Canon USA, in addition to most other Canon subsidiaries internationally, has officially confirmed the existence of some autofocus defects with its newly released 24-105mm F/4L IS II lens. This comes after a Canon subsidiary in the Philippines prematurely released the announcement a week or so early, causing many to wonder about the issue, and its validity, after that release was removed from the website.
Well, now that the release has been made official, you are probably wondering what Canon is saying could be wrong with your brand-new 24-105mm F/4L IS II lens. According to the Canon product advisory notice, the issue becomes apparent on the wider end of the lens (at or around 24mm) and results in focus not being properly achieved when peripheral AF points are selected. Canon says this issue happens regardless of AF mode used, but luckily it only appears to effect a limited supply of the shipped 24-105mm F/4L IS II lenses.
If you have bought one of these lenses recently, you can check to see if your lens may be affected by this issue by looking at the serial number on your lens. If that number starts with 48, 49, 50, or 51 than it is possible that your lens could be affected. It’s important to note that Canon stresses that not all lenses with serial numbers beginning with these numbers are affected, but they say if your lens starts with one of these serial numbers then you should test and check for the issue.
Canon has set up a search tool on their product advisory page, which you can find here. If you enter your serial number into that search than the search tool will tell you if your lens is affected by this defect.
For its part, Canon isn’t leaving customers high and dry. You will be able to send your lens into Canon, where it will be inspected and repaired free of charge. The company is not yet accepting the lenses in for repair, but will notify affected users when that time comes. If you have an affected lens, Canon requests that you contact its Customer Support Center to make the necessary arrangements.
Again, you can find all of this information over on the Canon Product Advisory page, here.
