EF 70-200 F4L IS 1st gen

SteveHU89 wrote:

jcr67 wrote:

SteveHU89 wrote:

How all this started. Long story short: bought the lens used many years ago, it's been mostly sitting in its Canon pouch for years. Finally upgraded to FF camera and noticed that lens not always focuses accurately. I believed that camera and lens need to be focus calibrated to each other, so I sent it to Canon service center.

Turns out camera is fine and the lens needs "zoom mechanism replaced" (quote from service person). They quoted a price of 400 euros for this. My jaw hit the floor. I love the lens and its output, but does it worth repairing it for 90% of its current price on the used market? How much could I sell it for? I'm completely devastated.

I had the 70-200 F4L IS version 1 and had the auto focus issue which is fairly common with this lens. Auto focus and manual focus doesn't work when lens is pointed up or down. I had to pay to have the USM system replaced. It cost $300 for the repair and I went ahead and had it done, here's why. I decided even though the resale value is pretty low now, the image quality from the lens was worth $300 as opposed to the lens being worth nothing. I made that decision based on the fact that I may never recoup that cost. So if I were you, I would make the decision to repair based on whether or not I will use the lens, not on resale value.

P.S.

I recently traded the lens through MPB and they gave me $425 credit for it. (MPB was informed of repair, I included invoice for repair work done.) With this said, I would still not count on recouping that cost.

I agree, at least that the sentimental value of the lens is priceless. When it decided to work and focus properly on subject, I got breathtaking results. Basically if I couldn't use this lens, then there would be no point for me to use FF as this is the lens I wanted to use like 99% of the time.

But I have to wonder if we are talking about the same issue ("zoom mechanism replacemen")? And if I were to pay this huge price, then would the problem or any other pricey problem come up in the future? Because if the answer is no, then I would consider paying for repair. If the answer is yes, then a sad goodbye to this lens.

It may be possible it is the same issue, my repair was not done through Canon and maybe the shop just used different terminology. As for the future durability, not sure. I remember reading somewhere (maybe here) that Canon revised the part that was failing and it should not happen again, but I can't verify that. If it were me and I thought I would get enough use from the lens, I would pay $400.