Wow did I just give my most expensive lens an unwanted durability test. I figured I'd post it in one of these lens threads, since it is a testament to the durability of an L series lens. I thought I was going to have to start shedding some tears right after it happened. I cannot believe the thing ain't fubar'd.
I was farting around with longer exposures in bright daylight today, after noting the speed of the low level clouds. Since I only have 3, 3 stop ND filters and learned they aren't enough, I knew my only option was telephoto shots(clouds would appear to cover more area zoomed in than wide angle). So the lens I was using when I gave it this "test" was the Canon 100-400L IS.
I walked up the hill behind my parent's house to try doing some shots of the steam coming out of the stacks at the corn milling plant here. It was icy as hell under a dusting of snow. I about fell a couple times on the way up. I shoot, get freezing cold and decide I needed to beat the sun and get some shots from the highway, without the trees in the way. So being cold and in a hurry, I decided to run back down the hill. I put the fully extended tripod(all three leg sections were out) under my left arm, hands inside my sleeves, and stuck the camera with the lens attached inside my coat. I zipped up, with the end of the lens sticking out the bottom of my jacket(it was extended, so it's rather long). It still had the cokin P filter holder with all three of those ND filters still attached(thank god!). I wasn't far into my run like this, on a flat dirt trail, covered solid with ice and a dusting of snow on top, when it crossed my mind just how dumb I was being. It was half comical how the moment after I realized how dumb it was to be running, I went straight down on the ice. Before I crashed, I was just thinking, oh I can run and not fall, so I'll be ok. So I'm flying along, foot slips, one arm stuck with the tripod, other in the sleeve. Having the camera inside my coat, sticking out the bottom did not help matters. There was no way to do a thing for the camera and lens as I crashed on it. The front of the lens smashes into the ground pefectly head on(since gravity was sure to make sure it was pointed that way, the way it was poking out below my jacket). Me, with my momentum, make sure to finish it off as we smash into it. I could tell the lens and cam took the majority of this crash. My jacket was not protecting things, the actual end of the lens with the holders drove into the ground.
I was scared to roll over and open my jacket so I could move the camera and see the damage. First thing I see were broken pieces of those filters. Next thing, the filter holder, away from the camera now. Had the filter holder and filters not been on there, the glass on the end of the lens would have surely been scratched to hell, or more likely broken. It just wasn't a friendly smash to the ground at all.
So I get up and finish the walk down the hill, "knowing" the inner workings of the lens were toast, and possibly the camera. I mean I nailed this thing down into the ground very very hard. I dry it off and check it out. To my amazement, looking through it, things looked fine. I then flipped the IS on, and it still worked! The autofocus however did not. At least not at first. I'd put it on an object and it wouldn't even begin to try to focus. I'm guessing the impact and the fact it was so cold had something a little stuck. It finally started working again though.
To give some idea how hard I landed on the thing, smashing the end perfectly into the ground, the filter holder adapter ring was now stuck on the lens bigtime. It's pretty impossible to screw it on too tight, since the part that attaches to the filter holder can just spin loosely. What I did was smash the end hard enough into the ground, to pinch the threads together. I thought I was going to do more damage just trying to get it to spin off. It just wouldn't budge. Finally after some time trying, I got it to start to move, then it spun off.
Anyway, it is simply amazing to me this lens can still work fine. Had I had one of their non-L telephotos on, there is just no doubt in my mind it would have been broken into pieces. I would have been buying another lens. When I first rolled over, after this happened, I had that super sinking feeling. You see just how it hit the ground, and felt it too, and are just certain, this thing will not possibly work properly now. Built like a tank is not an understatement on these things!
Hmmm, maybe it's not fine, lol. I thought before posting I ought to inspect the glass more, as I never really did...since it looked ok enough from a glance, while I was worried about the inside of the thing. It looks fine. I pick it up and fart around with the autofocus again just now, and it appears to not work once again. After trying different things, it appears like it works on distant objects just fine, but does not want to focus back on closer ones. It's not something inside the minumum focusing distance because I can do it manually and focus on them fine. Autofocus sure as hell doesn't want to though. Probably not a huge deal I guess, since I've never trusted the autofocusing abilities of this lens anyway. If that's all that is wrong, it will remain amazing to me, since it really should be toast after that.
