I was heading back to the airport after a great weekend with the family to fly home. I had to pack the van very tight because we had 3 car seats and a weeks worth of luggage. I had to put my camera bag in a precarious location, but it was OK since I new where it was. The problem was that my father in-law tried to help before I put the vehicle in park and opened the door, only to find my camera bag tumbling out. In it was my Macbook, D300, 24-70, 70-200, 18-200, and 10.5
My heart sank to the floor when I opened up the bag, only to find the 24-70 in pieces... It seems to be the only thing that took the hit.
I sent it to Nikon Canada, it looks like it will run me about $400 to repair, I think I'm lucky, but I haven't gotten it back yet.
I have to say, I was pretty upset, but it really wasn't his fault. I should have known, and put it in a safer spot. I knew that it would have shifted in the ride, but had no idea that it would take a tumble from about 6 feet high. I'm happy the rest of the gear made it OK. I guess there are some advantages of traveling with your body with just a body cap on it
I just hope that she's as good as new when she comes back home. Certainly was my favorite lens.
He did mention 3 child seats. Man that is some tough child support. Doesn't leave much room for buying gear, unless he's a doctor, lawyer or stock broker
Personally I wouldn't even mention the idea of getting your father in law to pay. I t was an accident, a costly one, but he didn't intend to do any harm. He might offer to pay anyway. Best to not get into a family fight over $400.00. Actually for the damages I can see in the photos, $400. doesn't seem all that steep!
Agreed, $400 is a steal, and I'll be paying it myself. Heck, it gives me an excuse for a new lens down the road
I agree, $400 is not worth the discussion, since it will only cause hard feelings.
I was using a Lowpro Compu-Trekker, and the fall was from about 5 feet or so. I think that it was a sheer force, since it is only 4 screws that hold the mount in place. They came off clean. I had the D300 with MB-D10 attached, as well as the lens. It may not have snapped if I didn't have the grip on.
For the future, think about insurance (usually as a rider on your renter's or homeowner's policy) as an option. I pay an annual premium of roughly 1.5% of the value of all my gear, and it is insured with a zero deductible against anything but war. If you have $10,000 in gear, you could have just paid for four years of premiums right there...
My feelings go out to you. Now just be prepared for a long wait. I let my 14-24 fly out of my hands a while back, June 7th to be exact, and it's been sitting at my local Nikon authorized repair facility waiting for parts since then. Apparently, this is happening on parts requirements for their newly released lenses. I'm still waiting. Best of luck.
The repair took a little over 2 weeks, but I have to say that I think I got off really lucky with this one. The lens seems to be as good as new, but I'll be testing it thoroughly. Thanks Nikon Canada.
Just did the pick-n-pluck with the foam to fit my entire kit. I plan to carry a bag along too for daily use of the gear but keep it in the porta brace for transport.
It seems obvious that a bag offers little protection yet we all think it's "enough" because the gear is never going to fall high/hard - until it does.
Glad the repair was reasonable and the lens is working so far.
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
For the future, think about insurance (usually as a rider on your renter's or homeowner's policy) as an option. I pay an annual premium of roughly 1.5% of the value of all my gear, and it is insured with a zero deductible against anything but war. If you have $10,000 in gear, you could have just paid for four years of premiums right there...
Ditto. You have quite a nice collection of gear, I'd definetly make sure I had it insured for piece of mind alone. There was another fellow on here that recently was a victim of home invasion, funnny enough the same lens that you broke was stolen from him. Maybe theres some bad JuJu going on with that lens.
