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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> If you've dropped a lens before, tell me about it
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07/28/2009 02:45:33 PM · #1
So the deal is I might come into a Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 for $675. The catch is, it's been dropped on the UV filter. The filter shattered, but saved the lens, which apparently is still 100% operational and in awesome shape except for a bit of paint loss around the front of the barrel.

But basically, I don't want to get screwed 3 months down the line if something randomly stops working because of the drop. So if you've ever dropped a lens, mind telling me a bit about what happened, and if it managed to continue functioning, if it broke and never worked again, if it worked then broke, etc?
07/28/2009 02:49:12 PM · #2
I dropped a 18-200mm VR nikkor lens. It stopped functioning - would not focus, would not zoom, etc. I sent it into the Nikon shop, the repaired it for <$100. It has worked better than before since I got it back - that is 2 years running.
07/28/2009 02:51:05 PM · #3
Dropped my camera off the tripod onto a carpeted floor in December and my 50mm 1.8 popped into two pieces. Fortunately, it's a cheap lens. Unfortunately, that is probably why it broke.
07/28/2009 02:53:10 PM · #4
I wouldn't know.The poor thing is probably still spinning at the bottom of hundred foot gorge. I watched it drop, spin and roll over the smoothest granite until it came to a near-stop just far enough from the edge to beckon me for the longest second or two I ever lived... to retrieve it. I didn't and lived to tell you about it.
07/28/2009 02:56:24 PM · #5
I dropped a cheap kit lens and it broke immediately. The zoom ring wouldn't turn smoothly, and if you looked through the lens you could see that the internal elements were no longer perfectly aligned on the center axis.
07/28/2009 02:59:07 PM · #6
Dropped my 10-22 in November onto a hard tiled floor. It looked somewhat the worse for wear, but actually it turned out to be just the casing around the front element that had twisted and jammed. Pretty amazing really, considering the clunk and clatter it went with!
07/28/2009 02:59:59 PM · #7
These post worthless without a pic thru these lensisis.

Message edited by author 2009-07-28 15:04:28.
07/28/2009 03:02:41 PM · #8
I dropped a lens on the beach once (yes, sand!) and it's still going fine a year later. In fact, I've ribboned since with that very lens.



ETA, no I didn't.. wait that was the other lens, but I did get my PB of 6.86 after I dropped it

Message edited by author 2009-07-28 15:04:32.
07/28/2009 03:05:01 PM · #9
Originally posted by David Ey:

These post worthless without a pic thru these lensisis.


yes show us the pictureseses ;-)
07/28/2009 03:05:38 PM · #10
I dropped my K1000 with the Takumar 28-80mm, and caught my wife instead. We had climbed a steep grade, in the heat and high humidity, and had both had donuts for breakfast instead of real food (not too smart). Got to the top, and she started to teeter.

Poor Takumar. The choice was clear and fast. She didn't hit her head, but it did...on the sandstone...hard.

It did manage to focus and zoom a couple more times that day, but I could feel the crunch and grind everytime.

It is now in pieces in a Tupperware. The rear element makes a great loupe.

Picked up a SMC-Pentax 28-80 to replace it, then shortly after went digital.
07/28/2009 03:05:55 PM · #11
I dropped my 24-105 from around 4 feet onto a gym floor (hardwood). My assistant had left my bag unzipped on the table, so when I grabbed it... everything simply fell out.

There was an audible "gasp" from the collective audience (20 runway models practicing for a show). Visual inspection showed a nice dent in the lens cap, but that was it. I picked it up, threw it onto my camera, and fired away.

One word: Tank.

:O)
07/28/2009 03:08:33 PM · #12
So the impression I'm getting is that lenses either break when dropped or don't. They don't really work for a bit, then break. That's good. 17-55 here I come! :D
07/28/2009 03:08:38 PM · #13
I had my 70-200mm fall two feet onto concrete floor. I tested it at once and it seemed ok, but later the VR unit started acting funny. Had to replace it. (The VR unit, not the lens)
07/28/2009 03:22:15 PM · #14
When I was doing some work photographing in a nuke plant, I dropped a camera and a 24mm Nikkor into the cooling pool, where it immediately became nuclear waste. I expect it will one day get moved to Yucca Mountain where it will be interred for eternity.
07/28/2009 03:43:10 PM · #15
Dropped my canon ef-s 60mm, wouldn't focus after that. I sent it along to canon and they said the repairs would have cost more than the lens did when I bought it, so didn't get it fixed.
07/28/2009 03:50:04 PM · #16
If you hear anything rattle .... don't use it till it gets serviced. I had a lens that dropped, rattled and then seized because a free floating screw jammed the damn thing. Moral of the story, only drop lenses on pillows or spongy surfaces. ;-)
07/28/2009 05:38:20 PM · #17
I opened the door to my truck the other day and the 100mm macro was resting against the door. CRASH, and a couple of bounces on the concrete garage floor. I think it hit pretty much every edge! The lens cap flew off on the first hit. I picked it up, didn't look too bad. Put it on the camera, works like a charm. Durable little bugger.
07/28/2009 07:56:21 PM · #18
dropped my tokina 11-16 onto tarmac ... glass and filter survived, didnt focus well, cost £100 for repair and now is perfect
07/28/2009 08:04:08 PM · #19
Dropped my old Tamron 28-75 on asphalt, ended up scuffing the front element a little bit and pushing it out of alignment. Had to send it in to Tamron for readjustment/recalibration which ultimately fixed the alignment problem (and luckily the scuffs didn't have any noticeable affect on quality), but it was a pain.
07/28/2009 08:23:05 PM · #20
Originally posted by Anti-Martyr:

