Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Chris 38 on April 29, 2007, 04:32:57 pm

Title: 100-400 Rattles and Collar
Post by: Chris 38 on April 29, 2007, 04:32:57 pm
The 100-400 I dropped at the airshow came back from Canon.  One thing I noticed is that while carrying the lens in my hand, I can feel something clanking around in it.  When I engage the AF, this same thing goes clunk at first.  Is this from the IS system's floating elements?  I can't say it appears to have affected picture quality, which is once again damn good.  (I even put a Kenko macro extender on it, and can't believe what I'm shooting.)  Nevertheless, I'm concerned about the clink/clank inside; 'didn't notice this before at all.

Second, I found that on a monopod, this lens balances very poorly once you've stretched it out to 400.  Simple physics there.  So I tried taking the lens collar off and actually putting it around the barrel; the collar was a b---- to get off, and now something inside the collar that the screw fit into is rattling around, and I can't tighten the screw to get the collar back on!  

If you don't want to rely on the IS always, does another manufacturer make a better-balancing collar guismo for this lens?

- Chris
Title: 100-400 Rattles and Collar
Post by: francois on April 30, 2007, 03:13:07 am
Quote
The 100-400 I dropped at the airshow came back from Canon.  One thing I noticed is that while carrying the lens in my hand, I can feel something clanking around in it.  When I engage the AF, this same thing goes clunk at first.  Is this from the IS system's floating elements?  I can't say it appears to have affected picture quality, which is once again damn good.  (I even put a Kenko macro extender on it, and can't believe what I'm shooting.)  Nevertheless, I'm concerned about the clink/clank inside; 'didn't notice this before at all.

Second, I found that on a monopod, this lens balances very poorly once you've stretched it out to 400.  Simple physics there.  So I tried taking the lens collar off and actually putting it around the barrel; the collar was a b---- to get off, and now something inside the collar that the screw fit into is rattling around, and I can't tighten the screw to get the collar back on! 

If you don't want to rely on the IS always, does another manufacturer make a better-balancing collar guismo for this lens?

- Chris
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Hi,
Mine doesn't seem to rattle. If the locking ring is set to the smoothest position then a faint noise can be heard. But it's not very audible and would go unnoticed except in a very very quiet room. With an extender, there's more mecanical play between the lens/extender/body and some clunking.

I can't say anything about your lens collar. Did you tighten it too much and stripped the threads? See below for a technical description (with parts) of that lens collar.

The operating mode of the 100-400 (pump) is somewhat difficult to balance but you may want to read this [a href=\"http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/tutorials/monopods/index.html]RRS article[/url] on monopods. If you have a long lens plate (not a short one made for the 100-400) attached to your lens collar, you could slide it forward or backward in the clamp to find the best balance. Check out Wimberley website (http://www.tripodhead.com/products/lens-plates-main.cfm). The plates feature dual safety stops and are compatible with RSS lever clamps.