[stormtech]

I recently purchased an FA* 300 f4.5 lens that was in need of repair as the lens would not manually focus (AF was fine). I sent it out to one of our most respected repair shops, and to my great surprise, the parts needed were found and the lens is working fine now - yeah!

But....when I first received the lens, beside the manual focus problem, there was something loose inside the lens. When you hold the lens horizontally in your hand, and gently rock it back and forth, you can hear/feel something moving inside.

Now that I have the lens back from repair, it still has the same "clunking" sound when you move it around. I asked the repair shop about this, and they said that there will always be some type of movement to allow for the focus mechanism, and that all is fine with the lens. They also said that they had the whole lens apart, and would have seen any problems when they reassembled it, which they did not.

The lens performs just beautifully with the IQ that it should have. It's just that this internal "clunking" sound bothers me, especially if I ever want to sell it.

So.....those of you with this lens - do you hear anything loose inside like I have explained above?

[Adam]

It's been a while, but as far as I recall, there was no such sound (except for maybe a little slack in the af/mf clutch itself).

[stormtech]

Boy, little things like this really bother me until I can figure them out.

Taking a closer look, it seems the "clunking" noise I am hearing is coming from the front of the lens. After Adam posted about the focus clutch, I looked again to see if that is where it was coming from.

So while holding the lens vertically with the front element facing downward, using my finger (covered with a microfiber cloth) I gently pushed up on the front element - well what do you know - the front element moves when I push on it and makes the sound I am hearing.

I've emailed the repair shop again with my findings. It did seem strange to me that this would be "normal".

Edit to add - I'm shipping the lens back to the repair shop tomorrow - here's hoping that it is simple fix!

[wlachan]

If it's just the front lens, tighten the retaining ring will do. However, it could also be the front lens group because there was no reason to disassemble individual lens for the lens to be repaired. Perhaps the lens was disassembled b4 you got it. Either way, it will be a simple fix which will take less than a min.

[stormtech]

Thought I would update -

You were right wlachan - the front element set was loose - just received the lens back in tip-top shape.

I am so excited - since it is cold and snowing outside, I just took a couple point/shoot test shots - man I love the colors and sharpness. Can't wait to give it a go on a nice day when the weather is better. Why is it when you receive a new lens it's always terrible outside?

[GaryH]

Looks great, glad you got it working well.