MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
So, whilst away on hol, my 18-200 OS sigma lens (canon fit) decided that the zoom would become disconnected from the mech in the camera - that is to say - if i twiddle the barrel adjuster, nothing happens on the lens (doesn't zoom in). I can pull the barrel in and out manually. The zoom 'lock' also does nothing (well, it locks the barrel and stops it from twiddling, but doesn't stop the lens from sliding). The info the camera is getting is based on the position of the barrel, not the length of the shot itself, so it seems as if everything is fine except the cog (or whatever) that connects the barrel adjust to the movement of the focal elements (hope that's made sense?)
for the remainder of the trip I managed to get away with pulling the lens out, and putting the barrel adjust in approx the right position (if I didn't do this, the aperature and autofocus went all screwey) but this is obviously not an ideal long term proposition.
Now, brand new the lens isn't all that expensive - a quick browse shows it at about £300. I'd have thought my defective lens is probably worth in the region of £150 to someone (guessing rather) because the image is still fine, it's just a faff to set up the shot each time. So maximum I'd want to spend on a repair is probably around the £100 mark
Has anyone sent a lens off for repair? what was the bill like? is it the kind of thing where they charge you £80 just to look at it (in which case, almost certianly not worth it)? Or should I take it apart myself and have a play? There is definately something rattling round in there that sounds like some small component that has fallen/snapped off.
wierdly, it just went as I was using it. guess its had a few knocks over its life but I was shooting, went halfway through its travel then gave up the ghost 🙁
Oh well..
Phone up Sigma UK they are very helpful. How old is the lens? I bought a second hand Sigma 70-200 f2.8 ages ago which needed re-chipping for a D200 so I sent it off to get this done (about £30 I think). The lens also had a "dry motor" which meant it made a weird noise when it focused. It worked fine so I asked them not to change it as I couldn't afford the repair. Upon speaking to them after sending it in they re-chipped it and replaced the motor all FOC (about £120 of work I think). I did tell them it was bought second hand to which he replied "it looks new so we'll do it under warranty". Tip top service, send it off and make sure you state you want a quote for repair before any work is carried out.
thing is, it wasn't sourced in the UK (got it on ebay when they were cheap from singapore - £200 ish I think) so I don't know if they'd be so helpful?
as it happens, I just pulled it all apart myself. Turns out there's a little screw thing that holds in a little 'peg' that had come undone. Once I had the thing apart, managed to figure a way of re-assembling it and voila! it works. only tricky thing is getting one of the ribbon cables re-connected (I hate those things)
Thanks for the help though 🙂
H
Whilst we're on the subject, how easy is it to disassemble a simple prime lens to get dust out of it?
Oh.. scratch that - just googled it 🙂
well this was a long zoom lens with stabilizers and it was pretty straightforwards. I didn't need to get to the point where I was taking the elements out though (i managed to fix it before that). I don't know how much difference a brand new lens vs one with dust in actually makes, as it's so far away from the focused area.