[Clem_Dye]

When I purchased my Canon 400D kit a couple of months ago, I also bought a lens hood for the 18-55 lens. There were no fitting instructions in the lens hood box or the 400D manual so I simply screwed it onto the lens and recall observing at the time (bearing in mind I'm new to digital SLRs) that this seemed pretty silly, as as I was fitting the lens I was turning the lens' focussing system, as I could hear the lens gears moving. Anyway, things seemed to be OK and I forgot about it. I recently purchased a Tamron 55-200 lens and on fitting the filter and lens hood I was reminded of my experience with the 18-55 lens, in that once again, I could hear the lens gears moving as I fitted the components. As before, everything seemed OK in the few pictures that I've taken with the lens to date.

Like everyone, I read instruction leaflets/manuals almost as an afterthought (by and large) so I read the Tamron leaflet to see if it mentioned anything about this and to my horror (and thus my stupidity), I read the section which states that the lens must be set to manual focus when fitting or removing the hood, otherwise damage to the lens and or camera may occur. Gulp!

Re-visiting both lenses it's a doddle to fit the lens filters and hoods with the lenses set to manual focus.

Now, in my defence, an absence of instructions with the Canon kit gave me no clues that I was doing anything wrong, but in the case of the Tamron lens, I was clearly stupid in that I didn't read the instructions first.

With all of the above in mind, is it possible that I could have done any damage, especially as we're talking about only a couple of times, and in all cases, the camera was powered off? How would I tell if that was the case?

Any advice, suggestions or observations regarding the above would be most welcome. In my defence m'lud, I do know that most people have 'stupid' moments, me perhaps more than most, but given that I could have damaged either the lens, camera body or both I'm naturally more than a little anxious.

Sigh.


Clem

[allymac123]

i really doubt you will have caused any damage. I think if you had shredded the AF motor system it would have been apparent straight away so I don't think you have any need to worry. (just don't do it again)

[Saldawop]

I would imagine that if the auto focus is still working normally, then you have been lucky and no damage has been done.

[senu]

I think the warning was a precaution and as long as the lens AF is working fine.. there's no damage done

I've never actually bothered with putting my Tamron ( or any other lens for that matter) on manual focus but .... in putting them on I only handle the mount without turning anything else

[Clem_Dye]

Autofocus seems OK on the 55-200 - I checked. I'll need to re-mount the 18-55 to be 100% sure here, but I thnk that it's OK, as I removed and re-fitted the lens hood with the lens in manual mode.

What I'm annoyed about, other than my own stupidity, is that this sort of issue isn't made more obvious in the instructions. In the case of the Tamron lens, it is mentioned, but in small print, and in any event, the instructions more-or-less rely on big pictures to give guidance. In the case of the Canon, there's nothing - I re-checked, so that's inexcusable, unless of course Canon lenses don't get damaged in this way .....

On the plus side, when/if I do buy some Canon L series lenses, I won't be this stupid again (well, not in fitting lens hoods, anyway!).


Clem

[senu]

The Canon Lenses with USM which have FTM focusing don't need you to select manual as they incorporate manual override even when AF is selected

[allymac123]

Plus they have internal focusing so the front element doesn't move anyway.