Dead Nikon Lens: 18-200mm VRII

[Tourmeister]

So last week I sold my old D7000 and the 18-200mm VRII lens that came with it. Everything was working fine. A few days later, I ordered a replacement camera and lens. The very next day, I got a message from the buyer that the camera would not focus! She thought maybe she had messed up some of the AF settings while playing around with the menus. So I offered to swing by her house and take a look. It did not take long to figure out that the auto focus was no longer working On top of that, she had already ordered another lens and has quite a few shooting sessions scheduled with paying clients starting this Saturday!

I took the camera and lens with me when I left. Before heading home, I swung by a local bud's place. He has a D7000 and numerous lenses. We swapped lenses around and it did not take long to figure out that the body was fine. This was a relief because I just sent the body back to Nikon a few months ago because of a problem with the focus system. It turns out that the AF motor in the 18-200 lens is apparently dead. The lens is 3-1/2 years old and has had a VERY gentle life.

I ran home, grabbed my 35mm 1.8, stuck it on the body and hauled back to the buyer's house. This way, she can at least continue familiarizing herself with the camera before she starts doing her scheduled shoots. Hopefully, her new lens will be here before the shoots, but the whacked weather in Houston may delay that. I've already been notified by Amazon that my package will be delayed (supposed to be here today).

The good news is that I was able to find the warranty card for the lens. Since I am the original owner, I can send it in for a warranty repair, then give it back to her. Technically, she hasn't paid for it yet, so it is still mine. Still, it won't be back in time for her shoot. I am hoping my package will arrive before then. If it does, I'll loan her the lens coming with the new body until this one comes back.

I felt terrible that a camera I just sold her stopped working a day later, even though it WAS working perfect the day she picked it up from me. There's no obvious signs of abuse and I don't think she'd mislead me on that. So I am fine with getting it fixed and she is fine with waiting and still wants the camera.

This young lady is new to photography. Before buying my D7000 she was borrowing a friend's D3100 and kit lens. I have seen some of her work. Despite the fact that she has VERY little technical knowledge, she most certainly has "the vision". She takes very good photos and has a great feel for the light. I envy her in this regard. She is working now to bring her technical knowledge/skills up to par. She also needs to work on her business technical skills. Once she does, I think she will do very well. I also kind of envy her ability to just "Do it" without getting bogged down in worrying about every last detail and being willing to learn as she goes.

So anyway, I once again have something shipped off to Nikon for repair. It will be interesting to see if they fix it or simply replace it. I'll let you know.

 

[texaspatrick]

You sound like the kind of person I want to buy used gear from. How long are the lens warranties usually for? I bought a 300 2.8 a long time ago "as is" and it worked for about a week before the AF motor went out. Ended up with a seller who was unwilling to do anything about it because it worked when it was sold to me and had a nice paperweight until I could find someone to fix the AF a couple months later.

 

[Tourmeister]

You sound like the kind of person I want to buy used gear from. How long are the lens warranties usually for? I bought a 300 2.8 a long time ago "as is" and it worked for about a week before the AF motor went out. Ended up with a seller who was unwilling to do anything about it because it worked when it was sold to me and had a nice paperweight until I could find someone to fix the AF a couple months later.

Well, I don't want people thinking I intentionally sold them something I knew had a problem. So if they do have a problem, I am willing to work with them within reason. This lady only had the lens for about 1-1/2 days. Technically, yes, it WAS working when I sold it to her. And, if the repair were not under warranty and it was going to cost a lot to fix, I might ask her to split the price. After all, she might have done something to it. There was no obvious evidence of that here though. To be really safe, one probably ought to do an "as is" sale with a bill of sale. However, I am more interested in maintaining a long term friendship than just moving my old gear.

After buying my D750, I was going to sell the D7000. That was about the time I figured out the D7000 had a back focus problem. I could have sold it "as is" with full disclosure, but really, who would want to buy it and then have to pay to fix it? So I paid to get it fixed (out of warranty) and decided to just keep it as a backup camera. However, when this lady asked if I would sell it and accepted my deal, I figured I could swing a new D7200 to replace it and still have my backup camera. So I told her about the recent work done on it by Nikon. She was satisfied.

If you buy the lens NEW and you go to the Nikon site to register it within 10 days of the purchase, you get the original 1 year warranty plus an additional 4 year extended warranty for a total coverage of 5 years. The warranty is to the original buyer only and is not transferable.

If you buy a factory/certified refurbished lens, I think you get 180 days or something like that. Refurbs can be significantly cheaper. I got my 24-70mm 2.8 (non-VR) for $1300 instead of the normal $1900-2000 for a new one. I am hoping that if it does have an issue, I can get it repaired for less than the $600-700 difference. I also bought it directly from Nikon, hoping that might improve the odds that it doesn't have an issue, as opposed to buying it from some other seller that just claimed it was a factory refurb.