm, because it zooms the oppisite way it screwws off a camera?

[dcphoto]

My new 24-105 STM just fell off my 5DMkIII for no apparent reason halfway through a 3000-image shoot. I know where the release button is. Fell 4 ft onto asphalt driveway at the White House, landed on lens mount, small dents, seems to work, but this is way uncool design. Exposed the rear element and the sensor etc to pollen. I think the Canon UX engineering team needs more coffee.

[RexGig]

I have noticed, reading various forums, that several of these accidental releases have occurred wihen using sling-type straps that affix to the tripod mount. Not that such sling systems cause the lens to release, of course, but the camera presumably is more likely to hang in an orientation that places the lens release button in a position to be more-easily touched unintentionally. I reckon the sling is a small part of a "perfect storm" of factors. 

I remember one post that described how the user was able to carefully observe, as he walked, with the camera hanging by the sling, the lens release button being bumped by his hip, repeatedly.

I am not "slamming" any product, be it camera or carry system, and occasionally use a sling-type strap, myself, though I take extra care to make sure it does not hang in a way that could affect the lens release button.

[TCampbell]

In all the years of owning this gear (and five different camera bodies that all share the same design) I have only once caught the lens loose... but I knew what I did.  I reached into my camera bag to pull out the camera and I gripped the lens with my left hand -- and my thumb hit the button.  The lens didn't release because it has to rotate too far ... but I noticed that I did unlock it. 

I made a mental note not to grab the camera that way and it never happened again.

And that really is the point I have made previously in this thread.  For anything that you do in life, there's often a way to do it that will end up with unpleasant results.  To avoid these unpleasant results, we develop "good habbits".

After this thread started, I grabbed several of my camera bodies and started to study the button... was the spring tension much esier to press on one body vs. another?  Did one body require a "full" press while another might release with just a partial press?  After lots of comparison I really couldn't find any significant difference between any of my camera bodies.

But one thing I did find to be consistent was that all of them required a "full" press of that button (a partial press wont unlock it). 

I have a Black Rapid strap and I tried hanging the camera at my side (as I typically do) and found that if I'm just wearing normal clothes, that button is too deep in the corner of the lens/body to be able to be pressed accidentally while just wearing the camera on the sling strap.  But I DID notice that it *might* be possible if you were wearing something on your waist (e.g. other accessories, a phone on a belt-clip, etc. etc.) but I don't wear anything that could hit it and, as such, it's never been a problem.

The button is located on THE place on the camera body far enough away from any buttons that normally need to be reached.  It really is in a good spot.  It already requires a full press and then a significant rotation to remove the lens.

Those having issues with accidental release may want to go over the gear and their usage patterns to see if they can identify what might have initiated the release.  That button can't press itself.

I suppose you could take advantage of 3D printing technology and have something made that clamps to your lens and covers the button. 

[ebiggs1]

" For anything that you do in life, there's often a way to do it that will end up with unpleasant results"

I have a dozen bodies here from two brands here. I have looked and looked for longer than I should.  I don't see how this happens. Doesn't mean it can't, I simply say of it is happening to you, change your procedure. Somebody said they have an expensive car and they don't check the lug nuts every time they drive it.  But they do, or at least they should, check the lug nuts after the tires are changed!

Don't you or anyone think it is curious that for most of us, this has not or doesn't happen?  How many people out there are shooting Canon or Nikon cameras for fun or work?

I would ask another question.  Is this lens specific or does it happen with any lens?  With some large teles the button is almost covered by the lens making it even more difficult to press.  Smaller lenses, primes, leaves the button very much out in the open.

[Waddizzle]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

" For anything that you do in life, there's often a way to do it that will end up with unpleasant results"

I have a dozen bodies here from two brands here. I have looked and looked for longer than I should.  I don't see how this happens. Doesn't mean it can't, I simply say of it is happening to you, change your procedure. Somebody said they have an expensive car and they don't check the lug nuts every time they drive it.  But they do, or at least they should, check the lug nuts after the tires are changed!

Don't you or anyone think it is curious that for most of us, this has not or doesn't happen?  How many people out there are shooting Canon or Nikon cameras for fun or work?

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Ernie, you can't accidentally bump it because your instincts and habits are so deeply burned into your brain cells.  It's like your hand feels the hot flame as it gets near it, and instinctively backs away.

Like I said before, I know that I can all too easily have a moment of inattentivenss.  So, I bought a holster, instead of letting a naked camera bounce around my neck, or off my hip.  As you pointed out, I changed my habits.  Besides, the holster is so much more comfortable and safer when I am hiking in the woods.

[Ron2]

Testing I am able to reproduce the problem repeatedly, and provide some insight to why I think this happens on the 5D Mark 3

Original situation when the issue happened to me

5D Mark 3 using a 24-70mm lens shooting down towards the ground

The 24-70mm lens is an important factor as the focus ring on this lens is next to the camera body, which puts the focusing hand close to the lens release button

Test Picture 1

With the 5D Mark 3 facing down and resting on both hands as shown, the lens release button will depress under the weight of the camera body on the left hand. (feels like the camera body does not feel like a button)

This is unique to the Mark 3, the button wont depress on the original 5D or the 5D mark2 while holding the camera the same way and using the same 24-70mm lens

Test Pictures 2 - 5

This happens on the 5D Mark 3 only because

The button sticks out from the lens by 4mm more on the Mark 3, This means the focus hand has full and unrestricted access to the button

On the 5d the focus hand is not directly above the button but on the Mark 3 it is directly above

5D Mark1

5D Mark3 button sticks out 4mm more and is exposed

The button on the 5D and the mark 2 are partially recessed into the camera body, this does seem to provide some protection from accidentally depressing by hand while focusing

5D Mark 1 button recessed

5D Mark 3 button not recessed and exposed

The button is also 1mm bigger on the 5D Mark 3 and as said earlier sticks out from the lens more by 4mm

5D Mark 1 

5D Mark3 

Summary 

The button on earlier models does not stick out enough for the hand to rest directly on the lens release button

Earlier models also have the button partially recessed into the camera body providing a degree of protection

Many people are losing lenses because of this