Looks like this thread has served its purpose, so I'll stop updating the list.
ORIGINAL POST
PLEASE SHARE YOUR SONY 24-105mm ƒ4 SERIAL NUMBER AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU'VE HAD THE FOCUS SHIFT PROBLEM.
The easiest way to test for this is on a tripod. Zoom to 105mm, manual focus, set to ƒ4. Focus using the magnifier and take a shot. Then without changing anything else, stop down to ƒ8 and take another shot. Compare the shots.
Interestingly, with 87 lenses reported, not a single bad one with serial number below 10,000. Over 10,000, 42% of the lenses seem to exhibit the focus shift.
0-9999
1800050 - OK - Jaree
1800221 - OK - MedicineMan404
1800704 - OK - frangie2127
1801098 - OK - Trollmannx*
1802525 - OK - Andrew Gough
1802584 - OK - 311erin
1802604 - OK - GMPhotography
1802612 - OK - ylimehajile
1802708 - OK - maestrofilms
1802957 - OK - gatorine
1803037 - OK - C_n_red_again
1803448 - OK - borge
1803501 - OK - iammikie
1803600 - OK - Migapa
1803697 - OK - Mikado73
1803903 - OK - AGeoJO
1803942 - OK - avalon27
1803970 - OK - Stevvi
1804209 - OK - Jacimi
1804558 - OK - BRUCEK1956*
1804585 - OK - dseelyjr
1804673 - OK - scopedude
1804903 - OK - MikeEvangelist
1805190 - OK - Al Chemist
1805392 - OK - kaioyang
1805500 - OK - NumberOne*
1807283 - OK - ifixfxs
1807299 - OK - Deanh
1807300 - OK - Chuck Coyne
1807877 - OK - tsdevine
1807982 - OK - sandycrane
1808000 - OK - RobCD
1808128 - OK - jamato8
1808157 - OK - echelonphoto
1808338 - OK - neuf11
1808529 - OK - liftedspirit
1808754 - OK - Rob L
1808946 - OK - petercod*
1809056 - OK - IzelPhotograph
1809081 - OK - marathon
1809365 - OK - kdrk888
1809638 - OK - MikeEvangelist
1809940 - OK - lambers
1809979 - OK - Iman113
>10000
1810255 --- OK --- eyal
1810270 --- OK --- jim251
1810663 B - OK --- luismanibarro
1810690 --- Bad - dukenuken
1810718 --- Bad - jamato8
1811001 --- Bad - rji2goleez (placeholder serial number)
1811241 4 - Bad - mapgraphs
1811437 --- Bad - darrellc
1811516 --- OK --- maikin
1811560 --- Bad - cebowler
1811600 3 - OK --- darrellc
1811652 A - Bad - snapsy
1811673 --- OK --- mjm6
1811679 --- OK --- dpirazzi
1811820 --- OK --- Jacknut16
1812012 1 - OK --- GMPhotography
1812278 --- Bad - dscobie62
1812425 9 - Bad - virkov
1813250 6 - Bad - cswinton
1813792 --- OK --- Uncle Chip
1813904 --- OK --- thedigitalbean
1814000 --- OK --- LynnDavidCole
1814214 --- Bad - JVJL
1814245 B - OK --- col4bin
1814324 9 - OK --- Coronis
1814355 --- OK --- outward
1814359 --- Bad - macmurali
1814372 --- OK --- isu89
1814396 --- Bad - BuffaloBay
1814467 --- OK --- Gunzorro
1814471 --- Bad - Taff16
1814480 --- Bad - billphoto
1814529 --- Bad - mspencer1
1814563 --- OK --- rji2goleez
1814679 M - OK --- DRose44
1814769 --- OK --- fnf_
1814906 --- Bad - photographlu
1815504 A - OK --- Melte*
1815830 C - Bad - Melte*
1816121 6 - OK --- arkady_z
1816810 B - OK --- snapsy
1817445 G - OK --- Alex W
1817727 --- OK --- lacix*
Summary (for lenses over #10,000)
Good - 25 - 58%
Bad — 18 - 42%
p.1 #2 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
Sorry folks but I sent back my copy before we started this. As I only ordered about a week ago, I have to imagine I had a copy (bad) in the >10000 serial range.
p.1 #8 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
Seems to make sense to me. The 180xxxx seems very good but the 181xxxx is certainly a mixed bag. I have a 181xxxx and my loaner was 180xxxx. I wonder what testing showed up in Rogers test in relation to results. That be a interesting stat to find out
p.1 #9 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
GMPhotography wrote:
I wonder if there is more than one place it’s being made.
I'm guessing it's just a bad batch of poorly polished/molded aspheric elements, or perhaps an assembly station out of calibration. What's interesting is how the lenses got past QC. I think this may have happened because the optical quality of the affected lenses isn't noticeably bad and thus the copies weren't flagged, which some may find surprising because they believe SA that causes this amount of shift would lead to a noticeably softening of the image @ f/4 (from the same misconverging light from the periphery of the elements).
p.1 #10 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
I imagine that Sony is already aware and working on this. But just in case, I passed this thread info to my contact at Pro Support. They promised to pass it on to QA Engineering.
p.1 #18 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
Be interesting to see dates purchased on the bad ones. But the serial number above this post is very close to mine which I just bought a few weeks ago and I’m good. Just not making any logical sense
p.1 #20 · 24-105mm FOCUS SHIFT survey - FINAL RESULTS
GMPhotography wrote:
Be interesting to see dates purchased on the bad ones. But the serial number above this post is very close to mine which I just bought a few weeks ago and I’m good. Just not making any logical sense
I wouldn't expect a 100% affected rate from a bad batch so the S/N results look reasonable.
