Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM disassembly for replacing the aperture flex cable

[@frederickriegelagen]

Thank you so much, My 17-55 had the infamous err01 and now it's completely repaired after a stressfull afternoon.

[@jameslucas6454]

Just the video! My 17-55 lens died a couple of weeks ago (aperture issue), so I ordered the flexi, and this video helped me take it apart and fit it :) Thanks!

[@a.liutaio2207]

Thank you for great video !

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Glad you liked it!

[@katmanluke7187]

What if you just need to clean inside back lens closest to bayonet? You can remove that around 5:36 correct you don't have to continue on? Mine appears to have the start of fungus inside that back glass & would like to remove it early on. Many thanks for your great videos! 🙏

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

As I remember, you have to follow this guide until I remove the PCB, then you can remove the rear lens element if you remove the screws which are parallel with the lens (so if you hold the lens downwards, the screws facing downwards, you can see those screws at 04:22). There are three screws which are parallel with the lens element (so if you hold the lens downwards, those screws are going horizontal)... those screws are calibrated, and as I remember covered with some glue, so don't remove those.

[@ernestoguevara9364]

Muchas gracias por su entrega

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

You're welcome!

[@brentsummers7377]

Definitely worth the effort for a more expensive lens like 17-55mm. I had a very old Canon 28-80 mm II kit lens that only worked properly with the camera set to aperture priority & f3.5. Probably flex cable problem. Anyway, it did work but photos were pretty soft and lots of purple chromatic aberration. To get a decent photo it was necessary to adjust in the Gimp or Irfan View. So I gave up on the lens & bought a Canon pancake lens which is a 100x better😀

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Thank you for your comment!

[@ernestoguevara9364]

Muy buen video

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Thank you!

[@The-four-o-five]

Before you start disassembling the unit (9:20), mind that some of these lenses come with eccentric rollers on the IS unit. Mark their position and orientation before you disassemble in oder to avoid a decentered lens with poor optical performance.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

I checked them, but none of them were eccentric, so that's why I haven't marked them.

[@The-four-o-five]

I'm really not sure if the risk @ 9:00 is worth it. If the loose focusing element crashes into the back of the front lens group the damage could exceed the lens' worth. Remove the front lens group beforehand (mark its position/orientation before you remove it) and then @ 9:00 push the cam barrel outwards and - after marking its orientation in the cam barrel - grab it carefully and screw it out, then store it in a secure place.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Thank you for your tip!

[@Ryan-Payne]

Hey there, I'd love any wisdom you may have for me. I purchased a second hand 17-55 cheap. It has pretty bad lens creep where if I aim the lens down and shake slightly the lens will zoom to 55, it also has a pretty rough manual focus ring which sounds a bit like sand paper as you turn it. It otherwise functions perfectly. You've done a fantastic job as showing the lens' deconstruction above but I'm wondering what the appropriate fix would be for my two issue. Thank you! I've contacted Canon for a repair quote but it exceeded the price I've paid for it and I consider myself pretty handy.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Zoom creep: tighten the screws which I remove between 08:20 and 08:50. If that doesn't help enough, you can put a small rubbers to the three cutouts: starting from 06:22, I remove three screws and their washers from the side of the lens. Zoom out a little bit of the lens afterwards, and you can see small places / cutouts right next to the hole of the screws which are in the USM motor. You can put small rubber pads there, and that increases the friction between the USM motor and the zoom ring. You might put some grease on the rubber pads to slide it smoother. Sand in the lens: disassemble the lens until removing the USM motor, then clean the lens rings / tubes (zoom ring, manual focus ring and the side of the USM motor), put some fine mechanical grease on the parts which are sliding (importantly, both sides of the manual focus ring).

[@Ryan-Payne]

@@CamerasLensesEtc amazing, Thank you so much! For greasing both sides of the manual focus ring, I can see a way to grease the inside but how do I grease 'both sides' does it need further disassembly?

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

@@Ryan-Payne What I mean by that is grease the front and rear side of the manual focus ring. (So if you hold the lens as it would be attached on the camera, the ring slides on the plastic sleeve where the white line is, which shows the current focal length (front side of the ring), and on the other side is where the focus scale window is, (rear side of the ring)). So grease the surface lightly where the two plastic surface meets. You do not need to grease the inner side of the manual focus ring.

