We just picked up a pristine used EF-S 17-55 IS lens on ebay for our C100 after reading many posts of people recommending it.

I was curious if we got a bad copy, ours has a low grinding noise of the IS motor which is throughout all of the video even with an external mic. You can softly hear it even at waist level. The IS works fine but the sound is very noticeable when watching the footage.

All of our other IS lenses you don't notice the noise (Tamron 24-70 IS, Canon 70-200 2.8 IS, Canon 24-70 F4 IS, Sigma 120-300 IS, etc.)

The lens seems really popular for the crop cameras so please owners chime in.

Thanks!

Send it back to the seller! Your eBay purchase is covered through buyer protection!

My 17-55mm F2.8 IS Canon EF-S is whisper quiet...the quietest of all my Canon IS lenses. So there is something not right with the one you just bought on fleabay...

None of my EF-S lenses with IS make any noticeable noise with IS turned on, outside of focusing. For silent (relatively) you need the STM lenses, not the USM ones.

Thanks guys, I initiated a return. I thought something was not right.

Currently there is no Canon zoom lens with STM and a constant aperture. Here's hoping they'll offer an EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS STM, or something very much like it, in the near future.

FYI... Just returned the Canon 17-55 IS lens and received another copy today that is much much quieter.

Unfortunately we also received a 70-200 F4 IS that the IS motor noise is just as loud as the previous 17-55 we sent back. :-/ Not buying used IS lenses from Ebay anymore.

Chris that would be great if they made that lens in STM.. Fingers crossed.

In my experience the Canon 70-200 f4 IS lenses do have loud IS motors across the board, so your copy might not be any different from others. Anyway still an awesome lens, noise is a trade off for low weight and performance.

My own 70-200 f/4 IS is indeed a bit clickety-clickety. It's not too intrusive to the ear, but any mic hard-mounted to the camera body really seems to amplify it. However:

With that kind of focal length, how often are you going to hand-hold it, really. Your most usable shots will come from a tripod, and in that case you'll have IS switched off. Now I love the IS on this lens for still photos (in fact that's why I bought it), but shooting video with a 70-200 usually means shooting on sticks, so, in this case, the IS noise shouldn't be much of an issue.

Some Canon lenses have IS mechanisms that are louder than others because there's different types of IS for different lenses. For example the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS, which is a very fine L-series constant aperture zoom, has a rather loud IS motor which is not at all ideal for shooting hand-held video. That's why it has been replaced as the primary Canon DSLR kit lens by the new EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM. Not an L-series lens and no longer constant aperture, but it's whisper-quiet for video and offers the ability to do Face Detect AF with the C100 since it's STM.