How long do lenses last?

[travis]

Given that a lens is taken care of how long does a canon lens last? Does the Image stabilizer, USM, or Auto focus ever go bad?

[Daniel Browning]

I'm not an expert on this, but I'll give my opinion anyway.

Given that a lens is taken care of how long does a canon lens last?

There are 40-year-old Canon FD lenses that still work.

Does the Image stabilizer, USM, or Auto focus ever go bad?

Yes. Some are worse than others. I would say that most will last at least half a decade or so with heavy use.

[alexniedra]

Given that a lens is taken care of how long does a canon lens last? Does the Image stabilizer, USM, or Auto focus ever go bad?

<address>Like Daniel pointed out, there are some (very) old FD
lenses out there that function fine. However, the lifespan of a lens
can often be shortened with misuse, high-impact incidents (read:
dropping) and abuse. </address>
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<address>But when we're talking about the L series, we face a dilemma:
They get misused, they get dropped and they get abused. But they still
work perfectly fine. </address>
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<address>But in general, I wouldn't hesitate that a well-taken care of
lens will have a long lifespan, especially one with good build quality.
Of course, dust, which may creep into a non-sealed lens even when it's
taken care of, can hurt its lifespan and consequently, resale value
takes a hit as well. In 2 years of shooting, I haven't faced spontaneous IS, AF or USM problems. These mechanisms have proven, at least to me, to be very consistent, even in consumer lenses like the EF-S 17-85. Of course, my mind was blown when I got the 24-70 L. :-)</address><address>
</address><address>Maybe a shooter with more experience can help you out - Maybe someone with 5-7 years of shooting experience. I hope they can share their experiences with you.
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[Steve Combs]

I've got FD lenses 40+ years old, I've got a couple of lenses for my OLD, OLD, OLD Graflex SpeedGraphic that are older than I am (and I'm gonna be 60 this year!). I've never had a lens fail/die/quit on me that hasn't been "abused" (dropped/struck hard/etc). I've been trying to learn this "hobby" of photography for ALMOST 50 years!


Treat them well, take good care of them and just go shoot! []

[EdN]

I've got a 30 year old 28mm F2.8 Canon FD manual focus lens that I once dropped on a concrete floor from waist height that still works fine. I don't use it much but I've had no problems with it whenever I need it. Canon's autofocus EF lenses are totally different in construction as there are a lot more internal electronics and motorized components. I hope they are just as durable as the FD lenses but you can't go wrong by taking care of your lenses like keeping them clean and dry all the time and not subjecting them to abuse like impacts.

[Benjamin]

My old EF 70-210mm f4 lens (one of the 1st AF EF mount lenses converted directly from FD lenses in 1987) still works fine, though I don't use it anymore. My friend's 300/2.8L IS has been heavily used and professionally abused for a decade now, and it still works flawlessly. My 24-70L survived multiple drops (oops...) and other abuses....


So I guess Canon lenses (especially L lenses) are pretty reliable.