[@Ryan-Payne]

@@CamerasLensesEtc Thank you again and sorry if I am slow on the uptake. I have the USM motor here, but I can't see a good place to grease from. I see little wheels that look like they're part of the auto focus, and the other side of the manual wheel looks to be pressed up against more plastic. Do I need to remove more parts of the usm assembly? I see they are a few ribbon cables along it.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

@@Ryan-Payne Don't grease anything in the USM motor. As I have written before, the manual focus ring is between two plastic covers, just grease the parts where the manual focus ring slides (touches) the two covers. I remove one of the cover at 03:05, then I remove the manual focus ring, then you have access to the other side of the ring.

[@nicolasmancosu9103]

I tried but got stuck at 7:15 the screw seems to be glued in place and won't move at all. Any tips?

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Do you still have the head of the screw or it is shaved off? If you have, try other screwdrivers, there are some PH000 or PH00 ones which fits better, some of them don't go into the screw completely. If the screw head is shaved off, then you can try to use a pliers with teeth to grab the screw from the side, or if that doesn't help you might have to drill the head of the screw. (Or search for other solutions here on youtube.)

[@TWX1138]

I know it's been several months since you posted this video, but do you remember if the zoom-ring on yours tended to be sticky? My copy of the lens requires me to pull the focusing ring towards the camera fairly tightly if I want smooth zoom while using the lens to take video, and I'm curious if this is common or a quirk of my particular lens.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

I repaired several of this lens since I posted some video, and zooming with some of those lenses are not smooth. What you can do is to apply a thin layer of fine mechanical grease on the sliding elements: inside the lens, on the metal lens tubes, and on the plastic cover of the lens where the rings (zoom ring - USM motor - focusing ring - rear cover) are sliding. Be careful when greasing the lens inside, the grease should not go on the lens elements. I use a small hard plastic brush, "paint" the grease on the metal sliding element, zoom a little bit, then I reach other parts through the cutouts, apply the grease then go on... Also, you can tighten the screws which connects the front lens tube to the other parts of the lens. Between 17 and 20mm, the lens needs just a little bit of force to zoom, it is normal, and comes from the inner design of the sliding parts.

[@felixespana2004]

Hello! You are a very skilled artisan. I'm curious, what country do you live in? Someday you can make a video about your self, how did you learn about repairing lenses, do you take pictures? Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

I'm Hungarian and living in the Netherlands. Currently I have many unedited videos about repairing and cleaning lenses (they are coming soon), but when I run out of them, I'm planning to do other videos about how I record my videos, and tips for buying, selling and checking photo equipment.

[@felixespana2004]

CamerasLensesEtc I hope that your abilities are appreciated in the Netherlands. I will be waiting for your new videos to watch them. Greetings! 🇨🇱

[@fernandoclavijoblazquez3851]

I have this same lens. This morning, after several shots, it got stuck at 55mm zoom position. I cannot zoom out again. QUESTION: Do you think is more probable to be just dirt, or there is any part prone to break which I have to buy? The rest of the story: I did not force it because I could break it. If I shake the lens nothing sounds as borken, but there is a smooth clicking of a little part moving loose on the same position, it always sounds alike. I was shooting with a Canon EOS M5 (EF-M mount) with a Viltrox adapter when the lens failed. I believe the fault has nothing to do with that, it seems to be a mere mechanic problem. The lens did not suffer any impact or damage previously, but it is 2nd hand. No marks of impact are to see on the shell. Apart of this faillure the lens works fine: it communicates with the camera, focuses ok, diaphragm opens and closes correctly, also tested on a Canon EOS 600D Thank you for your video. I will have lots of next weekend. I'll let you know whether I succeed or not. ;-) Fernando Clavijo

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Most likely the screw(s) which connecting the front lens tube to the rest of the lens got loose, and that prevents zooming. It is a quite common problem, and it is relatively easy to repair. Just follow the disassembly video until 07:36, tighten the three big screws on the side of the lens (the screws I remove between 08:20 and 08:49). Then you might check the other screws if they are loose. Then assemble the lens.

[@fernandoclavijoblazquez3851]

@@CamerasLensesEtc Thanks a lot. Next weekend I wrap up my sleeves.

