Nice but flawed

This was a really nice general walk about lens. I had several years faithful service with some very crisp results. However it failed. Just like so many other people with this lens, "error 99". Turn the camera off an on would reset it for a while until finally even that stopped working. Searching the net and I found it to be a very common fault of this lens. Apparently an internal wiring harness breaks. I wasn't prepared to spend the money to get it fix so I sold it as is (with full disclosure as to its problem) and still made AU$150 so I was happy. I see it has been replaced with the 15-85mm so I hope Canon also fixed the fault.

I had the same problem, got it repaired from canon us for 110 dollars total. optically it is not as good as the 18-55 kit lens but I like the range on it.

after the repair, it shoots wider so I guess canon recalibrated.

I looked at it , the 15-85 and the 17-55 . Ended up with the 17-55 .

I had the same issue after 5 years use. Cost only a few dollars and an hour work to replace the flex cable. The lens is as new again.

And here are some pictures to show the inside of the 17-85  lens and the replaced flexcable.

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9492148352/photos/1316125/power_diaphragm_with_faulty_cable

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9492148352/photos/1316124/new_flex_cable-ef-s-17-85

I did the repair outside on my patio table on a clear Sydney day. The parts are not on the lawn, that the table cloth. I took the opportunity to clean the dust out of the lens and it is like new again.

The EFS17-85 is basically the only lens I use on my 20D now the 6D is my main camera. It is the oldest lens I have with the most shots of all lenses.

aus_pic_hunter wrote:

And here are some pictures to show the inside of the 17-85  lens and the replaced flexcable.

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9492148352/photos/1316125/power_diaphragm_with_faulty_cable

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9492148352/photos/1316124/new_flex_cable-ef-s-17-85

I did the repair outside on my patio table on a clear Sydney day. The parts are not on the lawn, that the table cloth. I took the opportunity to clean the dust out of the lens and it is like new again.

The EFS17-85 is basically the only lens I use on my 20D now the 6D is my main camera. It is the oldest lens I have with the most shots of all lenses.

You don't happen to have step-by-step instructions for that do you?  Looks pretty daunting to dive into that w/o some guidance.

ive done it. canon creases the wire in some spots, and it should be curled instead so i did that and it works fine

Youtube is your friend if you need video instructions on how to do something.