Mysterious Zoom: I fear my FS5 is possessed

[Ali Grossman]

Hello fellow FS5 users. I have no idea what is causing the phenomenon of the camera zooming in quickly on its own. When this happens (sometimes as soon as I turn on the camera and sometimes when paused in between shots, I cannot override the zoom for more than a moment. I have tried disconnecting the servo handle, turning the camera on and off, removing and replacing the battery, using the top controls, and using the manual mode. None of this works. When the problem occured last summer, I placed it in airplane mode. That seemed to fix it but now, the problem is back and the camera is extremely unpredictable. I am using the kit 18-105 lens. Has anybody experienced anything like this? Any hunches as to what might be causing it or how to fix it? It is at a technician's shop now and, of course, it is working perfectly for the moment. I fear that if I have it sent back to me, the problem will start happening again!
Many thanks,
Ali from Wyoming

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I have an idea at least of the mechanics. I bought a used vzrock remote for a different camera. During a live event it started zooming in on its own. you can adjust the screw to recalibrate its neutral position so it’s neither zooming in or out. Basically you have rocker switch attached potentiometer by a spring that give resistance and returns it to it’s neutral position when release.

With that being said its one thing to fool around with a remote and another to mess with an expensive camera. Smart thing to do is to send it in for repair. Sure you could attach a remote and if it fixed it it’s probably the zoom switch if not it could be the lens or a one of micro boards inside the camera.

[Ali Grossman]

Thanks Pete. Using a remote is an interesting thought. I own one so I will try it but I'm doubtful that it will work since I'm not able to override the zoom either manually or with any of the rockers when it happens. The repair shop is thinking that the problem may be internal to the lens. However, it is super difficult to diagnose bc this intermittent issue has not happened in the 5 days its been in the shop. Another outfit said it is the zoom lens rocker and that lens repair would be nearly as costly as a new lens.

[Christopher Young]

I've seen something like this before with an E-Mount lens and from memory I think it was an 18-105 on an FS7. We could get the lens to start to behave in a similar manner as to what you have described by holding the lens and applying a little clockwise and then anti-clockwise rotation of the lens while the camera was powered up. It was almost as though something wasn't lining up correctly on the contacts. Anyhow I cleaned the contacts on both the lens and the body with a good quality electrical contact cleaner using a moistened lens cleaning cloth. The owner operator of that camera says it hasn't played up since so go figure. Might be worth a try.

Chris Young

[Chris Hurd]

I was going to suggest swapping out your lens with a different one, if possible (any others to be borrowed nearby?) -- if the problem repeats, it's in the camera body. If the problem does not repeat, it's in that lens.

[Oren Arieli]

When this last happened to me, it turned out to be an accessory mounted near the top handle zoom rocker that was applying just enough pressure to cause a phantom zooming. have you tried removing the top handle completely to rule out a faulty top rocker?