I accidentally left my Canon Zoom Lens EF 73-300mm 1:4-5.6 in the car over four days, including two days where the temps dropped down to -11F.
When I brought it into the house today and warmed it up, I discovered that it no longer functions in the autofocus mode. It does work all right in manual mode.
I checked that both my camera and the lens were properly set on autofocus, but nothing happens, although the little red autofocus spot is visible when I partially depress the shutter trigger. All of my other lenses work fine in autofocus mode.
Do I just need to let it rest longer in the warm house, or did I wreck the autofocus mechanism when I left it in such cold temperatures?
not sure if this helps or not but latly my 18-55 in auto focus dont work properly, what i did is set the lens to autofocus then pushed it round slightly and now it works fine in autofocus, the lens autofocus tends to get abit stuck, not sure if maybe your autofocus has got a little stiff/stuck?
Having converted that it is -24deg C and that's probably outside the recommended operating temperature - the fact it has been left so exposed for such a long period of time means that it is even more likely damage has occurred. If you have an APS-C sized Canon camera I'd recommend the 55-250 as an extremely competent replacement.
@lcarlanphotography I'm a bit nervous at the idea of forcing the focus ring when it's in autofocus mode. But I'll keep your suggestion in mind.
@mumrar9009 My camera is a Canon Rebel T1i. I'm going to leave the lens in the warmest room of the house for a few more days to see if anything changes. Thanks for the recommend on the 55-250mm. I guess I need to start saving my pennies for a potential replacement.
If there's nothing wrong with the glass but the electronics within are questionable, couldn't you consider finding a repair shop? The glass is what costs. Also worst case if its cost prohibited to repair it could become a lens you use manual focus only.
Sorry about the situation. I really hate when camera gear stops working. I do hope it corrects itself. Good luck.
Sorry to hear about your problem. I would suggest that to ensure the best change of it being usable you need to leave it in a warm room for several days. After four days at temperatures well below freezing, it will take quite a while for it to thoroughly warm up. Patience is a virtue here! I hope that you are successful in getting it working again.
Thanks for your advice regarding my non-autofocusing zoom lens. After nearly a week in a warm house, I tried it again, but no joy on the autofocus. But I can manually focus it, as long as I have it on a tripod. (When I try to hand-hold it, the weight on my Canon T1i is too much for my not-so-good wrists to handle, and I get lots of blur.)
I think I'll hold off on getting a replacement right now. I'm considering upgrading my camera, but until I know if I'm going to stick with Canon, or if I'm going to try Nikkon or another make, there's no sense in buying glass that might not work on the new body. :-)
@toast Thanks for the suggestion, I tried that but it still is not responding. It was down to -11F over the four days the lens was left in the car, and I'm thinking that the circuitry just couldn't handle the cold.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
@mumrar9009 My camera is a Canon Rebel T1i. I'm going to leave the lens in the warmest room of the house for a few more days to see if anything changes. Thanks for the recommend on the 55-250mm. I guess I need to start saving my pennies for a potential replacement.
Sorry about the situation. I really hate when camera gear stops working. I do hope it corrects itself. Good luck.
Ian
Thanks for your advice regarding my non-autofocusing zoom lens. After nearly a week in a warm house, I tried it again, but no joy on the autofocus. But I can manually focus it, as long as I have it on a tripod. (When I try to hand-hold it, the weight on my Canon T1i is too much for my not-so-good wrists to handle, and I get lots of blur.)
I think I'll hold off on getting a replacement right now. I'm considering upgrading my camera, but until I know if I'm going to stick with Canon, or if I'm going to try Nikkon or another make, there's no sense in buying glass that might not work on the new body. :-)