Lens Repair

[OATT]

Hello all.  My issue is that I stupidly left one of my lenses (50mm 1.4) outside and it got rained on.  We sent it to Canon for a repair estimate and were told $150 to get to a certain point and only then would they know if something additional needed repair.  We figured we might wind up paying as much as the lens cost in the first place so we just kind of sat on it. 

My husband decided to not only replace it for me for Christmas but he got me an upgrade with the 50mm 1.2L.  Now we have an unusable lens that we don't want to spend any more on but I can't bear to just throw it in the trash.  What are our options?  Does Canon buy products like these back from the customer to sell as refurbished?  Is there a possibility someone would want to buy it for, say, $50 and pay for the repair themselves and potentially get it at half the price of a new one?

This is all new to me and I would appreciate some guidance.  Thank you. 

[ezpop]

You may try to sell it online (like Kijiji or Craigslist) with full disclosure. You may get a little more than $50 I think.

[RobertTheFat]

If all it did was get rained on, I'd be inclined to stick it in a warm, dry place for six months and then try it again. I've seen that work with a keyboard that had coffee poured on it. Admittedly a lens is more a precision instrument than a keyboard is, but what have you got to lose? You already have a replacement lens, so all you're looking for is a functioning spare.

[PajamaGuy]

Not to interfere, - do like Robert says - and I suggest putting it in a zip-lock bag that has a couple of cups of plain white rice in it.  It works for most cell phones.

[ebiggs1]

"... one of my lenses (50mm 1.4) outside and it got rained on."

How "rained on" did it get?  Just a light coating of rain may not have hurt it.  Do as Bob from Boston suggests.  It can't hurt it anymore!  If it really got rained on, I mean wet all over, soaked, it is likely toast. Yes, toss it. 

Now another question.  You got the ef 50mm f1.2L lens as a replacement?  It is a wonderfully magical lens. Nobody makes a lens like it.  I just love mine.  However, you sound like a novice photographer?  Right?  Sorry if my suspicion if incorrect.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Lens is not an easy lens to use and/or master.  But once you do!  

Focus very carefully especially at the more open apertures (f1.2 and f1.4).  DOF is razor thin at these.

It is a weather sealed lens but only if you install a front filter.  I recommend the B+W - 72mm UV Haze MRC 010M Filter.

Please let me know how you get along with the new big boy 50!

[RobertTheFat]

---

@ebiggs1 wrote:

"... one of my lenses (50mm 1.4) outside and it got rained on."

How "rained on" did it get?  Just a light coating of rain may not have hurt it.  Do as Bob from Boston suggests.  It can't hurt it anymore!  If it really got rained on, I mean wet all over, soaked, it is likely toast. Yes, toss it. 

Now another question.  You got the ef 50mm f1.2L lens as a replacement?  It is a wonderfully magical lens. Nobody makes a lens like it.  I just love mine.  However, you sound like a novice photographer?  Right?  Sorry if my suspicion if incorrect.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Lens is not an easy lens to use and/or master.  But once you do!  

Focus very carefully especially at the more open apertures (f1.2 and f1.4).  DOF is razor thin at these.

It is a weather sealed lens but only if you install a front filter.  I recommend the B+W - 72mm UV Haze MRC 010M Filter.

Please let me know how you get along with the new big boy 50!

---

I dunno, Ernie. She already had an f/1.4, and her husband bought her an f/1.2 as a replacement. It's a good bet that at least one of them isn't a novice. You can't draw any conclusions from the fact that she left a lens out in the rain; I've done something just as stupid three times in the past seven months.

As for the DOF, the difference between the two lenses will be felt only at f/1.2, right? In all likelihood the lenses will have their points of maximum sharpness at slightly different apertures, but at apertures of f/1.4 or above, I'd expect their DOF to be identical.

[ebiggs1]

"As for the DOF, the difference between the two lenses will be felt only at f/1.2, right?"

Yes I would imagine the DOF in inches would be similar.  But there the comparison ends.  They are simply two completely different lenses.  I have found the AF is far better on the f1.2 version and thus somewhat slower. I suspect it must be to hit focus at f1.2 at least most of the time.  Very critical.  As a point the f1.2 version goes to f16 while the f1.4 goes to f22 indicating some difference here too.

The f1.2 is twice as heavy.  It is a lot bigger in diameter.  All contributing factors to its use as compared to the f1.4 lens. The f1.2 is weather sealed (filter required).  The f1.4 is not.

IME, you are not going to just pick it up and win with it.  That is why it gets a bad, undeserved, rap from novice users.  I still tell people if they are not into really learning it, get the f1.4 copy instead.

This is one lens, along with its bigger brother the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM Lens, I will keep forever.  There is nothing like f1.2 and nobody, but nobody, makes lenses like this pair.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston,

"You can't draw any conclusions from the fact that she left a lens out in the rain; I've done something just as stupid three times in the past seven months."

Yes I realize I could be wrong and if I am I apologize right now.  After teaching tool and die for too many years, I have a sense of a person's level by very simple actions. I can tell by how a person handles his/her tools or how they hand me a wrench if they are a diemaker.  On the other side, after doing photography instructing for so long I pretty much can glean a persons level, too.

Not these folks but the forums are full of people that never touch a camera or lens. Not to mention LR or PS.  They read reviews or other peopels posts and they make replies from that.  Keyboard photographers!  It isn't that hard to tell.

As for stupidness, I believe that is my new middle name.  I think I have cornered that market. Too bad it is worthless!

I sincerely hope they love their new 50mm f1.2L as much as I do.  Work with it. 

[Mallard]

I am no expert on lens, however I dropped my phone in the water during a dek set.  I picked it up shut it off and put it in my wader pocket until I got home.  I bought some rice, pulled the battery, sd card and sim card put the phone in a zip lock bag filled with rice and let it set for four days.  Pulled it out and put in the sim card, sd card, and the battery.  Fired up the phone and presto my phone works great ever since.  I don't know if the rice would pull moisture out of a lens in this manner, but it might be worth a try!  Hope this helps and does'nt sound to crazy.  Good Luck.

[ebiggs1]

"... a couple of cups of plain white rice in it."

This, in my experience, is worthless. And can quite possibly get rice dust in places where it does not belong.  But a warm heating pad can work.  Along the same note, desiccant doesn't do much either unless you have a gallon bucket full of the stuff.