[@fernandoclavijoblazquez3851]

Hello again. The faillure was not exactly as you told but close.. It was one of those three little bolts (see minute 8:36) inside the zoom, which act as axis of three white rolling cylinders that guide the zoom along slonts when it rotates. One of those bolts was loose, and the thread of its hole was damaged. I solved glueing the bolt into its hole with Epoxi-glue. After a dry time y assembled the lens back and the zoom works again, somewhat hard, but this happened before the faillure. I am not very confident on this fixing, but I thing it is not worth to acquire the inner zoom zylinder with the damaged hole. Maybe I buy some lens grease an apply it later. Meanwhile, I have to handle the zoom with care. Many thanks for you video, i'm now about consindering donating ;-)

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

I'm glad my video has helped, and thank you very much for your donation!

[@jokowahyuwidodo8172]

I need to buy image stabilizer cable, where can i get it? Please answer, thanks.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

As I remember, you can't buy the cable separately, you have to buy the whole IS unit. Check ebay and aliexpress or your local camera repair shop.

[@jokowahyuwidodo8172]

@@CamerasLensesEtc many thanks for your information.

[@iRiselyTech]

Hi, thanks for the informative video, is there a way to replace the focus barrel from the front of the lens? (Part YB2-1083-000). I have the front element out after removing the trim ring and removing the 3 screws, but I cannot figure out how to remove the barrel that holds the threads, as my lens was dropped and a section of thread is now missing, thank for your help

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

I' not sure, but as I know there are still three screws which can be accessed from the front of the lens (after the front lens element has been removed), and if you remove those additional three screws, then you can separate the front lens barrel and the lens barrel which is inside of it.

[@drawwithdrewy5654]

Köszi ezt a videót! Még nem estünk neki szétszedni, a mi gépünk eleinte valamilyen kapcsoalati hibát jelzett az objekív és a gép között, most pedig már nem nyílik ki a blende, csak résnyire megakadt. :(

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Akkor sok sikert kívánok! :)

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Ez a hiba lehet képstabilizátor probléma is. Ha némelyik zoom állásnál működik a blende és némelyiknél nem, akkor az a szerencsésebb eset, akkor csak egy blende kábelbe fog kerülni a dolog. Ha a blende nem működik egyik zoom állásnál sem, és ha megpróbálod változtatni a mélységélesség ellenőrző gombbal, és a rekesz csak ugrik egy kicsit, de nem nyílik vagy nem csukódik, akkor az képstabilizátor kábel lesz, amit nem lehet cserélni. De szétszedés után úgyis látod, hogy melyik kábel van elszakadva.

[@SomeStrangemysterious]

Well, now I know why these lenses are so expensive.

[@bigotonbrand]

Screw should be loosen and tighten on a cross pattern, you risk putting too much stress on the last screw mounts by loosening in a circular pattern

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Thank you for the tip! I'll try that next time!

[@bmat997]

Tried the repair. Screws are glued with loctite somehow, maybe my second hand lens had already been repaired before ? In any case, I screwed up 2 threads of the usm motor. End of the story I think.

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Sometimes some loose glue is used, but it is not preventing from removing the screws. Usually the problem is that the screwdriver not fits the screw perfectly, and it damages the screw. If there is a little groove left in the screw, you might try Bondhus Screwgrab, or use a very small circular saw to cut a groove in the screw, and use a flathead screwdriver to get the screw out, or drill a hole in the head of the screw. If you cut or drill, be very careful not to get metal dust inside the lens.

[@bmat997]

@@CamerasLensesEtc Hi, I went with the circular saw and I got the screw removed ! Let's see how far I can get from here :)

[@bmat997]

Repaired !!! I'm scared however, I damaged the brand new cable near the pcb while connecting it... It seems to work for now. I think I will buy a second hand prime 24mm lens, just in case this lens fails again.

[@The-four-o-five]

Deleted - provided wrong info here, sorry

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

The screws I removed at 12:45 are not calibrated/eccentric screws. There are three screws which are on the side of the lens (those still in the last lens element, and were not removed), and they are eccentric screws, so calibrated, but they were not removed from the last lens element I removed.

[@The-four-o-five]

Deleted - provided wrong info here, sorry.

[@adasiwarribo2630]

0

[@CamerasLensesEtc]

Thank you for comment, I really appreciate it! 😃