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Repairing gear
davidweaver
Registered Users Posts: 681 Major grins
This is more informational.
I shoot a lot, around a few thousands images a week. I shoot in crowded spaces, in tight spaces, in bars where people spill beer on my gear by accident (ever wonder why photogs carry a camera over their head while moving in a crowd) and trying to find a dry place to set my belt pack when I need to visit the men's room can be a challenge. Sometimes I cram frozen water bottles in the sides of the bag. I'll shoot in locations ranging from the Austin City Limits beer garden to Antelope Canyon that are unfriendly to gear.
in the last year I've spent almost 5 grand on repairs and replacement gear.
In 2008, I've purchased
An SB-800 to replace the one I needed to send into service.
Just got another D300, thank goodness for Taco Bell, as I damaged my first D300 in a bar the first month I got it. New one was 1800 bucks and I just got done taking the one with a loose lens mount and tweaked hotshoe to my local camera store so they can send it to Nikon in CA. I expect the repair bill to be 300-500 bucks.
My 10.5 finally croaked in focusing after shooting in Page, AZ and covering spray paint artists in Austin. No, spray paint won't come off the lens either. That was about 250 bucks. Wait, I thought I sent that in last year......
The 12-24dx which I used to adore until I got a 17-50mm Tamron had about 300 dollars of repair done to it. Now I abuse the heck out of it and have sold many pics taken with that lens, so I don't complain about repairs - they are a cost of what I do. The interim replacement Tamron cost me 400-500 bucks while Nikon took its usual month+ to fix and return.
Opps. Almost forgot about the really nice old model fixed 300mm that I broke the mount off. Luckily it was an older and fixed lens and the local guys repaired it for about 100 bucks. But I bought a 80-300 AF/VR to cover for it in the meantime. 700 bucks? This lens is actuually more functional in most situations than the fixed one. I do like it.
Problem is I sent the 80-300 in for repairs the other day as the focus is sticking and I could not generally hand focus it to correct. It MIGHT be covered by warranty. At least I have my 300mm fixed to back me up this weekend.
When the D300 comes back I'll send in a D200 for general tightening and a lube and oil change. I might sell it but I'm sure I'll play wack-a-mole with my new D300 soon, so I'll need a second backup body once my D300 comes back from Nikon.
I'm not complaining ...well maybe about how S L O W nikon service is.
Just posting to let y'all know that just buying gear doesn't mean that is the end of the line for paying for the gear.
and I'm guilty of putting off some repairs over the last couple years. It is not normally this bad. Usually a grand or so a year.
I shoot a lot, around a few thousands images a week. I shoot in crowded spaces, in tight spaces, in bars where people spill beer on my gear by accident (ever wonder why photogs carry a camera over their head while moving in a crowd) and trying to find a dry place to set my belt pack when I need to visit the men's room can be a challenge. Sometimes I cram frozen water bottles in the sides of the bag. I'll shoot in locations ranging from the Austin City Limits beer garden to Antelope Canyon that are unfriendly to gear.
in the last year I've spent almost 5 grand on repairs and replacement gear.
In 2008, I've purchased
An SB-800 to replace the one I needed to send into service.
Just got another D300, thank goodness for Taco Bell, as I damaged my first D300 in a bar the first month I got it. New one was 1800 bucks and I just got done taking the one with a loose lens mount and tweaked hotshoe to my local camera store so they can send it to Nikon in CA. I expect the repair bill to be 300-500 bucks.
My 10.5 finally croaked in focusing after shooting in Page, AZ and covering spray paint artists in Austin. No, spray paint won't come off the lens either. That was about 250 bucks. Wait, I thought I sent that in last year......
The 12-24dx which I used to adore until I got a 17-50mm Tamron had about 300 dollars of repair done to it. Now I abuse the heck out of it and have sold many pics taken with that lens, so I don't complain about repairs - they are a cost of what I do. The interim replacement Tamron cost me 400-500 bucks while Nikon took its usual month+ to fix and return.
Opps. Almost forgot about the really nice old model fixed 300mm that I broke the mount off. Luckily it was an older and fixed lens and the local guys repaired it for about 100 bucks. But I bought a 80-300 AF/VR to cover for it in the meantime. 700 bucks? This lens is actuually more functional in most situations than the fixed one. I do like it.
Problem is I sent the 80-300 in for repairs the other day as the focus is sticking and I could not generally hand focus it to correct. It MIGHT be covered by warranty. At least I have my 300mm fixed to back me up this weekend.
When the D300 comes back I'll send in a D200 for general tightening and a lube and oil change. I might sell it but I'm sure I'll play wack-a-mole with my new D300 soon, so I'll need a second backup body once my D300 comes back from Nikon.
I'm not complaining ...well maybe about how S L O W nikon service is.
Just posting to let y'all know that just buying gear doesn't mean that is the end of the line for paying for the gear.
and I'm guilty of putting off some repairs over the last couple years. It is not normally this bad. Usually a grand or so a year.
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you may want to try authorized photo service in morton grove, il. they're an authorized nikon repair center. i've got 2 sb-800s i'll be sending their way; one because the flash tube popped and the other has a broken wide angle diffuser.
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