A $1,900 Canon Lens is Breaking in Two for Some Photographers
The Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-8 lens is extremely popular with wildlife and nature photographers thanks to its reach and versatility. That’s precisely why Australian professional photographer Joshua Holko had one with him on a winter wildlife trip in Svalbard, Norway. Unfortunately, while in his backpack, the lens snapped in two, a reportedly not unique occurrence with the RF 200-800mm.
The zoom lens, which is Joshua Holko’s partner Suzy’s, was securely inside a backpack when it broke.
“It snapped in two while in the backpack during our winter snowmobile trip in Svalbard,” Holko tells PetaPixel. “It was securely packed and not dropped. It was well protected from bumps.”
“It’s clearly got a weak point in construction,” Holko adds.
Canon Rumors, which hears from many Canon community members, says it has heard about six other RF 200-800mm lens that broke in a similar location.
The website says in one of those cases, the lens had hit the side of a safari vehicle, which could explain the incident. However, the unfortunate owner of the other lens says they are not sure what happened as the lens broke while in a bag. He thinks it is possible the lens hit an object inside the bag and broke that way, but he only found the lens was broken after opening his bag to take bird photos in Florida. Canon fixed his lens under warranty, at least.
U.K. rental house Lenses For Hire, which deals with many lenses being used by a wide range of people, has seen the issue too, but only once.
It is important to keep this in context and not leap to conclusions about a major, widespread issue. Many Canon RF 200-800mm owners, presumably nearly all of them, have had no issues with their lenses. However, that doesn’t necessarily calm the nerves or help those directly affected by one of their lenses breaking in half. No mass-produced product will be entirely without problems, but this is definitely an odd situation. For a specific lens to break in the same way across multiple samples should give any company cause for concern.
As Roger Cicala of Lensrentals noted when investigating a different Canon RF lens for a potential issue, Canon is a proactive company and does not shy away from digging into potential issues with its products. Canon has many talented engineers who will find the issue if there is one to find. It could be a weird anomaly and series of bad coincidences, or it could be something more.
No company can test any product for every possible scenario it will encounter once real people purchase and use them over extended periods, whether that involves unusual weather, big temperature shifts, persistent bumps and bruises, etc. The real world is tough on products, and some will inevitably break.
If any PetaPixel readers have had their RF 200-800mm lens snap in half, please reach out via our tip line.
PetaPixel contacted Canon for a statement on the reported RF 200-800mm issues.
“We appreciate this being brought to our attention and take all quality concerns seriously. We encourage any customers experiencing issues with the RF 200-800mm lens to please reach out directly to our customer support team at 1-800-OKCANON so we can better assess the situation and investigate the matter further,” Canon tells PetaPixel.
Image credits: Images provided courtesy of Joshua Holko (Wild Nature Photo Travel)
