Photo Tip Tuesday – Camera Repairs

 

Last week my Nikon D300 camera body went down. The shutter release would flip the mirror out of the way but it wouldn’t always drop back into its proper position. To say it was frustrating is the understatement of the day! I tried shooing one baseball game but it was a disaster and I spent more time trying to figure out what was going on than shooting the game. Total bummer!

I took the camera body to my local camera shop and they said it would have to be sent into Nikon, which would take 4-6 weeks minimum. Since this is pretty much an every-day camera, I did not like this option. Fortunately, my brother who is in the photography business, too, recommended a camera repair shop. He said he had good experiences with them and their turnaround on repairs was quick. This seemed to be just what I was looking for!

I quick email to Perfect Image and they sent back a repair quote almost immediately. Nice. I took the camera to Perfect Image last Friday, which for me was a two-hour drive. Perfect Image is in Lancaster and they do ship, but I wanted my camera back quickly and didn’t want to wait for shipping. Wes, at Perfect Image, told me knew exactly what the problem was with my camera body and that he would get the repair done within the week. Nice again!

Well, in the early afternoon on Monday my cell phone rang. I saw the 717 area code and thought, “No way.” But sure enough, it was Wes and he said my repair was completed. I paused and then said, “Wait! Is today April 1st?” thinking this might be an April Fool’s joke! Wes assured me that no, it was April 2nd and that the repair was indeed completed. Unbelievable!

I drove down today to pick up my camera body and then visited my mom who lives nearby.

If you ever need any camera or lens repairs, do yourself a favor and consider Perfect Image. They are fast and very friendly. I highly recommend them and will be taking all my repair work to them in the future. And tell them you heard about them from my blog. I won’t get any kickbacks, but it is nice to know where their referrals are coming from. Check out their website and get free repair estimates at: http://www.perfectimagerepair.com/

Think about it: 4-6 weeks minimum verses a little over 24 business hours. There’s no comparison in my opinion!  And that’s today’s photo tip.

Lens Fixed!

I have the Nikon 2.8/f 70-200mm lens and I love it. However, in the past year or so I’ve been having problems with it. The autofocusing mechanism wasn’t working correctly. It worked sometimes but then it wouldn’t–and as you can suspect, it always quit working at the absolute worst time!

The problem was when trying to focus on an object that was near infinity. I found myself using the override focusing ring way too often. In fact, it felt almost like I was using a manual focusing lens. This was okay for some subjects, but elk, deer, and baseball players were often out of focus. I was not a happy photographer!

Part of my dilemma was when to send out the lens for repair. It was under warranty, but I need this lens most of the year. Sports, wedding, nature photography and photo trips all require the ability to have my favorite lens within reach or on my camera body. I finally decided to send it out after my trip to the mountains over the New Year holiday.

The process was very simple. I first consulted the Nikon website to read all the directions and made sure to follow the directions. I sent it out, insuring the package and waited. I was told by others that it could often take well over six weeks to get a repaired lens back. This worried me but I bit the bullet and sent the lens out. Happily, I could see the progress Nikon was making with my lens online. This was very helpful and kept my fears at bay. I could see that my lens arrived to their facility in New York. Then it was being examined. Once the problem was located, I was informed that they were waiting for parts. Finally, it was in for the actual repair and then it was it shipped back to me. The whole process took less than a month.

Now the lens works beautifully. I cannot wait to try it out at a baseball game, but there’s still too much snow on the ground for that to be a possibility right now. So I am hoping to get the mountains soon so I can put the repaired lens through the paces with the elk.

All-in-all, I am very pleased with the repair service Nikon provided me. I was not happy that the lens needed repair, but in the end, it was handled well and quickly. Nikon definitely stands behind their product and now I have a well-functioning lens back on my camera again.

Go Nikon!