New Member, and Heeelllp!

[ayshazen]

Hi all

My name is Chrissy and I am very much an amateur photographer. I am also a big cat lover, and I breed, show and photograph my cats, Burmese and Khao Manee breeds.

I have a Canon EOS 400D, and I usually just use my standard lens. However, a while back, my friend gave me a Sigma 70-300mm that fitted on it very nicely thank you. It doesnt seem to have a model number on it.

However, my daughter borrowed it, and had it in her rucksack when she was hit by a car. The lens I think came off better than my daughter, who sustained a fractured skull, a small brain bleed and 4 pelvic fractures.

She has now almost recovered, apart from some cognitive difficulties, but the Sigma lens has not. The only thing I can see wrong with it is a very small scratch on the edge of one of the three lugs on the steel section that fits on the camera, right next to the red dot. It will fit on, but it is letting loads of light in and is useless as it is.

I notice around it there are 4 tiny screws. Would I be right in assuming that I can remove this, and buy a new one? If so what is it called (see, I said I was an amateur! :bonk

I would be so grateful if anyone can help. Its that or a new lens :-(

Cheers

Chrissy

 

[gad-westy]

Ouch, glad to hear your daughter is making a recovery, sounds very nasty.

It could be that the mount has distorted slightly, that would certainly explain a light leak but I would expect to be able to see or detect this. Is there any obvious distortion to the metal mount itself? Does it feel right when you mount and dismount the lens? I presume the camera works okay with the other lens still?

If it is just the metal mounting plate they're often quite straight forward to replace but you need to be very careful with some as they sometimes house the aperture spring assembly which can come flying out when you remove the plate. A call to Sigma might clarify things, failing that a local camera repair place may be able to offer advice.

 

[Yv]

Yes, ouch, good to hear your daughter is on the mend, and welcome to the forum.

I could be wrong, but I am going to assume here its a typo and what you mean is sigma 70-300. It does indeed sound like the rucksack has provided enough protection to prevent obvious marking, but that the impact has distorted the lens/lens mount. Now I am guessing your kit lens still fits and works well enough which will eliminate any camera damage thankfully. To be very honest, that lens is a relatively cheap piece of kit and you may find that if you price up a new one, the cost of repair will not be worth it, but like gad-westy said, a quick call to Sigma could help you clear that issue up fairly quickly. Bear in mind, that even if the mount is repaired, you cannot know until that is done if it has suffered any other internal damage - so I would be taking that possibility into account before you spend any money on repairing it too. Sorry, I know that doesn't sound very positive, but having had a nikon fit version a few years ago that suffered damage in a fall, just a fall from my shoulder to floor caused some of the internal glass elements to shift inside so as this has also suffered an impact, I am sure you can understand why I am saying this.

Whatever happens, good luck to your daughter and to you and your cats [we have our own 'big' cat breeds, Maine Coons]

 

[Phil V]

Exactly what Yv said, you could probably source a mount for relatively little, but once fitted the lens would need a service and realignment. A Sigma lens service is then about £90, there's a price list on their service website.

And a 2nd hand replacement for that lens is probably cheaper.

Glad to hear your daughter is on the mend, and the lens damage doesn't compare.

 

[ayshazen]

Thanks for all of the great advice. Yes you are right, it is a 70-300mm

Chrissy

 

[magicaxeman]

Chrissy you should put in a claim with the drivers insurance company for the replacement costs of anything damaged in the accident (if it was deemed they were at fault) car insurance should cover personal injury and damaged items in accidents.

Before anyone says anything I'm not a fan of trying to claim for everything but were its a clear cut accident and not your fault then I dont see why you should be out of pocket due to someone elses actions.

 

[hoochy1]

id say buy a 2nd hand 70-300 of ebay its prob the same as the 1 i have a 70-300 apo you can get them on ebay for under £100 no probs
time you count cost of repair and postage of your sigma and thats counting there isnt any more damage done to it you would be better off buying 1 new or 2nd hand