$300 seems awfully low to me. I'd be betting the replacement element would cost that alone let alone the 2-3 hours of time the tech will take to replace it. You can easily say $600+
When I had the filter ring of my 70-200 changed it cost me $375 and that was just the filter ring that had a nick in it.
weekh wrote:
There was a scratch and I thought it was some sort of stain. Used water to rub it and there goes the lens coating.
Recently, someone asked how to clean this lense and my answer was, first be gentle, don' do more harm by agressive cleaning - stains are common & they do not affect image quality- I used to be anal about stains on lense coating , not any more. I have a bulbous lense ( 8-16 Sigma Dx ) and I remove lense cap when I am ready to shoot only.
I would be shocked if water would remove the lens coating.
After all aren't pro lens suspose to be able to take a little weather including a little rain.
Before I posted to this forum, I called Nikon Singapore and was told that they have no spare parts for the lens. At the same time, I was also being told that the lens comes as a whole and no parts can be replaced. I'll have to replace the whole lens.
I'm still waiting for a firm answer if the front element can indeed be replaced.
Yes! The scratch renders an obvious big dust spot once the lens is stopped down.
I've not examined further to see what's the impact from the wearing of the coating.
Hmm... are you sure it's not just dust on the sensor? I have seen pics here in the past from lenses with BROKEN front elements - damage on the lens didn't impact the image at all or maybe slightly in the worst case...
Ivo Heshusius wrote:
Hmm... are you sure it's not just dust on the sensor? I have seen pics here in the past from lenses with BROKEN front elements - damage on the lens didn't impact the image at all or maybe slightly in the worst case...
Maybe it's worse on wide angles since the DOF is so deep, therefore putting the front element slightly more in focus? I had a 180mm f/2.8 with a gouge on the front element (picked it up for $150 because of it) and it didn't seem to affect the pictures in any noticeable way.
I had 24-70mm f/2.8G sent to Nikon for adjustment of tight zoom ring, and it came back with broken filter ring and shattered frontal element. It got sent back to Nikon right away. But, Nikon wanted to charge me $264 for replacement. Eventually, Nikon did it for free. At least, you get an idea on how much it costs to replace the frontal element and filter ring of 24-70.
the edmunds stuff is good- the only trick is to use the least amount possible and even then, drying the stuff off is a pain with typical lint free cloth as that stuff has close to zero absorbency.
If the coating is indeed flaking off or is that easy to remove, I'd send that lens in for a warranty repair. That's just not normal in a lens that new.
Don't send it to Torrance.
Unless you are NPS or walk it in.
If there is any dirt on it they will claim "impact damage" and charge you their minimum $700.
I would clean the entire lens with 91% + Isopropyl Alcohol, take several pictures of it, pack it in at east two inched of bubble wrap and send it to Melville.
It will probably be covered by warranty.
At any rate, their service has been very good and they have never overcharged me.
if not, don't worry about it. 