I finally figured out why those old Canon 50mm lenses get stuck on infinity

I had three of these come through my shop last month with the same issue. Everyone online says it's a dried up helicoid grease, but that's only half the problem. The real culprit is the focus ring bumper ring swelling from old lubricant breakdown, which then jams against the metal. I found this out after I broke down a 1.8 FD lens and measured the gap with calipers. Has anyone else run into this or just me?

4 comments

4 Comments

harperp245d ago

Haha wish I learned that before I trashed a lens myself!

stella_scott965d agoMost Upvoted

Question why everyone's acting like this is a huge deal.

sean_barnes245d ago

That bumper ring thing explains a lot (wish I'd known this sooner).

jordan_hill5d agoMost Upvoted

Is it just me or does it feel like life is full of these random "bumper ring" moments where you realize you've been doing something the hard way for years? lol. I feel like there's so much stuff like this where someone could've saved me a ton of frustration if they'd just passed along a simple tip. Like how nobody told me you're supposed to dry your phone off before putting it in rice, or that you can reset a garbage disposal with a hex key from the bottom. It's wild how much we just stumble through things that have easy fixes if you know about them.