A couple weeks ago, I looked in my camera bag and noticed my equipment was displaced. I'm thinking, "what the hell?" It seemed like my bag was dropped. I checked out all my equipment everything was fine, except my 70-200 2.8 II had a slight dent on the lens cap, and also the hood wasn't sitting properly. It appears my lower pro backpack had been dropped long ways with the lens making contact with a hard surface. I thought, "ok well the filter is still intact, perhaps the cap absorbed the impact." I mount the lens and when i turned the camera on and tried to focus, the camera would error out with the AF straining making a loud noise! On top of that, i noticed the zoom was stuck! Off to Canon for repair...

After sending the lens in, I get a call a week later with an estimate of around $300. Hurts the bank a bit but ok, I really need this lens so it needs to be fixed. Another week goes by, I get a call yesterday. Now the estimate is around $800! Holy@#$%! I'm crushed... I love this lens but simply can't afford to get it fixed and am now held up from work! I don't know what to do...

Canon says it's $600 in parts and they basically have to rebuild the lens, new IS, New zoom mechanism.

I'm thinking I should cut my loses and sell the lens as is and with the money I have left, find a 135 2.0L and 85mm 1.8 to get my by for now... What do you guys think? I'm really at a loss here...

Insurance?

Sucks. Have you thought about selling the 70-200 2.8 II as is and getting a nice used 70-200 2.8 non-IS. Still a great lens. Should be about the same price as a 135L and 85/1.8 and neither of those would have IS either. The used non-IS 70-200 2.8 will not lose much if any value, so you can sell it in the future with your finances are better, putting the money towards an IS version.

Jim

Even if you are going to sell, you should go ahead and have Canon repair it. I doubt anyone wants to buy a lens that needs $800 of repair without more than an $800 discount from the going used price to cover the hassle and risk. Once repaired, you can re-sell the lens for full used price and scale back to cheaper options.

After that, selling to swap for a 135L + 85/1.8 probably won't save much (if any) over keeping the repaired 70-200, but you'll have to figure out your own finances and lens needs.

mpmendenhall wrote:
Even if you are going to sell, you should go ahead and have Canon repair it. I doubt anyone wants to buy a lens that needs $800 of repair without more than an $800 discount from the going used price to cover the hassle and risk. Once repaired, you can re-sell the lens for full used price and scale back to cheaper options.

After that, selling to swap for a 135L + 85/1.8 probably won't save much (if any) over keeping the repaired 70-200, but you'll have to figure out your own finances and lens needs.

+1 There is some value in that fixed lens since Canon warrants the repairs for 6 months.

The thing is, I need equipment now. I can't afford to have it fixed. I would simply have to take a loss when i sell and price it accordingly.

If I could fix it, I would, and also would not sell it at that point.

The 135L and 85mm don't have IS but are faster so I could have a little versatility. These are two lenses I planned to add to my collection in the future anyway.

Used 70-200 2.8 non IS is an option worth considering as well... hmm

Who likes to pay more than a couple of hundred for this lens? I belive you can't sell it if you don't have a very very low price on it.

"Canon says it's $600 in parts and they basically have to rebuild the lens, new IS, New zoom mechanism"

I don't know about a "couple of hundred" but I would sell it for a low price indeed, if I decide to do so.

Rent a replacement (by the day if possible) until you can afford to fix the lens...I'm not sure you're going to find anyone that would give you much money for a dead $2000+ zoom; and Canon's repair costs might go up; labor will there's no doubt there

You have no choice but to repair it imo. Sell it in parts or as is hardly bringing you funds for alternatives. The duty of ownership is that you keep things maintained, or either take total loss for granted because you have written off enough of an asset. It's obvious you didn't write off your zoomlens yet and since you didn't mention any kind of insurance I guess you'll have to pay for the repair. After that you'll be able to sell it to cover the repair cost and hopefully some extra value to buy a substitute you can afford. I am sorry, this is no EOSfun, but maybe it's a good reason to take insurance or keep some funds back hand for this kind of bad luck in the future.

Unfortunately selling the lens as is will most likely bring very little money, because (as you describe) the current condition is not easy to evaluate. The $800 quoted from Canon is not final until you see the written invoice on the fully repaired lens.

