Gravity vs Lens

Mr_T

Mr_T

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Cleverly I have just knocked my camera and lens off the top of my PC tower. It's not a large PC tower but that's not really the point. Attached to my D200 was my 18-70 lens and as luck would have it the lens fell down head first.

After much cursing I detached the lens from the body and I think that the body itself is OK. The lens however is a different story, it won't focus at all. Manual focusing the lens doesn't work at all and AF makes a rather nasty noise.

I'm currently insured which is the good news but I'm not entirely sure what my next step should be. My scientific evaluation of the situation shows that the lens is shafted and due to it's value not worth repairing. The other question would be if it's likely that this kind of fall would damage the lens mount itself or the calibration of the camera itself in a major way.

Any help would be much appreciated (including ways to coax insurers to pay out). :help:
 
Although the 18-70mm is a relatively 'modern' lens I think on the semi-pro models from Nikon (the D300/300s) the 16-85mm is now the 'standard' kit lens so if it is replaced through insurance that's probably what you'd get in return, although I don't know id the 18-70mm is still on the books; either way there's a good lens still available to replace.

I doubt the insurance company would look at the lens, given the low cost (around £200 new) and think that repairing would be worth it, given that aside from the parts the labour costs would probably exceed the RRP of the lens.

Personally I'd go through the insurance. I had an old (year 2000) Apple Powerbook that I book off fleabay for £150. It failed and I dropped it too, cracking the case while half-cut, so I put in a claim and along came a nice, shiny Macbook Pro worth £1500. When they work insurance policies are top; my premium went up by about £7 per month as a result though. I found a new insurer that was £150 cheaper per annum instead :)

If there's any sense in what I've just written then make what you will of it :D
 
I just checked and I've got the lens insured for £200, sadly that won't get me anywhere near the 16-85. Is there anything with nice performance within that budget?
 
Quick update (along with shameless bump). I've done a bit of looking around and although I may be able to get a grey import 18-70 for £200 it seems the general trend with retailers is to price them higher than that. Jessops for example are charging £299! It appears the camera gear price hikes will make this one a bit harder for me :(.
 
Mr T, are you going through your photographic insurance or the house contents; I had my laptop done through the house and that was new for old so it's regardless of price; it's replacing like for like.
 
The one I was referring to was my photographic insurance policy. I could get it done under house contents but would probably feel a bit bad about that seeing as it isn't my policy. I'm also not sure what the excess would be on the house contents. Anyway I'm off to give my camera a run through to make sure it hasn't been harmed too, wish me luck!
 
I've just requested a replacement receipt from the retailer I purchased from. Unfortunately because I bought the camera and lens as a combo the receipt I have at the moment just says "DIGITAL CAMERA" which is hardly useful. I'm going to give it a whirl through my camera policy before daring to use the household cover. I'm also very sceptical that I could convince either the photography specialist insurance or household cover to get me a nice shiny 16-85.
 
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