p.1 #1 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
Tonight while carrying the 200-600mm with the A7RIV attached the foot detached from the lens and fell about 4 feet on a gravel road. This was a complete detachment of the entire mounting plate that has the 4 tiny screws connecting it with the lens. Afterwards the lens seems to focus slowly or the camera is focusing slowly. There are some scratches to the body where the flash mount is. The lens was in it's neoprene sleeve so it survived physical damage.
I called Sony Pro support and both the camera and lens are going to be shipped to Precision tomorrow. I feel that this was a defect in how that plate is attached and not due to my negligence. It's hard to fathom that these 4 tiny screws are holding that connection together and can be expected to keep the lens attached to the foot. Both items are less than 1 year old so this should be covered by warranty but we'll see what Precision comes back with.
I've never had a lens do this. Has this happened to anyone else?
p.1 #2 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
I'm sorry this happened to you, that must hurt.
I have the Sony 200-600, 100-400 and the 400 2.8. And, I just checked those same plate screws and they are tight on all three lenses.
I wonder if the screws on your lens vibrated loose during use/driving around or perhaps they were loose from the factory?
Did you ever notice any wobble with the tripod foot during use?
For your sake I hope the damage is minimal.
Lon
p.1 #5 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
Mine didn’t detach but I noticed more and more wobble in the foot a couple weeks ago which led me to check things out. I was pretty surprised to find that the screws you mentioned were the only things holding the foot on. They are TINY, and all 4 were loose. I took the plate off, put some blue loctite on the screws and snugged them back up being careful not to strip them. I used to always carry my tripod over my shoulder with the 200-600 and body attached but have since stopped doing that as I don’t trust the screws to hold up to that weight. Guess I might’ve been right and sorry you had to find this out through a failure of those parts!
p.1 #7 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
tntcorp wrote:
one of the screw hole appeared d
out-of-round. did you observe if the threaded hole or the corresponding hex screw was stripped?
a 4 feet impact may also have decentered the optics. did you have another body to check before shipping the lens?
And yea- to the OP, does yours have hex screws or are the heads all snapped off? It’s hard to tell from the pic. I can’t see how hex screws would even hold that plate on without a head. My plate had Phillips head screws holding it on.
p.1 #8 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
A9Lon wrote:
I'm sorry this happened to you, that must hurt.
I have the Sony 200-600, 100-400 and the 400 2.8. And, I just checked those same plate screws and they are tight on all three lenses.
I wonder if the screws on your lens vibrated loose during use/driving around or perhaps they were loose from the factory?
Did you ever notice any wobble with the tripod foot during use?
For your sake I hope the damage is minimal.
Lon
There was a a very slight amount of play in the foot prior to this but I did not think it was enough to cause a complete detachment
p.1 #9 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
jeffbuzz wrote:
How were you carrying it?
When in the field I always carry a lens of this size by the foot. I've been doing that with all my large lenses for 30+ years. I've never seen a foot connected with 4 small screws like this. It's always been at least 2 large hex screws connecting the foot.
p.1 #10 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
GreggNY wrote:
Mine didn’t detach but I noticed more and more wobble in the foot a couple weeks ago which led me to check things out. I was pretty surprised to find that the screws you mentioned were the only things holding the foot on. They are TINY, and all 4 were loose. I took the plate off, put some blue loctite on the screws and snugged them back up being careful not to strip them. I used to always carry my tripod over my shoulder with the 200-600 and body attached but have since stopped doing that as I don’t trust the screws to hold up to that weight. Guess I might’ve been right and sorry you had to find this out through a failure of those parts!...Show more →
You were smart to do that. I had noticed a slight looseness weeks ago when I had this on a monopod but did not think it was enough to cause an issue. Those 4 tiny screws cannot be capable of holding the weight of the lens + the camera for very long.
p.1 #11 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
GreggNY wrote:
And yea- to the OP, does yours have hex screws or are the heads all snapped off? It’s hard to tell from the pic. I can’t see how hex screws would even hold that plate on without a head. My plate had Phillips head screws holding it on.
