Not sure which box you mean? The packaging/box and contents looked new. I just noticed that the mount contacts look lightly used. The external condition of the lens looks new. A closer examination of the lens (shining a LED light through it a maximum open aperture) shows some tiny dust/specks) but these are difficult/impossible to see when looking at the lens in normal light.
I can say with my 2 L lenses (and pretty much every other lens including Sigma) I don't have any "scoring" on the contacts. In fact - I can't discern any wear at all on the contacts of my 2 L lenses - both about 2 months old. I just took an LED flashlight to see if I could see any dust at all inside my 24-105 and I can't.
Well, of course, and don't know anyone who is disappointed about that.
They are gold colored and presumably gold plated for corrosion resistance? All of my L lens look like this. They look too shiny to be a copper but I suppose that is possible. Gold plated electrical contacts are commonplace.
I understand the disappointment, but doubt if it is worth the trouble to exchange the lens. You might contact the dealer to let them know about your concerns. Perhaps they might be willing to compensate you in some way to avoid the return.
Yea, I realize that this practice means that LOTS of lens are returned. I guess it is just the nature of the beast.
Look, a certain number of lenses out of every batch are taken off the production line and tested extensively. This either involves mounting them on a camera, or on an optical test bench. Either way the contacts have to make contact with the corresponding pins on the test equipment. I suspect yours is one of these. Personally I'd be grateful - you now know it's probably as good as can be and actually Canon could charge more for these 'tested versions'.
Nice idea although statistically is is probably far more likely that I got a lens that was returned by a previous customer. The lens may have been returned because there was some issue (as yet undetected by me) or just because they used it and changed their mind. The point is, no way to know. I'll shoot a few more pics tonight and if they look good I'll keep it.
Well it seems you're going to be anxious or even miserable until either you think you've got an untouched lens by having it replaced, or perhaps you will be able to reassure yourself when you've tested it (assuming you can test absolutely every aspect. But what if you should miss something?) Either way good luck.
No I don't think it's the lens. It's more likely to be an anxiety aura. Not much is known about these but some think they can produce high voltages that can corrupt files. In fact tension can cause a sensor to reduce its DR and in extreme cases cause artifacts that don't exist.
Gee thanks. You must be well loved on this forum since you spend so much of your valuable time typing in such insightful and helpful answers! You clearly appear to have a fair amount of experience in the mental health field? Don't give up on it, it sometimes takes time to see results!
Most likely one of the other causes you mentioned. I can't see how the lens could be involved. Can you?
I suppose if the contact between the lens and camera body was screwy that could potentially cause an issue? But I tend to agree with you. I use a Olympus 500mm mirror lens with adaptor on my Canon 6D and that works with no issues so it is hard to see how a Canon lens corrupts an image received by the sensor.
