Lense repair...

BlueHoseJacket

This past summer, I dropped my Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II lense on my concrete driveway and cried as I watched it tumble end over end. No glass was broken but damage was apparent when attempting to zoom. I took the lense to a local authorized Canon repair shop, had to purchase a new barrel and trim piece. I did not do a lot of shooting after I got the lense back and thought everything was OK with the lense, but the more I shot I realized that it was not focusing well especially at long distances. I took the lense and camera back to the shop on two different occasions for fine tuning and saw no great improvement either time. After spending $700 on repairs I resigned to the fact that my lense was never going to be the same.


The reason I dropped the lense is due to the fact that I have neuropathy in my hands (and feet), the drop was in the early stages of the neuropathy so I thought I was doing OK with handling things. After dropping the lense the condition worsened and I began to think that some of the focusing issues might be with the neuropathy so I just kept shooting, frustrated with my condition, my lense and life in general. Later in the fall I was shooting a college football game and decided to rent a lense rather than have the same out of focus shots....shots came out great! Unfortunately I still have a lense that does not focus, but I realized that it was not my neuropathy. I rented a lense on a second occasion and again had some very nice shots.

I have not sent the lense to Canon yet, but I am think on that is the next step...before I breakdown and buy a new lense. Anyone had experience sending something to Canon and getting results that a local shop could not repair to your satisfaction? What kind of turnaround? Are prices reasonable? Is there a charge for them to look at it? Etc.

time2smile

Sorry to hear about your issue.
I dropped a Nikon 70-300 VR sent it to Nikon. They fixed it under warranty, again no signs of breakage.
I think unless you trust the local place, it may be better to send it in from the start.
Can you send it to Cannon and ask for them to give you an estimate on the repair...Their web site should have costs for checking it out and general cleaning and fine tuning charges.

denisegoldberg

BlueHoseJacket wrote: »

I have not sent the lense to Canon yet, but I am think on that is the next step...before I breakdown and buy a new lense. Anyone had experience sending something to Canon and getting results that a local shop could not repair to your satisfaction? What kind of turnaround? Are prices reasonable? Is there a charge for them to look at it? Etc.

I have used Canon Factory Service and was happy with it. You can either pre-authorize an amount for the repair or you can ask that they contact you with a quote prior to doing the work.

Turnaround is faster with pre-authorization since there isn't that communication back-and-forth between you and the service organization, but given your story I would think you would want to agree or not agree to have the work done. When I had a lens repaired last year it was back in my hands within days (less than a week).

I just did a search on Canon factory service and came up with this page - http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer?pageKeyCode=onlineRepairLanding. There is a chat available there, might be worth asking Canon directly for an expected timeframe and whether there is a charge for an estimate.

--- Denise

BlueHoseJacket

Received an e-mail from Canon today regarding my broken lens...they are estimating repairs to be $900+. Now I am thinking that is time to cut my losses, I have already dropped $700 on repairs... Do I sink another $$900 or just by another lens..probably the older version for $1000-$1200. Is there any value ine the broken lense?

Mitchell

I'm curious what your "local authorized Canon repair shop" said when you told them that the repair they did for $700 did not actually fix your lens. I would have gone back to them and asked them about that before sending it in to Canon. Didn't they check the lens before handing it back to you? $700 is a big repair. I've had autofocus motors replaced for $400, so they must have done quite a bit of work. To have the lens come back still broken was unacceptable.

To answer your most recent question, I personally would not pay another $900 to fix this lens.

kdog

Ouch. It sounds like you got ripped off by the, "Authorized Canon Repair" center. It's probably an uphill battle, but I would raise bloody hell with them. I would also see if there's any leverage that Canon could apply to them given their "Authorized" status. After all, there must be some standards to apply to being authorized that may have not been adhered to. I don't know if you can get Canon involved or not with them, but I would certainly give it a try given the amount of money that you lost here.

Regardless, I wouldn't let your previous unsuccessful repair affect your decision of whether to let Canon repair the lens as that money is gone whether you keep the lens or not. If Canon fixes your lens, it will be fixed.

I suggest you join Canon Professional Service at the Gold level before you have Canon service your lens. That will cost you $100 to join for a year. You'll then get 20% off the price of your lens repair which is $200 off on a $1,000 repair. This way you essentially get a free membership plus $100 off on the repair. You also get greatly expedited service (3-day turnaround and free overnight return shipping). You also get some cool Canon CPS swag as a gift for joining, two free body cleanings, and access to their equipment loaner program. That should take the sting off a little bit anyway. You have to have a certain mass of Canon equipment to be a member of CPS, but looking at the bodies listed in your profile, you probably qualify.

If I were going to sell a broken lens, I'd put it on Ebay. No doubt there are people who'd buy it for the working parts. The bidding for it might actually be fairly interesting. You could always put in a high minimum bid and see what happens to determine whether to sell it or fix it.