What is shown is all there is. The tiny screws may have come loose over time. I can't say that I ever checked them before
p.1 #13 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
Ouch! So sorry to see that this happened to you.
It looks like the outer diameter of the heads of the Philips head screws sheared off from the forces pulling on them. Also, I can't see clearly, but is there a deformation/crack in the pocket that the plate sits in (lower left corner in your photograph) or did that happen when it hit the ground?
I checked the screws on my 200-600 and while they were tight, I was able to snug them up a bit more. Maybe it's time to safety wire the foot to one of the lugs for the lens strap.
p.1 #14 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
bigwonton wrote:
Ouch! So sorry to see that this happened to you.
It looks like the outer diameter of the heads of the Philips head screws sheared off from the forces pulling on them. Also, I can't see clearly, but is there a deformation/crack in the pocket that the plate sits in (lower left corner in your photograph) or did that happen when it hit the ground?
I checked the screws on my 200-600 and while they were tight, I was able to snug them up a bit more. Maybe it's time to safety wire the foot to one of the lugs for the lens strap. ...Show more →
I agree that it looks like they sheered off. I think the crack in the pocket for the plate happened when it hit the ground. I've got the Peak clips on there but I don't like using that system with large lenses because the Peak strap or plastic clip starts to dig into the body with every step you take.
p.1 #15 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
149113 wrote:
When in the field I always carry a lens of this size by the foot. I've been doing that with all my large lenses for 30+ years. I've never seen a foot connected with 4 small screws like this. It's always been at least 2 large hex screws connecting the foot.
Several Canon lenses I had were attached in this exact fashion with 4 small bolts. The largest Canon lenses use only four small bolts for the entire foot-to-collar connection without any center bolt.
From a design and materials standpoint, many small connections are generally preferable to a few large connections. Four small bolts of appropriate strength and properly installed should resist failure better than two larger bolts holding the same surfaces.
p.1 #17 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
jeffbuzz wrote:
Several Canon lenses I had were attached in this exact fashion with 4 small bolts. The largest Canon lenses use only four small bolts for the entire foot-to-collar connection without any center bolt.
From a design and materials standpoint, many small connections are generally preferable to a few large connections. Four small bolts of appropriate strength and properly installed should resist failure better than two larger bolts holding the same surfaces.
I'd agree when the multiple smaller screws are the size of the ones on a typical Canon "great white" lens. These are nowhere near that size and strength. These are size screws you see in an iPhone when you disassemble it
Apr 15, 2020 at 10:52 AM
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p.1 #18 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
bigwonton wrote:
Ouch! So sorry to see that this happened to you.
It looks like the outer diameter of the heads of the Philips head screws sheared off from the forces pulling on them. Also, I can't see clearly, but is there a deformation/crack in the pocket that the plate sits in (lower left corner in your photograph) or did that happen when it hit the ground?
I checked the screws on my 200-600 and while they were tight, I was able to snug them up a bit more. Maybe it's time to safety wire the foot to one of the lugs for the lens strap. ...Show more →
wiring the foot to the lugs is a good idea, even some white zip ties would do the job.
lens bouncing around must have exceeded the rating of the screw head... i wonder if replacing 'em with grade 8 or whatever from the hardware store would be helpful.
p.1 #19 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
Sorry that this happened but I am sure more folks will now be checking theirs mine included. Mine were tight but after seeing how tiny the screws are I went and put on a leash so to prevent that from happening to me. The screws on mine are phillips head not hex and here is my solution that I got when I purchased the strap I use to hand hold carry the 200-600.
Apr 15, 2020 at 11:06 AM
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p.1 #20 · Sony 200-600mm failure of the foot attachment
149113 wrote:
Close up shots of the screws which are clearly sheared on the edges and gave way
the corner of the recessed mount area is cracked out, which indicates that the lens was dropped on it's foot.
i don't see how screws breaking could have caused that crack, the lens would have simply fallen away if it was just broken screws.