So the impression I'm getting is that lenses either break when dropped or don't. They don't really work for a bit, then break. That's good. 17-55 here I come! :D


I dropped my 50mm 1.8 II and it was on the camera. It fell on the rim of the lense and it fell apart in two pieces - the lense itself and the part that sticks to the camera with the focus mechanism. Some of the parts that connect these two parts were broken. I somehow managed to stick it back in place and somehow it works perfectly, with no focusing problems, no squaking sounds, etc...
07/28/2009 09:36:57 PM · #21
I had my tripod tip over with my D200 and 70-200 2.8 attached. After the repair they both work fine.

Originally posted by jrtodd:


Bob and I

I just got back from spending last week in Southern Utah photographing some of my favorite spots before my wife and I move off to Florida. On the second day of shooting around Moab I was using my D200 and 70-200 2.8 mounted to my tripod with the lens mount to photograph some pictographs. I was working on a cliff ledge that fell away from me to a short 5 foot drop. To get a better angle on the pictographs I decided to climb up one more level so I moved the tripod off to the side where I could reach it and waited a second to see if it was steady, everything OK. I climbed up the ledge and turned around just in time to see the tripod tip over backwards and the D200 hit the sandstone, hard. I jumped off just in time to start chasing the body as it tumbled down the ledge. I finally caught up to it just before it reached the drop-off. I turned around to see the 70-200 still attached to the tripod and staying in one place. On impact the body was ripped off the lens, damaging both the camera and lens. The body had a few battle scars but turned on, the lens seemed only to have damage to the mount, but this is only day 2. Luckily I had my D70 so I could continue on for the rest of the week, but sick to the stomach and without 200 mm.
I called Nikon today and Bob and the lens are now on there way back, but the fix is not going to be cheap and it’s going to take 7 – 10 days. Luckily I have some other equipment so I’m not completely down but this just sucks!

07/28/2009 09:40:16 PM · #22
Originally posted by Anti-Martyr:

So the deal is I might come into a Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 for $675. The catch is, it's been dropped on the UV filter. The filter shattered, but saved the lens, which apparently is still 100% operational and in awesome shape except for a bit of paint loss around the front of the barrel.

But basically, I don't want to get screwed 3 months down the line if something randomly stops working because of the drop. So if you've ever dropped a lens, mind telling me a bit about what happened, and if it managed to continue functioning, if it broke and never worked again, if it worked then broke, etc?


I had exactly this same situation with my Tokina 12-24mm lens around 2 years ago, mine is still going strong if that helps.
07/28/2009 09:40:45 PM · #23
Originally posted by bassbone:

I dropped a 18-200mm VR nikkor lens. It stopped functioning - would not focus, would not zoom, etc. I sent it into the Nikon shop, the repaired it for <$100. It has worked better than before since I got it back - that is 2 years running.


wow! i dropped mine (shortly after i got it) and cracked the end. it works fine, but it's a little tricky screwing on a filter to it. i figured it would cost too much to fix.
07/28/2009 09:55:06 PM · #24
I used to work in a paint warehouse and catching dropped cans of paint with your foot is an art that came in handy when my sister bought her new camera. She got the body out then put the lens on the body but could not get the camera to work so she handed it to me, I tried to get it working and when it would not work I tilted it forward to look at the menus and the lens fell out. I was able to break its fall with my foot otherwise it would have hit square on the concrete patio. We were lucky there was no damage to the lens but we both freaked out.
07/28/2009 11:08:11 PM · #25
Originally posted by Spazmo99:

When I was doing some work photographing in a nuke plant, I dropped a camera and a 24mm Nikkor into the cooling pool, where it immediately became nuclear waste. I expect it will one day get moved to Yucca Mountain where it will be interred for eternity.


ROFL. That's going to be tough to beat!
I assume that was followed up by your tears falling into the cooling pool?
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