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.  

[FloydSpellman]

The thing that I don't get is how many posters still think it's impossible for a Canon lens to be accidentally unlocked in spite of how many posts there are here and on other sites from people who've actually had it happen to them.  Or, if they do acknowledge that it is a possibility, then it must be because of user carelessness.  
I shoot weddings for a living.  Usually, if I don't have a second shooter, I carry a body around my neck with another body on each shoulder.  Over the last couple of years, I've dropped two lenses that came loose, one during the ceremony and the other during a reception.  Two different assistants each dropped one lens off of 5D bodies.  Over this time period, I've had a lens unlock but not dropped or seen the "lens not communicating" error message maybe a dozen times.

I definitely agree with the school of thought that attributes this to the lens release button getting depressed by the heel of thumb when switching camera orientation or getting hit by the strap. The locking pin is really tiny - maybe 1/8" long and about 1/32" thick.  The lens just has to move a tiny fraction of one degree when the button is depressed to become unlocked.   
I get paid to get the shot.  I have to be entirely concentrated on the finder and on the finder info when I'm shooting.  I change orientation and bodies every few frames to insure I'm capturing the event from different views and angles to get the coverage my clients demand.  I have expensive equipment.  I've got to trust it.  I can't be checking to see if my lens is unlocked every time I change bodies or orientation.  Before the 5D, I never, ever had a lens come loose.  

I drive an expensive car but I don't check the lug nuts before I go out for cigarettes.  

I don't worry about the lens coming loose anymore because I now gaffer tape them to the bodies.  Haven't had the problem since.  

[FloydSpellman]

Just in case I didn't clearly make my point:

These are expensive cameras.  You shouldn't have to think about whether or not your equally expensive lens is locked.  It should stay locked until you intentionally unlock it. 

I'm not saying make it idiot proof.  Read these comments from guys who've dropped lenses.  They are mostly pros and serious, experienced photographers with decades of experience.  

[RobertTheFat]

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@FloydSpellman wrote:

Just in case I didn't clearly make my point:

These are expensive cameras.  You shouldn't have to think about whether or not your equally expensive lens is locked.  It should stay locked until you intentionally unlock it. 

I'm not saying make it idiot proof.  Read these comments from guys who've dropped lenses.  They are mostly pros and serious, experienced photographers with decades of experience.  

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I completely agree.

And as I stated earlier, I don't think I have a dog in this hunt, because my normal way of holding the camera makes it very unlikely that I'll press the release button accidentally. But it occurs to me that you should also be careful when moving the camera into or out of your camera bag, because that's a situation in which you're apt to grasp the camera in various unnatural ways.

[Waddizzle]

"The thing that I don't get is how many posters still think it's impossible for a Canon lens to be accidentally unlocked in spite of how many posts there are here and on other sites from people who've actually had it happen to them.  Or, if they do acknowledge that it is a possibility, then it must be because of user carelessness."

The thing that I don't get is from where did you get the belieff that some people think it is impossible for a lens to be ACCIDENTALLY unlocked all by itself, without any outside interference.  If you read the thread, the opposite argument is being made. 

The whole argument has centered around has your lens dropped because you were careless.  Or, did your lens drop because it experienced some form of spontaneous combustion and decided it wanted to fly away.  The latter is what is impossible, but people insist that the lens mount has a mind of its' own. 

And, as I pointed out earlier, it is VERY easy to hit the switch if you don't pay attention to what you are doing.  The switch is not in the photographers direct line of sight.  So, it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE to acccidently come in contact with it, but there are those who insist that it is impossible for them to have accidentally touched it.

It is easy to hit the swtich moving the camera in or out of a bag.  I've posted about how I had to have hit the switch when I repositioned the camera, landscape to portrait, by gripping both sides of the camera when it was mounted on a tripod with a super telephoto lens that had a tripod foot. I turned the camera body, and it separated from the lens.  I was left holding the camera body like a steering wheel  I am sure there are other ways.  Those are two that I have personally experienced.

Some guys claim that while they're walking around with their naked gear bouncing off their hip, and it just suddenly drops away for no good reason.  Just maybe, during all of the jostling around as you walked, just maybe the button was bumped as the camera danced around on your hip.  But, they dismiss that possibility as impossible. 

I challenge anyone to hang a camera and lens up in a closet by a neck strap for a year, and let me know if it disconnects all by itself.

[EDIT]  This challenge sounds ridiculous.  Right?  That's the point.

[TheRogue]

I've had everything from early EOS 35mm cameras through more or less the whole gammut of Canon DSLR cameras and this has never happened to me. Further to that, I've never felt that it would or could. But reading this thread, wow - I'm gonna go check my insurance cover in case I have tempted fate.

On a serious note, presing the button and twisting at the same time is required to detatch a lens, so even if the button was to be brick size and the spring as weak as possible, and the user to be careless or stupid or both, for a lens to become detatched in this manner would take a certain unfortunate, unlucky and downright weird set of events.  I know when I am out and about, and I have a £2500 body to which is attached an £1800 lens, I am very VERY absolutely completely totally careful!. (Mic Drop!)

[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

[ebiggs1]

Ron2

"I would ask another question.  Is this lens specific or does it happen with any lens?"

Thanx, you have answered my question and I see how that is possible. It seems as it is one of those if the Sun and Moon and stars have to be aligned in a certain way, it can happen.  Even your example requires the lens to be zoomed in just one direction?  

But now the question is, you know that can happen so why are you or folks causing that specific situation to occur?  The answer seems simple.  Don't do that.  

I am truly sorry if you have lost a fine lens that way.  I know that crunch when a lens hits the ground.  Not a forgettable sound!