Slight grinding noise on 70-200mm F4L IS

[abarickman]

Hey all,

I have a 70-200mm F4L IS that is just sent to Canon for repair. I sent it in because when the IS unit spins up and down I get a very slight scraping noise and the view would jump slightly. They said that they were not able to reproduce it but replaced the IS unit anyway for good measure. The slight jump is gone but the scraping noise remains. I borrowed my friends 24-105 F4L IS and hear no noise what-so-ever. Is this normal on my lens? Can someone with this same lens tell me if they have this noise occur.

Thank you.

[RolandAA]

I have both those lenses. The 70-200 makes a soft raspy whirring sound. Describing it as a scraping sound might not be too far off. I've seen several reviews that mentioned that the IS is loud on the 70-200 so it's not unusual to be able to hear it. This was my first stabilized lens and I used to occasionally notice a little shift when it spins up which was more apparent at the 200 end of the zoom. It is a function of the IS moving the optics as it starts up. Now that I'm used to it I don't notice it any more. The 24-105 is very quiet in comparison, I can only hear it in a very quite environment. I also don't ever remember the image shifting when it spins up but it probably wouldn't be as noticeable on this much wider lens.

[abarickman]

Originally Posted by RolandAA

I have both those lenses. The 70-200 makes a soft raspy whirring sound. Describing it as a scraping sound might not be too far off. I've seen several reviews that mentioned that the IS is loud on the 70-200 so it's not unusual to be able to hear it. This was my first stabilized lens and I used to occasionally notice a little shift when it spins up which was more apparent at the 200 end of the zoom. It is a function of the IS moving the optics as it starts up. Now that I'm used to it I don't notice it any more. The 24-105 is very quiet in comparison, I can only hear it in a very quite environment. I also don't ever remember the image shifting when it spins up but it probably wouldn't be as noticeable on this much wider lens.

Thanks for your response. Does the sound you describe on your 70-200 remain or just when spinning up/down? When spinning I can hear a very very faint whir it's the start and stop noise that concerns me.

[RolandAA]

It's only made enough noise on start up to catch my attention a couple times but never when stopping. Are you moving the camera when you notice the excessive noise? I usually tend to not be moving when I first half press the shutter button.


You know that I'm going to have to try to make this happen when I get home....

[RolandAA]

Well what do you know... I put my 70-200 on the camera and now that I am paying attention to it when the IS goes on there is a definite louder sound that I could describe as a scraping sound or possibly like a gear engaging sound for a fraction of a second before the quiet whirring and again when the IS goes off.

I have had the lens for about a year now and taken thousands of pictures with it. I'm not going to worry about it but next time I see someone with one I hope they don't think I'm too strange when I ask for permission to listen to it.

[abarickman]

Originally Posted by RolandAA

Well what do you know... I put my 70-200 on the camera and now that I am paying attention to it when the IS goes in there is a definite louder sound that I could describe as a scraping sound or possibly like a gear engaging sound for a fraction of a second before the quiet whirring and again when the IS goes off.

I have had the lens for about a year now and taken thousands of pictures with it. I'm not going to worry about it but next time I see someone with one I hope they don't think I'm too strange when I ask for permission to listen to it.

Thanks Roland. I feel a little better.