AF issue on 50mm canon

[Mr Yarrow]

Quick question, I have one of the plasticky cheap Canon 50mm lenses.

Its great and I can see its advantage in use, however I am not sure if it needs returning. Ive had it for 3 months and taken less than 100 pics with it, on occassion the AF motor wont work

Press the buton and it doesnt focus, the camera (550D) knows this so wont let you take an out of focus pic.

Happened 3-4 times and seems to have sorted itself out each time by me turning cam on and off, flicking AF on and off etc and waiting a bit.

Is this a common problem, is there something im doing to trigger it, or should I just send it back to the seller to facilitate warranty etc?

Rgds

[matt wilson]

Try cleaning both the lens and camera body electrical contacts .A pencil eraser is useful .Just avoid getting any bits in lens or body .The fact it is so irregular could indicate poor contacts.

[silversnapper1]

I have this problem with the Nikon version but only when I am trying to take pics closer that the minimum focus distance. Check to make sure that you are not too close to your subject.

[Mr Yarrow]

Thanks guys, it only does it with this one lense so the camera body contacts are fine.

Also its not the focal distance (my first thought as well) as i focused across other side of room when it first happened and nada...which is now my scientific test to whether its cocked up again.

Will try the eraser trick on the lense.

Ta