Death of a lens

After 8 years & hardly any use, the mighty 50mm died. Its autofocus died, while everything else still worked. The focus ring still moved, but the motor was dead. The internet abounds with failed autofocus tales, manely emphasizing broken mechanics. The gears break. The cylinder gets bent. Regarding the motor, the internet is silent. The motors are accepted to be without failures in the 30 years they've been around.

It might be good enough without autofocus to live with. In the days when foot transportation abounds, the normal lens camera of choice has been the phone. The DSLR is rarely used for anything. There's hardly any need for a 50mm lens except for the irrationality of a camera which can't take normal photos.

The only smoking gun is the motor is very hard to turn. It could never turn on its own unless it had a very tiny planetary gear in the motor casing. The 50mm f1.4 only arrived because it was the old man's lens. A better investment would be something lighter like the f1.8 or cheap wide zoom because 50mm is never used.