Good evening, I am having some problems with my equipment and I hope that you can help me figure this out. I have a Canon EOS 800D, that I have been using a lot for about 5 years. I also use the lens Sigma 150-600mm contemporary, I had this one for almost 2 years. I have used this body and this lens together for almost two years now, with no problem. A few weeks ago, I had the Err 01 for the first time "Communications between the camera and lens is faulty. Clean the lens contact". My sensors are very clean and I even took my equipment to a camera shop for proper cleaning but it did not fix the issue. The weird thing is that my body works perfectly with other lenses, and that my lens works perfectly with other Canon bodies. So I am not sure where the problem comes from. If I use my equipment with different bodies/lenses for a while, then they work together again for a little while until I get the error again. Now the error is showing more and more often, to the point where I can not use it anymore. I don't know if that could be a reason, but I use my camera for work all day long on the beach. I protect it as much as possible, but it is exposed to the elements (heat, cold, humidity and salt). I was wondering if it could be a firmware issue. But because my body and lens have been working together nicely for the last two years, I am a bit afraid of doing an update. What do you think? Do you think that this problem can be solved? Thank you for your help. Marie
There is the very small probability that one of the small interconnecting pins in the cameras lens mount is sticking but this is a very rare fault (although more likely as you use the camera near sand and salt spray). The most likely fault is a crack in the flexible cable inside the lens, this sort of fault is usually intermittent in the early stages and will happen at one end of the zoom more than the other. The fact that the lens appears to work on another body is probably just a coincidence, used long enough and it will fail on any camera body. Don't start messing about updating firmware you could be just compounding the problem.
Like Ray-UK said, I suspect the flexible cable. I had the same problem with my EF 24-70L. It was an internal cable that the glue dried out on that was holding it to the inside of the lens tube. The cable (flexible circuit board-type) gets loose and when the lens is zoomed, it gets caught and breaks the cable. The cable controls the aperture. The test for that lens is to shoot wide open so that the aperture is not commanded to move. If the error goes away, that's the problem. I bought a new Sigma Art 24-70 and it works great. My lens is too old to send for repairs and I don't have the time to fix it myself. There is a $50 kit, but lots of work. Not sure if your lens has the same issue, but it is worth trying wide-open aperture shots on the original camera.
Hello! I am having 7D Mark II and Tamron 150-600 G2. I have been using this for 5 years (and it was bought used, so earlier owner had used for many years). Few weeks ago I started getting Communication error with the lens, and the error will come only if I change the F stop to anything than F6.3 OR for FL greater than 450. So I got it repaired and as experts mentioned it was Flex cable issue - it had a crack so was working in certain positions. But now I have another issue - I am still getting the same error, with different symptoms. Everything works fine, but suddenly I get the message for the error. It will stay for few seconds and then if I half press shutter, it will go away...only to return after few mins. When it works, everything is working fine (no dependency on FL/F stops/IS). Interestingly, if I use the camera with another lens (Canon ES-S 18-135) it works fine. And if I use the Tamron lens with another camera (600D) that also works fine. So not understanding where the issue is - lens or camera? The service center person said the lens connector on camera may have got damaged so we can try to replace that. As per him, since the Tamron lens is heavy, it might be stressing the connectors and hence only that gives issue... Any thoughts on this? Thanks, Amit
How much have you used the lens on a different camera?? I ask because you already said sometimes this works find and sometimes it acts up, which makes it hard to diagnose if the camera and lens test really were sufficient to verify the problem. My gut says that its the lens, however it is hard to determine if the contacts between the camera and lens are causing the issue, or if the communication error is do to the repair having the lens opened up. It really could be either. The timing is very suspect. The error is rather generic and basically says the electrical signal doesn't complete as expected. So it could be shorting out due to either contact on lens/camera being worn, or even due to both, or it could be because of the wiring inside. The service tech is definitely speculating in his favor based on the details. I also don't think its possible to confirm the issue unless it gets worse and happens all the time and you can verify if it is lens or camera.
Thank you for your reply. With 7D, the error comes within 2-3 minutes of starting. With 600D, i used for 15-20 mins, at least 2 times in past week. Even my gut feeling is the lens, because that was opened up and repaired. May be the cable is not connected properly or something else is damaged during the repair. Sometimes i feel its something to do with IS as when I tried switching IS on - off few times, it worked for longer. But again nothing conclsive. I use the gear mainly for bird photography so even getting the error for few seconds could mean lost opportunity of a good shot. Using it in current condition seems difficult for me, so waiting for it to become worse is even more difficult. Thank you, Amit
Hello! Just now I observed something - if while mounting the lens on camera I slam it little hard, it works without error. Is it possible that the connector alignment is off (because the lens was opened)? Thanks, Amit
