EF 28-135 IS shutdown problem

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I'd like to hear from other users about my problem with the 28-135IS. I use an ElanIIe and a EF 28-135 IS lens. After pressing the shutter with this lens mounted, often the camera will shut itself down and the low battery light will flash on the top LCD panel. This occurs even with a new fresh battery. This happens most of the time but not always. I have tried it in all the different metering modes, with IS off or on, in Manual and Autofocus, with and without the built-in fill flash, and with an accessory flash mounted in the hot shoe- no difference. The shutdown never occurs with my other lenses, a 100/2.8 macro and 100-400 L IS. By the way, the exposure and focus are usually fine with the lens even if it has shut down immeiately after an exposure, and if I turn the camera off(L) and back on again, I get afull battery signal on the LCD panel again, and I can even make another exposure with the lens, at which point it will usually shut down again. Any ideas or

-- Chris Dandrea (cda411@aol.com), February 06, 2000

Answers

The sympoms you describe are frequently caused by:

1) Bad battery contact - clean the contacts and put a piece of folded paper between the battery and it's cover to move it closer to the contacts.

2) Older non-Canon lenses that don't communicate well with the newer bodies

I have heard of this being caused by some Canon lenses as well. They must be defective in some way I suppose. Interestingly, they usually work when put on a different Camera body. This can result from having both camera and lens electronics at opposite ends of their tolerance specs. The only way to know for sure if it's the lens or the camera would be to send them both back to Canon together, but it's most likely the lens that's out of spec.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), February 06, 2000.


Chris, This sounds like a problem with the lens. You should probably call Canon and send in the lens.

-- Lanier Benkard (lanierb@leland.stanford.edu), February 07, 2000.

Hey,

it may be late to join in, but I have had this problem with my elan II as well. I have had the camera looked at twice, and nothing is wrong with it. It came down to battery contacts. I have heardthat this is a big problem with the elan II. THe simple solution that I have found to be very effective is the battery pack option. Its like 50$ US and gives a vertical shutter release. I haven't had any problems since then.

AP

-- perkel (perkel@ieee.org), May 22, 2000.


I had similar problem to this with my EOS-1 and a Sigma 21-35. It seems that the focusing motor was putting such a strain on the battery that the camera was shutting down. You might want to put the lense in the shop. You said it does it manual or autofocus so this sounds like the lense may have an electronic problem internally.

--Brian

-- Brian Mason (masonba@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.


Chris,

There is no problem with camera/lens interaction. I have friends who use the 28-135 IS on their IIE with no problems, and I've used mine successfully on an old "original" Elan (100) and a 10S.

Try to borrow another EOS body. That may help you see if the problem could rest with your Elan, or with the lens.

-- Manfred Bracklow (mbracklow@juno.com), September 19, 2000.



I use the same lens on my EOS 3, both of which I bought new in March this year. At the time I was using Grandcell rechargeable batteries, and the PB-E2 (holds 8 AA batteries). When I started testing the camera and lens, the same thing happened. I took everything to Canon Australia. Camera and lens tested fine. The tech said that both the image stabilizer mode and the predictive AI focus mode on the camera usually drain a lot of power from the batteries. I tried a good quality alkaline battery and haven't had a problem since (at least 6 months). And the batteries in the camera have been there since I had it checked (about 50 or more rolls of film).

So don't just use a fresh battery, but maybe a good brand battery.

-- Michael King (action_photo_guy@hotmail.com), December 23, 2000.


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