As others have suggested, best course of action is rent/borrow a replacement until you can afford the repair, then decide whether to sell or keep the fully working lens.

FWIW, if the front element has no scratches, it should bring at least $500 as a nonworking lens for parts.

Of course the math is that if you can borrow the $800 to repair it, you should be able to sell it for a good bit more than $1300 and net out a better amount to buy your next lens than if you just sold it for parts.

A suggestion to take some of the sting out of this. Enroll in CPS and get up to 60% off the repair, which will pay for the membership and get the perks and goodies in addition.

Just a thought.

Db

A suggestion to take some of the sting out of this. Enroll in CPS and get up to 60% off the repair bill (if you qualify), which will pay for the membership, and you get the perks and goodies in addition.

Just a thought.

Db

RCicala wrote:
FWIW, if the front element has no scratches, it should bring at least $500 as a nonworking lens for parts.

Of course the math is that if you can borrow the $800 to repair it, you should be able to sell it for a good bit more than $1300 and net out a better amount to buy your next lens than if you just sold it for parts.

Don't see why I couldn't sell it as is for $1200 now. These go for $2000+ used... Once repaired for $800 it's practically a brand new lens with a 6 month warranty.

Otherwise, I'd rather just hold on to it until I can afford to fix it.

Doctorbird wrote:
A suggestion to take some of the sting out of this. Enroll in CPS and get up to 60% off the repair bill (if you qualify), which will pay for the membership, and you get the perks and goodies in addition.

Just a thought.

Db

For the 60% you have to be platinum - so does the poster have enough equipment to qualify for platinum? If not gold still gets 30%. He might have to take back the lens and resend it in to get the discount or leave it there until the paperwork is processed.

RMstudios wrote:
RCicala wrote:
FWIW, if the front element has no scratches, it should bring at least $500 as a nonworking lens for parts.

Of course the math is that if you can borrow the $800 to repair it, you should be able to sell it for a good bit more than $1300 and net out a better amount to buy your next lens than if you just sold it for parts.

Don't see why I couldn't sell it as is for $1200 now. These go for $2000+ used... Once repaired for $800 it's practically a brand new lens with a 6 month warranty.

Otherwise, I'd rather just hold on to it until I can afford to fix it.


Cuz nobody wants to take a risk that that $800 doesn't fix it, or buy the hassle of getting it fixed. If I can buy a mint copy for $2000, I wouldn't even seriously consider a badly broken one, with an estimate of $800 to fix extensive damage, for more than perhaps $500.

JMO, but I can assure you that you're going to take a huge bath is trying to sell this thing vs. getting it fixed and then selling it.

StarNut wrote:
RMstudios wrote:
RCicala wrote:
FWIW, if the front element has no scratches, it should bring at least $500 as a nonworking lens for parts.

Of course the math is that if you can borrow the $800 to repair it, you should be able to sell it for a good bit more than $1300 and net out a better amount to buy your next lens than if you just sold it for parts.

Don't see why I couldn't sell it as is for $1200 now. These go for $2000+ used... Once repaired for $800 it's practically a brand new lens with a 6 month warranty.

Otherwise, I'd rather just hold on to it until I can afford to fix it.


Cuz nobody wants to take a risk that that $800 doesn't fix it, or buy the hassle of getting it fixed. If I can buy a mint copy for $2000, I wouldn't even seriously consider a badly broken one, with an estimate of $800 to fix extensive damage, for more than perhaps $500.

JMO, but I can assure you that you're going to take a huge bath is trying to sell this thing vs. getting it fixed and then selling it.


I see. Well I'll probably just hold on to it until I can figure something out. I started this thread mainly to figure out options, not argue about how much I can get for the lens. If I fix it I'm keeping it... bottom line. I need an option now though; that's the thing.

I appreciate all the suggestions.

Seems like renting is your best bet right now.

Tough luck. I wonder how the bag got dropped? Was there anything else in the bag that might have been damaged?

What happens to your original $300, have you already lost this, or will Canon refund it if you don't go ahead with the repair?

You could always put it up for auction on ebay (with full disclosure). You'd be surprised what people pay for broken stuff. This saves you the hassle of repairs.