Anyone recommend a quality lens repair shop in the states
for a stock H1 20x?

Thanks

My guess is you need to send it back to Canon to deal with it. There are some really good lens shops out there but they probably aren't too familiar with the XLH1 lens. Since you don't say what is wrong with the lens you can call a couple of places to see if they will touch the lens. Focus Optics is one place (800) 234-LENS, LVR in New York (800) 251-4625 ask for George.

body recognizes lens nd settings, zoom and focus,
but the stock lens aperture shows 1.1 and I don't
think it made itself faster since I used it last. :)

It also shows a shutter of 1/1"... which is also
rather odd!

Iris is uncontrollable and completely closed.
Tried two different bodies with the same results.

thanks for the advice. I would honestly rather send
it to a real person than canon, Inc. since it's out of
warranty anyway.

Or maybe just an excuse to get another 6x wide....

Canon has "real people" who work on these too! I would have my dounts that anyone besides Canon really know these units at all. Canon does all of their own service at there service centers and they do not have any authorized repair places. Because of this, it is next to impossible to get your hands on the technical documents to know part numbers or even understand the circuitry. NOt saying that someone couldn;t figure it out with some serious effort, but Canon doesn't publish any information that would assist at all. Just try getting the pinout information for the EVF. Nobody has it because Canon chooses not to publish it anywhere. Only the Canon service centers actually have this information.....presumably.

Good Luck. Your symptoms sound more like a computer/chip malfunction issue than a physical lens problem that would be more universal to fix.

I would not hesitate to use a Canon Service Center. Their service center in Irvine, CA has given us top-notch and fast service.

I would give Canon a call on the phone and talk to service. They probably have an idea what this might be

thanks guys. I ended up sending it off
to the NJ site.

thanks