SL2 and 24-90 zoom noise

[thighslapper]

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I have checked the SL2 and S1R and multiple lenses.

ALL have a very low volume mechanical whirring noise which is constant but only audible if you put your ear to the lens.

With Pre-focus with the SL2 in AF and on my S1R (no idea if there is a similar setting or it's on by default) there is the background whirring and clicking as you move the camera round as it is clearly sensing subject distance and compensating.

None of this is audible using the camera normally, even under quiet conditions with my lenses and bodies. 

I would suspect it is a normal operating noise that is more obvious in some lenses than others ..... and by some people more than others. 

[SrMi]

4 minutes ago, thighslapper said:

I have checked the SL2 and S1R and multiple lenses.

ALL have a very low volume mechanical whirring noise which is constant but only audible if you put your ear to the lens.

With Pre-focus with the SL2 in AF and on my S1R (no idea if there is a similar setting or it's on by default) there is the background whirring and clicking as you move the camera round as it is clearly sensing subject distance and compensating.

None of this is audible using the camera normally, even under quiet conditions with my lenses and bodies. 

I would suspect it is a normal operating noise that is more obvious in some lenses than others ..... and by some people more than others. 

SL2’s Pre-focus corresponds to S1R’s Quick AF (Custom - Focus/Shutter 2).

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[MarkP]

I just found this thread. Reassuring as I recently started noticing this noise since using it on my recently acquired SL-2. Hadn't noticed it before so thought there was a fault with the lens.

When mounted on the SL-2, the 24-90 does indeed make a hard-to describe ticking noise when moved through the zoom range in either direction irrespective of any other settings. It is unrelated to focus.

The lens makes no such noise with the SL-2 powered off, when the lens is not mounted, and when mounted on the SL!

 

[Jared]

My guess is that the 24-90 is not a par focal zoom and the camera is using the focus motors to keep focus at the same point.

When lenses were purely mechanical (zoom and AF), having a lens that was par focal throughout the zoom range was important since it allowed the photographer to recompose without having to refocus.  However, it is possible to give lens designers an extra degree of freedom in their design by letting the camera take over “holding” focus as you zoom. 

I don’t know for a fact that this is what’s happening, but it fits the symptoms well. Focus by wire lenses with no distance markings on the lens barrel need not be physically par focal if the camera body adjusts focus as you zoom.  My guess is that’s what’s happening with the 24-90.

[hoppyman]

Hi Jared. I am the OP. In my instance at least this zoom ring noise occurs irrespective of any focus setting. That is to say it it still there when my SL2 is in Manual Focus. The camera has to be powered on is the only required condition. I haven’t followed up recently and am currently unable to shoot at all due to the Pandemic restrictions. I did shoot partly with the combination for a thousand frames or so just prior to that shutdown and forgot to listen, but there were about 20 happy, busy models, stylists etc buzzing about.

 

[Jared]

On 4/18/2020 at 11:43 AM, hoppyman said:

Hi Jared. I am the OP. In my instance at least this zoom ring noise occurs irrespective of any focus setting. That is to say it it still there when my SL2 is in Manual Focus. The camera has to be powered on is the only required condition. I haven’t followed up recently and am currently unable to shoot at all due to the Pandemic restrictions. I did shoot partly with the combination for a thousand frames or so just prior to that shutdown and forgot to listen, but there were about 20 happy, busy models, stylists etc buzzing about.

 

I understand.  You don’t change the focus ring, and the noise is there.  My point wasn’t that you were changing the focus, but that the camera was. If my explanation is correct, it would do that in both AF mode and manual focus mode.

Let’s assume you are at 24mm and focused at a distance of 2m.  You then zoom to 90mm.  If the lens is not parfocal, you would no longer be focused at 2m. Perhaps you would be focused at 1.5m instead. But the SL2 is smart enough to know the 24-90 is attached and is not parfocal, so it moves the stepper motors the required number of steps to again be focused at 2m—where you had set it manually before. Thus the body creates the illusion of a parfocal lens by making adjustments to focus purely because you zoomed, not because you changed focus.

