Camera damaged at my daughter's birthday party

[MissionMan]

In some respects this is a rant, in other respect I acknowledge it is partially my own fault but it doesn't take away the annoyance.

Had my daughter's 3rd birthday party this morning. Put my camera on a bench in the room away from the kiddies at a play centre. Came back to find 3 mum's sitting on the bench and all the bags that were on the bench (mine was in the middle) pushed to one side with my bag lying on the floor. Opened my camera bag to find that my D700 and 24-70 f/2.8 had been pushed off the bench and landed lens down wedging the lens cover into the lens. The filter mount is damaged, no damage to the glass on the lens itself but when zooming in and out it hits a stiff part around 70mm (where the it moves furthest into the lens case) where it's harder to rotate.

The lens and camera seem to operate fine with no focussing issues but I'm going to book both into a service centre to get the lens repaired and the camera checked which no doubt will cost me $500+ in a repair bill.

What annoyed me about this situation was that these mother's simply pushed the bags to one side and when one dropped off, they couldn't be bothered to check what happened. I don't know whether it was them specifically and I didn't want to bring it up at a children's party but I hope karma catches the guilty party at some point for their inconsiderate behaviour. It would have taken 5 seconds to remove a bag from the bench to sit down instead of pushing them off. The reason people put their bags up was because kids had spilt juice on the floor and in reality, we only came back into the room for 5 minutes for a cake cutting so they could easily have stood for 5 minutes.

I acknowledge it was my own fault for leaving it up there, but I still believe you should be able to leave a bag there without a concern that someone else will simply push it off the bench.

Any ideas on the cost of servicing bodies and repairing lenses?

[old dog]

does not sound like your fault. Most people are considerate...guess you came across one that wasn`t. Hope the fix isn`t too costly.

[Dazz1]

My home insurance will cover this sort of damage.

[MissionMan]

Camera bags and motorcycle helmets belong on the floor.

Sorry to hear it got damaged mate. I dropped my 5dmk2 less than 24 hours after buying it a few years ago.

I learnt my lesson and never put my camera bags on anything but down on the floor. Can't fall any lower.

Normally I would have, but as mentioned, kids had spilt juice on the floor.

[mechawombat]

Well thats sucks!

I find that those child play centres are magnets for inconsiderate people. I always seem to have to bite my tongue and take my kids (son and friends)away (much to their protests) due to other people just not giving a care for others or their own kids.

I mean when it is ok to just move other peoples stuff? I grew up at a time where you don't touch other peoples stuff.

Flipside. I never leave my camera alone EVER. I do have trust issues but...

[ROA44]

What were they doing sitting on the bench anyway or was it a bench seat. OH & S whoops WHS now. Shouldn't have been sitting there
so no cause to have moved them.

Just typical of some people no respect and couldn't careless attitudes and our education system has helped it to fester.

[arthurking83]

Camera bags and motorcycle helmets belong on the floor.

.....

Not in my books they don't!

If I'm sitting somewhere and I want to get up and do something briefly, then the item of prominence marks my seat.
My belief is that it's rude for someone to just move the items because no one is actually there.

You place an item of prominence to declare that this seat/spot is taken.
That's the way it's always been done, and there's no reason to change what has been a long held practice just to cater for inconsiderate morons that have no sense of guilt.
Bags should never have been moved .. period!

Hope you sort it out MMan .. and the cost is minimal

[junqbox]

While I commiserate, I've always believed the best place is on the floor, in that 'it can't fall any further'. I get AK's point, really it's about reducing risk as much as you can for your own equipment. 'Other people' are just that and generally only take responsibility for their own (mostly, sometimes not even that much).

[Longshots]

Id agree with that too. On the floor. Also brings up the issue of the filter probably damaging the thread on the lens. Which is another debate no doubt of the filter not protecting the lens argument

[MissionMan]

Id agree with that too. On the floor. Also brings up the issue of the filter probably damaging the thread on the lens. Which is another debate no doubt of the filter not protecting the lens argument

Filter wasn't on. It was the plastic lens protector thing that pushed into towards the lens and wedged in there. It cracked the area that you screw your filter into. Realistically, while it did cracked the plastic filter screw in part, it protected the lens from being damaged and seemed to do it's job.

[arthurking83]

Filter wasn't on. It was the plastic lens protector thing that pushed into towards the lens and wedged in there. It cracked the area that you screw your filter into. ....

Lens cap?

I didn't realise that lens caps were so tough. I thought the 24-70 was made of metal .. that is, had metal filter threads.
Very strange.

[MissionMan]

Lens cap?

