Topic: Lens repair?

[dgodwin]

At some point on my vacation I broke my lens.  Sigma 28-70mm f2.8    The focus ring is stuck on infinity, and will only move a little before locking up.  My best guess at the worst case scenario is that I somehow got sand in the gear.   Does anyone have any suggestions for repair? 

FWIW, the internal elements fogged up when ever I went from the cabin of the cruise ship to outside.  I wasn't surprised, and I don't think it is the cause of the focusing problem, but may eventually lead to further problems down the road.  In upstate NY, I never had fogging issues before, but it never reaches 95 and near 100% humidity either, like it did in the gulf. 

Here's a couple photos with the lens from the trip



The main pyramid at Chichen Itza

Ocean water in Cozumel (snorkeling was excellent)

My friend Tammy and I at dinner (after many drinks)

[Sanjay]

I had similar problems with my Tokina lens, something internally just broke (the technical description), it ended up costing me $190 to fix it and I probably could have just replaced it for not much more.

I might apt to go that route since they'll probably have to send it to the factory like they did mine and it's never cheap.  You can get a new Nikon 35-70mm 2.8 for not that much cash now, granted it's push-pull.

[phanophish]

Call Sigma. 

There are a reputable company and will warranty their lenses (4 years I think), and if it is out of warranty they can give you some idea of repair costs.. 

For Sigma customers in the US, please address all written correspondence to:

Sigma Corporation of America
15 Fleetwood Court
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779

To request assistance by phone in the US, our technicians are available from 9AM to 5PM Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. Please call: (631) 585-1144.

[dgodwin]

Thanks for the replies so far.  +t   I sent an email to the camera store I worked at for 8 years, but haven't heard back yet.  Unfortunately I didn't buy this particular lens from the sigma rep (they'd sell "demo" lenses at cost for employees.) and I'm pretty sure it's not in warranty.  When I worked there, I remember $110 being the cost of a lens repair.  I'm hoping that I'll still be able to get a discount on it. 

[sunjan]

When I worked there, I remember $110 being the cost of a lens repair.

This might not work out for you, but I always bring my faulty camera gear to Asia whenever I go there.
I've sent in lenses for cleaning and repair in Hong Kong and Singapore. Typical cost is around $50 per lense.
Las time, I had taken my Nikon gear to the beach, and the repair guy thought I had litterally rolled the lense in the sand. Still, they fixed it back to new.

If you have any friend going to Asia, ask them to bring your gear along. Drop me a line if you need addresses in Singapore and HK.

[phanophish]

A quick google search says that lens is about $380 new.  So it might be worth repairing.  Nikon's fast zooms in that range are much more.

FWIW on the lens fogging.  I usually try and leave my gear in the bag for about the first hour or so after coming from AC in to high humidity.   Obviously you didn't bring you gear on vacation to sit in the bag, but leaving it allows it to normalize temperature without fogging up.  It's not always an option but if you can it will prevent the condensation.  I got bit shooting a wedding a while back with this exact problem.  We stopped to shoot some images in a open field and I made the mistake of swapping lenses from body to body.  Taking the lens off the camera was just enough to get a slight fog on the rear element of my 17-50 and it caused focus to be just a bit soft on several of the images.  It was not noticeable in camera but you could tell when pixel peeping.