Lens problem! 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 :-(

[SpeedingSphere]

Well I have a bit of a problem that happened to me today. I've had my camera sitting for a few days, hasn't seen any use since I last set it down. Today I was going out somewhere and I was planning to use it.

I put the card in, took a few shots to see if the battery was alright, and realized that none of them had focused. I thought I had focus beep turned off, which was why I didn't hear the beep, but none of the shots had locked focus. When I press my AF button, the camera just kinda nudges the focus towards infinity at random intervals, never locking a focus.

What is also weird is every now and then I get Error01, which is telling me to clean the contacts. I've cleaned them with a pencil eraser, rubbing alcohol, and some lens cleaning solution. None of them have seemed to cure the problem.

One last problem it is seeing is the aperture. It appears to be jammed in somewhere at around F/8 or F/10. When I press DOF Preview, the aperture makes spazzing sounds, but doesn't seem to move at all.

Mind you, all of this seems to have happened while it was sitting in its camera bag.

The lens is fine besides the locked F/10 aperture and no AF. Manual focus works fine for me, but the lens wont report the correct aperture.

I'm very fortunate to know that it is the lens and not the body. I've tested the lens on my 350D as well and it has the same problems. I'm glad that it is the lens because I have a big cruise coming up and in the worst case, the lens is much cheaper to replace than a body that I've just purchased only months ago.

I'll be making a trip to the Canon center tomorrow or another day this week. It's a good thing that its rather close to me, or I'd be worried about having the lens back in time(cruise is in 24 days). I hope that they will be lenient with me, as I don't think that I have my box and warranty card any longer. I'll be closet digging for a bit before I go to Canon. :-( While I'm there, I may even drop off my 70-200mm F/2.8L IS to be cleaned and calibrated with the 40D if there is a reasonable time quote for doing everything.

One thing I'm just wondering. Has anybody heard of this lens having any problems? It's been a great lens until now. I'm hoping this wont push back my flash purchase. Hopefully Canon can repair this under warranty, or for very cheap.

[SpeedingSphere]

And now, and even more bizarre cure. LOL

I had a dream that I drove up to the Canon service center and I watched the guy fix my lens right infront of me. It took him what seemed around 5 minutes He removed the lens mount and the housing came off and there was a detached spring on something down inside. He goes "This was easy! You could do this too" and then I woke up.

As weird as this sounds, I figured why not try. So I opened it up(having opened it about a year before to clean behind the front element, I knew my way around the inside) and inside was, yes, a spring that was not attached to where it should be. I popped the spring back on, closed it up, attached it to my camera, and then I heard the aperture pop back open. Auto focus works perfect and the aperture is fine through all stops. Not sure if this problem will recur but it is for now cured.

This morning through e-mail, Canon told me that my lens was out of warranty and I would have to pay for a repair. Didn't lose anything with fixing it myself, did I. :-)