[Jared]

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Never mind my possible explanation.  I just checked with my SL (which does not make the same clicking sounds as you zoom). The lens is parfocal, so my explanation is probably incorrect.

[Photoworks]

18 hours ago, Jared said:

Never mind my possible explanation.  I just checked with my SL (which does not make the same clicking sounds as you zoom). The lens is parfocal, so my explanation is probably incorrect.

I don't think the lens is par focal at all, it is just a little off to be annoying . I may have some assist option like the sigma lenses.

My lens does not keep total focus when zooming in and out.

Good for you on not having clicking sound, I have a recent serial number and have the clicking.

[Jared]

9 hours ago, Photoworks said:

I don't think the lens is par focal at all, it is just a little off to be annoying . I may have some assist option like the sigma lenses.

My lens does not keep total focus when zooming in and out.

Good for you on not having clicking sound, I have a recent serial number and have the clicking.

Sorry, I may not have been clear...

My SL2 has the clicking sound.  If I focus (using magnified view) at 24, then zoom to 90 it remains in focus, at least within the limits of what I can see; hard to focus ultra precisely at 24 even with magnification.  I was assuming that the camera was running the focus motors to keep the focus distance the same as I zoomed.  

I used the SL as a control since it doesn't have the clicking sounds.  Despite not having the clicking sound, it appears to be approximately par focal.  In other words, not discernable difference in results between the SL and the SL2, so whatever the clicking sound is on the SL2 I don't know.

[CharlesRiver23]

I have the quite noticeably focusing noise on cron sl 50mm but not on cron sl 90mm. I hope it’s solvable via lens update. When I first time put on the 90mm to the sl2 it took about two minutes to update the lens but not happening to 50 mm. So far I can see 90mm is very quiet and smooth. This is just my personal experience. Don’t know if it is the real cause of the issue. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by CharlesRiver23
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[Hioe04]

On 11/30/2019 at 7:49 AM, digitalfx said:

weird...mine is silent in MF and pre-focus off.

I had a strange noise, but once I turned off PRE-FOCUS it went away

Stupid question, where in the menu can prefocus be disabled on the sl2?

[Boojay]

4 hours ago, Hioe04 said:

Stupid question, where in the menu can prefocus be disabled on the sl2?

Main Menu - Tab 1 - Focusing - 4th down AF set-up - then Pre-Focus toggle on or off.\

 

[hoppyman]

On 12/12/2019 at 8:40 AM, thighslapper said:

I have checked the SL2 and S1R and multiple lenses.

ALL have a very low volume mechanical whirring noise which is constant but only audible if you put your ear to the lens.

With Pre-focus with the SL2 in AF and on my S1R (no idea if there is a similar setting or it's on by default) there is the background whirring and clicking as you move the camera round as it is clearly sensing subject distance and compensating.

None of this is audible using the camera normally, even under quiet conditions with my lenses and bodies. 

I would suspect it is a normal operating noise that is more obvious in some lenses than others ..... and by some people more than others. 

The noise that I reported only occurs with my SL2 and my 24-90, (and when the camera is On) not with the prime lenses  nor with the 18-56 which has a very different build. It does not appear to be related to pre focus or any other focus function as it still occurs in manual focus. It only happens for me with zoom ring movement on my specific 24-90. 
It is not an objectionable noise, it is that I am concerned about a possible issue or wear in the lens. It did not occur with this same lens on the SL that I had.
Yes I can identify a different noise and subtle movement if pre focus is enabled with any lens I have.

[Photoworks]

I have turned Pre Focus on and off and the noise if going.

I am surprised!

[Jared]

16 hours ago, hoppyman said:

The noise that I reported only occurs with my SL2 and my 24-90, (and when the camera is On) not with the prime lenses  nor with the 18-56 which has a very different build. It does not appear to be related to pre focus or any other focus function as it still occurs in manual focus. It only happens for me with zoom ring movement on my specific 24-90. 
It is not an objectionable noise, it is that I am concerned about a possible issue or wear in the lens. It did not occur with this same lens on the SL that I had.
Yes I can identify a different noise and subtle movement if pre focus is enabled with any lens I have.