I didn't realise that lens caps were so tough. I thought the 24-70 was made of metal .. that is, had metal filter threads.
Very strange.

Yup. Lens cap. Most of the lens is metal but the filter sleeve thread is plastic or some sort of filbreglass. There are tiny little plastic filbres showing on mine (similar to what you would see with fibre glass).

If you look at the photo in this thread, you can see how the top piece has cracked, which wouldn't really happen with metal.

http://nikonites.com/general-lenses/...#axzz2c02OZo8y

[arthurking83]

Oh. OK .. I see.

I thought it was supposed to be all metal.

As a repair, my guess would be that it's going to be horrendously expensive(for Nikon) to fix, as it'd require full strip down and replacement of the inner tube.

Of course I don't have this lens myself, but going by those low res smartphone images in the link, it almost looks as tho the filter thread area may be a removable part. One which may be removed to replace the front element. Traditionally, this is held by an inner ring with two notches at opposing ends, which requires a special spanner to remove.
But those two notches aren't obvious(or visible) in the link. So it may be that (contrary to my previous text) it may not be as expensive as it may otherwise be.
If the front most end of the lens is removable as described, it may only be a few hundred dollars to repair.

Remembering that I know very little of this lens on a personal level .. I've only had brief opportunities to play with it tho here and there .. I'm just trying to lessen your levels of stress, until you get a repair quote.
Beyond that, you're on your own

I'll see if I can dig up any repair info on this lens.(I'm curious now).

[MissionMan]

Oh. OK .. I see.

I thought it was supposed to be all metal.

As a repair, my guess would be that it's going to be horrendously expensive(for Nikon) to fix, as it'd require full strip down and replacement of the inner tube.

Of course I don't have this lens myself, but going by those low res smartphone images in the link, it almost looks as tho the filter thread area may be a removable part. One which may be removed to replace the front element. Traditionally, this is held by an inner ring with two notches at opposing ends, which requires a special spanner to remove.
But those two notches aren't obvious(or visible) in the link. So it may be that (contrary to my previous text) it may not be as expensive as it may otherwise be.
If the front most end of the lens is removable as described, it may only be a few hundred dollars to repair.

Remembering that I know very little of this lens on a personal level .. I've only had brief opportunities to play with it tho here and there .. I'm just trying to lessen your levels of stress, until you get a repair quote.
Beyond that, you're on your own

I'll see if I can dig up any repair info on this lens.(I'm curious now).

The filter thread sleeve is definitely a separate part. It's a couple of screws to replace it. I found some videos where people replaced other components and this was the first thing they removed. If it's just replacing the thread, it should be cheap, but knowing Nikon, they'd charge a fortune for the privilege and they don't sell parts (from what I know) so I can't replace it myself. The focus is perfect at the moment, and the stiffness around 70mm (when the lens changes direction) may be normal so I may be looking into it too much as the bench was only about 40cm high.

Here is a website showing how simple it is to replace

http://www.machias.org/Data/Sites/1/...746_large.html

[arthurking83]

Just had a quick look, and it looks as tho my second (assumed) thought is more correct.

Looks like the broken part is a separate item, part No. IX631-858(1) where the (1) must refer to a table that I can't find. But it seems to be held by three screws onto another part that contains the front element which then attaches to the inner tube.

Overall, I'd say that repair shouldn't be all that expensive .. but then again we are referring to a Nikon item here .. which means that a $200 repair will cost at least $500.
As the affected part is not part of the optical/mechanical system and is only a finishing part that doubles as a filter holder, with the right tools, anyone with low technical knowledge would be able to fix it.
It's basically three screws to undo and redo without affecting any other parts.
The most difficult bit would be:

1. removing the ribbed ring that conceals the three screws. This may be simply glued to the front, and to remove it, may likely result in it bending beyond reusage.
2. finding the parts!

- - - Updated - - -

oops .. beat me to it MM.
I must have been replying as you did.

[MissionMan]

Thanks.

Yeah, I searched everywhere on the web and no one seems to offer the part. Typical Nikon. I did managed to find the parts manual which helped.

[arthurking83]

Yeah, you probably won't get the parts in Australia, but I'm sure you'd be able to get them from overseas, if you wanted to do it yourself(that's what I'd do).

If the guy in the link can get the parts, then anyone should be able too .. it's a matter of researching where from.

- - - Updated - - -

maybe contact the chap in the link, and ask him.

You have the part numbers now(I got it wrong it's IK, not IX .. the parts manual I found was low res and unclear).

I reckon it's worth chasing up .. I can't imagine these parts costing more than $100 all up.

