Lens Damage.

[DrMoab]

Im sure some of you read my post about having my tripod fall over with my camera on it. It fell straight forward landing right on the lens...in the rocks. Even with the lens hood on it got tagged pretty good. You can see it on the top part of the lens.

Anyway I've heard that the front glass is the cheapest to get repaired but when I got a hold of Nikon they said they couldn't give me an estimate without actually seeing the lens.

My question to you guys is have you ever had a repair like this done? On a $800 dollar lens is it worth the cost and do any of you have an idea of what this will cost me.

 

[Tucson T4R]

I don't have experience sending in a lens for repair so I can't help on the cost.

However, on my Canon 17-55 lens the front lens is just held in by a ring and 3 small Phillips head screws. The screws are hidden under a stick on thin metal label ring that can easily be removed and re-installed. I have removed mine a couple times just to clean some dust that got inside the lens.

I can't tell from your picture if you have the same ability or not. If you do, I would think you should be able to just order the front lens as a part and replace it yourself.

 

[sprale]

My SO brought her D700 up to Mendenhall Glacier on our Alaska trip this summer. She had her Tilt-Shift lens on as well. It has a small ring around the end, barely enough protection. She dropped the whole thing right on the ice while we were climbing, hard. She picked it up and test fired a few shots, no damage, but the ring looked a bit off. I popped it off later, it just got bumped out of it's track, popped right back in easily. Lucky, real lucky.

 

[dieck]

I can't tell if it is cracked, but surface damage to the front element doesn't usually affect picture quality. The rear element on the other hand is a different story. If it's not cracked, shoot through it again and see.

 

[cybercat]

Usually 250-300 to replace the lens and recalibrate it.

 

[Desert Dan]

Ouch

Does the lens still work, focus and turn?

I keep a UV filter on my DSLR camera to prevent minor damage to the lens itself.

 

[DrMoab]

Ouch

Does the lens still work, focus and turn?

I keep a UV filter on my DSLR camera to prevent minor damage to the lens itself.

It still works and I can't see any quality degradation but I worry about shooting into the sun and getting reflections off the chipped glass.

I gamble with not using UV filters because I don't like the quality loss.

 

[xjblue]

Ryan,

I still use that high quality Hoya clear filter on my newer lens and can't say I've noticed any quality issues, though I havn't exactly pixel peeped with and without the filter to justify that, I can say I've been very pleased with the performance of the lense with the filter on such that I forget it's on there and have never yet considered removing it. I also like only fussing with the lens cap when the camera is being moved in or out of "storage", if I'm going to be shooting, the cap is off at all times!

I can also say I wish I had purchased one for each of my other lenses before they got blemished a little bit, I have noticed some quality issues due to those blemishes on one of those lenses, in particular when shooting toward the sun, luckily that one was upgraded by the new lens.

 

[nwoods]

A similar repair at Canon costs about $350. I once dropped a nice 70-200 F2.8 about 400 feet off a cliff in Utah (it tumbled out of my backpack). That cost $800 to repair, but it's a $2200 lens so I figured it was justified. The repair is so good I suspect they just replaced it with a new one. It's immaculate and shoots sharper than ever.

 

[SwiCago]

If you can get it repaired, I have a few Nikkor lenses for sale in the for sale section at very decent prices. From the looks of it, it looks like it was your wide angle? If so, I have a 12-24mm for sale that has seen little use, almost new and still has warranty...
In any case I hope you can save your lens and save having to buy a replacement.

-AL

 

[SunTzuNephew]

Ouch

Does the lens still work, focus and turn?

I keep a UV filter on my DSLR camera to prevent minor damage to the lens itself.

Got that right. A filter is a lot cheaper than a lens, or even having a lens repaired.

 

[chp-sk8]

I have a 70-200 2.8 that took a digger and put a light scetch in the front lense, I have shot 1000's of shots after and have notices nothing from it. Take various shots, in high light, or at the light and see if it breaks up while passing threw the scatch.

Cheers