Lol, I may follow you soon. My 17-85mm is broken too even I didnt touch it since I move to fullframe (it was fine before I got my 5D). $200 to fix the USM is not worth at all.
I will be even more impressed if you put it back together.
Right on dude! let do the reverse engineering and manufacture your own L-lens from it...
Just imagined if I have the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens as my pencils holder. Way too cool!!!
Hey guys thanks for all the positive comments, glad everyone enjoyed.
Now that I've done it, I think I could've reassembled it with a replacement part, but only if I had kept thorough track of what went where. Also, I totally stripped at least 3 screws in the process. Overall, the inner workings were a bit more complex than I expected, but it was a nice linear process taking it apart.
Yes, I'm serious about that being the last photo before the aperture stuck. It's the Arab-Islamic museum in Paris. The apertures open and close to regulate the light inside. It's mostly just a cool dynamic thing to keep people interested, I think: http://samboyko.com/Italy/week09_spring_break/images/img_5876.jpg
I like the idea of the apertures closing with the sunshine. Sounds good for summer.
The outside border apertures have the same number of blades as your 17-85! It's the 6 bladed aperture curse!!!
