I recently purchased a really nice Canon 18-135mm STM lens and noticed that when I point it straight down to take food photos or something like that, the lens slowly extends by itself. For years, I used an 18-135mm Canon kit lens and that didn’t do this at all. The reason I purchased this new lens was because it has a somewhat of a silent motor inside of it. When shooting video with my old lens, the sound of the focus motor was very loud. So loud you could here it in the video itself.
I was talking to a fellow amateur photographer out on a trail a few weeks ago and told him about the problem. He said that if it were him, he would have returned the lens immediately. I sort of agreed, but it’s past that point now. Is there anything truly wrong with the lens? Is this normal? I’ve actually only owned a handful of lenses like this and this is the first time I’ve experienced this. I’ve heard about some sort of thick rubber band type things that you can put around the lens itself that will stop it from creeping. Is that something worth looking into? Any information would be appreciated.
Hey, I have the same lens and mine acts the same when pointed downwards. It keeps in place up to about the 35 mm-mark on the zoom, after that it can’t keep up with it’s own weight. I don’t think there’s anything ‘wrong’ with it, apart from being a cheap construction. But it’s a cheap lens with a great zoom range and good image quality, so the trade off is in the materials and construction.