Dear all,
Help~!!!!!!!!!
My Nikon 500mm f4 VRII fell from a tripod. 1) Got dent on the front ring, but not so much. 2) Autofocus does not work well. Motor makes noise but not work. Others are just good. I am wondering any suggestions to repair it? How much I will pay for it? It's a US lens. I live in Pittsburgh. Thanks.
That's still just an estimate. You won't know the final cost until the repair tech opens up the lens and determines the specific damage. Given the value of that lens I'd send it to a main Nikon shop directly.
No reason to fret about the repair cost, you dropped it and it's on you. Without the repair the almost 8K lens is useless. Send it to the nearest Nikon repair center.
Over the course of shooting for many years, most photographers will drop a lens or camera or both at some point. Unfortunately, your drop is a little more expensive than others.
Hope it turns out to be minimal damage. Appearance doesn't always tell the whole story.
Zebrabot wrote:
insurance is just a guaranteed loss year after year.
even if you trash all your stuff or you get it stolen out of a car you still aren't gaining anything if the stuff eventually gets replaced.
This is completely absurd.
Insurance is for things you can't afford to replace if they go missing/get broken. Things like your body (medical insurance), your house, etc.
As a dedicated hobbyist who has a fair amount of gear, I can't reasonably afford to replace it all if it were to, say, get stolen - which happened to me about 6 years ago, when my house was burglarized. The replacement insurance covered more than $15,000 worth of stolen goods. Even if I were diligent about putting aside money instead of spending it on premiums, it would not have come close.
Where insurance really falls down is on things that are either relatively inexpensive to replace (e.g. small electronics), tend to fail in small pieces (e.g. extended warranties on cars), or are pure luxury items that don't need replacement. Even there, sometimes it makes sense.
There are lots of times and people for whom insurance is a waste... but it's not so black-and-white as you make it out to be.
APS would be the better place to send it as it is not under warranty. Much quicker, no hassle and you will actually know where it is at all times and what they are doing to it.
I would send it in an let Nikon open it up and just get it done. I dont know if your a hobbiest or pro, but to most of us, 8K is alot to pay for a paper weight.
Zebrabot wrote:
insurance is just a guaranteed loss year after year.
even if you trash all your stuff or you get it stolen out of a car you still aren't gaining anything if the stuff eventually gets replaced.
binary visions wrote:
This is completely absurd.
+1 to "this is completely absurd".
Insurance premiums are generally between 1% and 1.5% of the value of the gear in the USA. So you'd have to pay premiums for at least 65 years without filing a claim for it to be a break-even proposition.
I had $15,000 worth of gear stolen a few years ago. Insurance replaced all my gear and was delightful to deal with. If you can't easily afford to replace all your gear, or you just think you're likely to trash it or get it stolen at least once every 30-40 years, it's a good bet.
Same thing happened to me, only worse. The barrel came apart.This was right after the Tsunami so, I had to wait about two months for the parts and it cost me $1500.00 but, it was worth it. Now the good part. The lens was 7 years old(AF-S ll version) and I managed to sell it for the price I initially bought it at on eBay. So, the repair cost was the lens rental for 7 years...
Good luck...
Harish