BlueHoseJacket

As I mentioned, I have neuropathy in my hands and feet due to a condition called CIDP ( Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy). The disease has me questioning my ability to continue shooting. I now wear Gator Gloves to provide some grip on the camera, and have a lot of issues finding the shutter release button...which is really bad when trying to shoot college football or college lacrosse. I did find some small rubber raised tactile "buttons" that stick to the shutter button. I have also purchased a Black Rapid strap to help with security...which didn't really help when I first got the Black Rapid. I had a brand new flash on the camera attached to the strap...when all of a sudden my camera, flash and strap were on the ground, the flash in several pieces. The clip on the Black Rapid had come unscrewed and somehow the clip opened and I now had a brand new broken flash. I have not even looked and having that repaired yet. To continue my misery...about three weeks ago I was shooting my daughter's lacrosse game, she is a senior on the Ole Miss Club lacrosse team, and after the game I was trying to hand the camera to someone to take a picture of me , my daughter and my wife....that's right ... A Tameron 24-75 f2.8 was in pieces on the ground. So if you are counting, I dropped and broke a $2500 lens, then spent $700 in repairs that didn't repair, I dropped a $450 flash and a $500 Tameron lens. I have destroyed $4,150 worth of camera equipment in the last six months...not counting the Hoodman hood loupe that I lost on the field after my GT Yellow Jackets beat UGA in Athens, GA. Crap...I m getting depressed writing all this down.

Anyway when I got my lens back from the local shop I was not interested in doing much shooting as was in the middle of chemo treatments for the CIDP, so I have to accept some of the responsibility for not getting the lens back to the repair shop in a timely manner (it was off season for both lacrosse and football). They have told me that the repair warranty expired after 30 days...they did do some micro adjusting on two different occasions which did not seem to help.

I need think long and hard about continuing this expensive hobby that I keep making even more expensive. My other issue...what else can I do, golf, no, cards, no, backgammon, no, bike riding, no, ...etc., etc., etc....

time2smile

bow Your an inspiration to the dedication of true photo enthusiasts bow
Your ability to control equipment may change, buy judging by your posts, your desire for photography will not be fulfilled by any other hobby. You may need to go with slower glass for a while to help with cost or a different type of camera, hopefully just temporarily.
But don't give up, I can tell its not what you want to do....

I truly wish you the best......

kdog

^^ What Ted Said. I admire your dedication.

I looked up CIDP. It sounded very familiar until I read that it's closely related to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which my wife came down with after picking up a bug on vacation in the Dominican Republic. She made a full recovery after giving us quite a scare. My sincere best wishes for your recovery as well.

BlueHoseJacket

Thank you Ted...you're right, I don't know of any other hobby I would enjoy as much as I enjoy photography. I plan on continuing this hobby as long as I possibly can. As a matter of fact, I went last night
, on a miserable, rainy night to the Georgia Tech Spring football game to shoot the game. Being that I was down to a single, 10-22mm wide angle, I had to ask my brother to loan me his Tameron 70-200mm, f2.8 and for some reason...he said yes, which is amazing considering my recent history and the weather conditions. I will continue to search for ways that make this easier and safer, for both my equipment and my wallet. If anyone knows of any equipment out there that could help with the actual camera operation or something to help safeguard the equipment from my mishaps, please let me know.

Krog, yes CIDP is closely related to GB, CIDP being the chronic version of the disease with GB being the acute form. I had never heard of either a year and a half a go, but have now heard of several people who have had GB. I am glad your wife has recovered and I am sure that did give you quite the scare.

Thanks for the information and encouragement to everyone .

TonyCooper

BlueHoseJacket wrote: »

I have also purchased a Black Rapid strap to help with security...which didn't really help when I first got the Black Rapid. I had a brand new flash on the camera attached to the strap...when all of a sudden my camera, flash and strap were on the ground, the flash in several pieces. The clip on the Black Rapid had come unscrewed and somehow the clip opened and I now had a brand new broken flash.

Commenting just on this...I have, and love, a Black Rapid strap. On several occasions, though,
the screw that holds the strap to the (Nikon D300) camera body has worked loose due to the camera
turning. The camera has separated from the strap several times, but each time but one
I've had the camera in my grasp. The one time it dropped to the ground it fell on grass
and there was no damage.

The more the screw is tightened on the body, the more compressed the rubber washer
becomes and less effective it is in stopping the screw from working loose.

I usually use a 55/300 lens for sports, and this increase the spin factor. I've become
compulsive in checking the tightness.

Black Rapid should offer a safety cable or an extra package of replacement washers
at the price they charge for the strap.

time2smile

If I can add, I use the rapid knock off, but I use it with optek straps, with them you can make safety straps.

JonaBeth Russell

FWIW, I once tried the local repair shop route. When I picked it up, the lens looked dirty, after they promised a full cleaning. The zoom seemed to operate correctly (was sticky and had a 'click' along with a rattle). Returned to the shop, was told wait another couple or three days until they could fit it in. Seriously...they just tried to rip me for a cleaning, AND told me to wait in line. lol After pick up the second time, the lens looked spotless and I couldn't wait to use it, as I had a race coming up in two days. Got home, attached it to my camera (Canon 7D), and the aperture wouldn't correctly function. After a nice long discussion, they refunded my money and I had to rent a lens for the race. Sent the lens to Canon, and it was CHEAPER, as well as correctly repaired.

I'll likely never trust a non-factory service center for any camera gear repair again.