Yup, same for me.  SL2 only, not SL. 24-90 zoom when zooming.  Focus set to manual.  All focus functions disabled. Image stabilization off.  Aperture does not affect the sound.

[Jared]

OK, I can’t explain why or what it is doing, but there is no question the SL2 is running the focus motors onthe 24-90 for some reason as you zoom—even with AF turned off. You can replicate this yourself if you like.

Here is the scenario... Camera mounted on a tripod so the distance to subject will not change.  Focus is very close to the limit for near focus at 90mm. This is critical—if you are at 1m or infinity or anything far from the near focus limit you won’t be able to replicate this.  Make sure you are doing this at 90mm not 24mm since the lens can’t focus as close at 90mm. Set focus manually using the focus ring on the lens.  Aperture set to f/8 (just somewhere in the “constant” range so floating ISO and whatever compensations exist for a variable max aperture zoom aren’t engaged). Image stabilization turned off. AF mode set to “spot” and “MF”. 

Set the zoom to 90mm, magnify focus, set focus manually. Here is the image of the screen ...

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It’s part of a label from a wine bottle, by the way, but the subject doesn’t matter.

De-magnify the view. Now zoom to 24 and then back to 90. Nothing else—just zoom. Look at the magnified focus again. Here is what I got.

I don’t know why it is doing this.  Also, I don’t know why I can’t replicate this at distances other than minimum focus.  But it is definitely running the AF motors when you zoom.

[Jeff S]

On 4/21/2020 at 6:05 PM, hoppyman said:

The noise that I reported only occurs with my SL2 and my 24-90, (and when the camera is On) not with the prime lenses  nor with the 18-56 which has a very different build. It does not appear to be related to pre focus or any other focus function as it still occurs in manual focus. It only happens for me with zoom ring movement on my specific 24-90. 
It is not an objectionable noise, it is that I am concerned about a possible issue or wear in the lens. It did not occur with this same lens on the SL that I had.
Yes I can identify a different noise and subtle movement if pre focus is enabled with any lens I have.

Ok, this thread made me curious since I hadn’t noticed any zoom noises when out in the field. Now in the quiet of my home, however, I hear the same soft clicking sound, only with camera powered on.  BUT,  after I turned the zoom ring and heard the noise, I turned the focus ring and then tried the zoom ring again....QUIET, no noise. I turned the camera off and on again, repeated the test, and got the same result.  Go figure. (Camera set to MF with joystick focus, focus ring set to magnify with turn, IBIS on, pre-focus off).  No similar noise with 90-280.

Jeff

Edited April 24, 2020 by Jeff S

[Jeff S]

Has anyone else been able to make the noise disappear as I described?

Jeff

[hoppyman]

I am going to try to duplicate both scenarios above and I shall report back

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[hoppyman]

I tried to duplicate the described  scenarios and settings from @Jared and @Jeff S

SL2 sensor ~ 600mm from focus target. Target and camera tripod mounted and levelled.

@Jared

I used a higher ISO as I noticed that your images of the display showed a very slow shutter speed. I wanted to reduce any possible error from movement.
I found that the preview in magnified focus does shift a little operating the zoom ring back to 24 and return.
The actual correction needed using spot AF in MF seemed tiny and instant. This being close to minimum focus distance for the 90 I imagine that is a worst case situation for DoF. I don’t pretend to understand the physics or what is normal nor what variables there were in my set set up.. As a practical matter in use I focus after setting the zoom magnification. .

@Jeff S

 I cannot duplicate what I understand that you describe with my particular camera and lens . That is no combination of focus movement after zoom setting that results in the tiny noise heard not being present when the zoom ring is moved again.

I also incidentally saw that the spot AF accuracy seemed extremely good with my calibration target ruler, that is no noticeable front or back error. 
As an additional comment both on the magnified MF and spot AF, I found that the APO Macro Summarit S 120 worked extremely well last time I got to shoot before the pandemic restrictions.

This noise may not matter at all practically, my only concern being possible wear/ damage in the mechanism.

Edited April 26, 2020 by hoppyman