Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I had a 70-200 2.8 vr lens that stopped focusing. I had a lot of great suggestions on how to fix it, etc. Thanks for all that.
My lens are always clean (contacts). I thought they were clean. However it was suggested by Jeff to take a q-tip and alcohol and clean the contacts again. Guess what it worked. The lens now is focusing just great.

kocart Loc: Illinois

Yay!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

For a second there I was gonna high five ya......, never mind!!!! LoL
SS

Joe Blow

Good for you. If this happens again, check to see if any of the contacts are loose. That could be the issue if the focusing issue is intermittent. Hopefully it isn't, but you never know. Also, when not on your camera, use lens caps.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Lens caps always. I baby all my equipment. The contacts are tight but will watch them.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Thanks sharpshooter got lucky. Goes to show you when you think something is clean, maybe not and a different approach is needed. I never wanted to use q-tips because of the lint it would leave behind.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Yay its right.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Great news, Jules.
--Bob

jacklewis014

So glad the inexpensive fix worked this time. This is why UHH is such an awesome Forum to be a part of.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Amen for the club.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Another suggestion... NEVER EVER USE A Q-TIP anywhere inside a camera!

Common household "cotton buds" like Q-Tip shed tiny, tough cotton fibers that can get into and jam fine mechanisms such as the shutter or mirror of your camera.

Since you only used them on the contacts on the rear of the lens, it's probably not as risky as if you'd used them deeper inside the camera. Still, I'd avoid it in the future.

Either get and use proper, lint-free swabs (Pecs, for example).... or use a clean, lint-free cloth lightly dampened with alcohol (some say get the pure isopropyl stuff... but I find cheap "rubbing" alcohol works just as well).

The reason contact cleaning is sometimes needed is because oils get on there... finger oils or lubricants from inside the camera or lens. Very low voltages are used for communication between the camera and lens. It doesn't take much to interrupt it... even a small amount of oil that's almost invisible.

Some also suggest using a pencil eraser on those contacts.... I don't think that's a good idea, either. For one, pencil erasers are made from vegetable oil, so won't remove oil from the contacts. But erasers also can shed particles that I'd rather not have inside my camera.

Also never use anything abrasive on those contacts. They're usually gold plated, and you don't want to damage that.

Gold plating is used because it doesn't oxidize, the way most other metals do. That makes gold the best conductor, especially for low voltage applications like this. (And, because oxidization isn't an issue... stronger, harder to find and much more expensive electronic contact cleaners such as DeOxit also aren't necessary.)

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Great information and thank you. I only used the q-tip on the lens contacts which are silver not gold. Does that mean it's an older lens? I don't know.

Photocraig

Another approach is to wrap a microfiber cloth around a small screw driver or similar shaped object, wet with cleaning solution--the cloth--never the lens or camera. Wipe the contacts on both places. Then the lint isn't a problem.

Ditto on lens caps. And replacements are very cheap. Keh and Amazon are great sources.

Novicus Loc: north and east

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Many New ( modern ) lenses have silver ,actually chromeplated contact surfaces , work just as well and are durable too.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Glad to hear it worked, sometimes the simplest solution is the one that work's.