- - - Updated - - -

maybe contact the chap in the link, and ask him.

You have the part numbers now(I got it wrong it's IK, not IX .. the parts manual I found was low res and unclear).

I reckon it's worth chasing up .. I can't imagine these parts costing more than $100 all up.

Also found out some info that Nikon UK may sell the parts.
Only problem is, that they won't mail the parts outside Europe .. so if you could arrange a remailing service(friends or paid for) .. it may be possible to do yourself.

[MissionMan]

Yeah, you probably won't get the parts in Australia, but I'm sure you'd be able to get them from overseas, if you wanted to do it yourself(that's what I'd do).

If the guy in the link can get the parts, then anyone should be able too .. it's a matter of researching where from.

- - - Updated - - -

maybe contact the chap in the link, and ask him.

You have the part numbers now(I got it wrong it's IK, not IX .. the parts manual I found was low res and unclear).

I reckon it's worth chasing up .. I can't imagine these parts costing more than $100 all up.

I found the correct part numbers, but if you search for that part number, no one lists it as a sellable part. All I get is a handful of posts asking about where to get it with no response.

I'll try the guy in the link and see if he can share the information.

I did find a website that shows shipping manifestos from china with that part, but that was as close as I got to an answer.

[aussie girl]

is it possible to find a generic type lens, an el-cheepo that has a thread part suitable for your camera lenses and swap the damaged part for the part off the el cheepo lens??

In some ways I think you are lucky you still have a camera, could so easily have walked its way (with a little help) to the local pawn shop before you knew it!!

I would never leave a bag to "mind my seat" unless someone else that I knew was sitting there. Unfortunately the days when you could do that are long gone. Just a few weekends ago hubby and I stopped at a very busy bakery/cafe. We were sitting eating our pies when an elderly lady, who was waiting for someone to arrive, met up with the person, discussed what they were going to have and then went up to the counter to order their food, leaving her handbag on the table. She was at the counter for quite a while. Anyone could have walked by the table and walked out the door with her handbag. As we were leaving I took her bag up to her and advised her that it was not a wise thing to leave her handbag unattended, which she thanked me for.

Hope you can find a reasonable fix for your lens, and it would be a good idea to check with your insurance, you may well find that it is covered by the policy. Might be cheaper to pay the excess on your policy than buy a new lens or pay for the repair

- - - Updated - - -

is it possible to find a generic type lens, an el-cheepo that has a thread part suitable for your camera lenses and swap the damaged part for the part off the el cheepo lens??

In some ways I think you are lucky you still have a camera, could so easily have walked its way (with a little help) to the local pawn shop before you knew it!!

I would never leave a bag to "mind my seat" unless someone else that I knew was sitting there. Unfortunately the days when you could do that are long gone. Just a few weekends ago hubby and I stopped at a very busy bakery/cafe. We were sitting eating our pies when an elderly lady, who was waiting for someone to arrive, met up with the person, discussed what they were going to have and then went up to the counter to order their food, leaving her handbag on the table. She was at the counter for quite a while. Anyone could have walked by the table and walked out the door with her handbag. As we were leaving I took her bag up to her and advised her that it was not a wise thing to leave her handbag unattended, which she thanked me for.

Hope you can find a reasonable fix for your lens, and it would be a good idea to check with your insurance, you may well find that it is covered by the policy. Might be cheaper to pay the excess on your policy than buy a new lens or pay for the repair

[arthurking83]

is it possible to find a generic type lens, an el-cheepo that has a thread part suitable for your camera lenses and swap the damaged part for the part off the el cheepo lens??

......

pretty unlikely. Not going to say with 100% certainty that a generic part won't exist somewhere, but in general, many parts in lenses aren't made to be interchangeable.
I guess it makes sense for some parts to be designed to be reused from one lens design to another, but this is usually on less complicated lens designs.
Even the bayonet mount(where lens attaches to camera) are generally not interchangeable from one lens to another, even tho it would make sense for the manufacturer to make them all interchangeable.
Some can be, but many aren't.
You would have to rely on trial and error to determine which parts can be interchanged.

Usually this part of a lens is the front most section of the inner tube of the lens, which will do either zooming and or focusing, so for Nikon to make it a replaceable part is in effect a great idea.
Many lenses would usually be scrapped due to the cost of dismantling and replacing the inner tube when the front threads of the lens become damaged.
For Nikon to make this a replaceable part as they have here makes it a viable repair option now, as it's a relatively cheap external part plus a small amount of technician time, as opposed to an expensive major section of the lens, plus a considerable amount of tech time to totally strip the lens and reassembly.