August 2020
This was a tough lesson to learn, and I thought it was worth sharing. I’ve been wanting to expand my lens options, and the f/2.8 trinity is still just too far out of reach for me. New lenses are also typically too pricey for my budget. This leaves me to scour used listings, and occasionally I brave the world of Craigslist. This is the tale of just such a listing I followed through on.
I have been wanting to include Sinéad on my photography expeditions and also wanted to have a secondary camera for if I help with anymore weddings for friends or family. I had been looking for a used D750, but found myself a great deal on a never opened D610 through Hunts Photo & Video. This just left me with needing to get a lens that would:
Cover a decent rage of Landscape Photography focal distances, or a prime
Not be a lens I already owned.
Be within a price range I could justify
My search led me to the following options: Nikon 16-35 f/4, Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8, and Nikon 24mm f/1.8. I started reviewing the pros and cons of each, and slowly came to the decision that the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 was the most versatile option to pursue. There wasn’t much time left in the summer, and I really wanted to attempt a waterfall shoot with Sinéad before the cold weather arrived. I checked prices online, but everything was out of my price range. Eventually, I dared going on Craigslist to check for options and I found a listing close by.
I agreed to $550 on the lens, and paid a little extra as the seller was willing to meet me at a place we both felt safe, but was still a bit of a midpoint for the both of us. I met up with him, and he seemed like a nice guy. Tested the lens on the D610 and, for what I could tell in the view finder, everything looked to be good. I checked the lens elements as best as I could and scrutinized the lens for any tell-tale scraping to indicate it was dropped. We chatted up a little about photography, and he lamented how he had left a Nikon 24-120mm f/4 at the top of a mountain. Which led to the reason he was selling the 16-35mm, he was replacing his lens lineup with the f2.8 trinity. Transaction completed, and both seemingly happy with the results, we parted ways.
Not too long afterwards, Sinéad and I picked up Mam and went to a Sunflower field all together. Excited does not begin to describe my feelings towards getting to try out a new lens! (The same feeling I get with every new piece of equipment). The excitement faded quickly, though, when I was back home and reviewed the images I had taken with it.
(Image cropped to 1x3 and then split in 3 parts to better see the issue.)
I couldn’t understand what was wrong. The right and left sides of the images were very noticeably blurred - despite being at f/8 and being able to see clearly the items in foreground and background just left of center in the image. This didn’t match up with the reviews I had seen online for the lens. It was only supposed to have some blurring around the very far reaches in the corners, but it was still N glass from Nikon and should be far better than what it was. Some of the posts I had seen online had recommended getting the lens checked to realign the lens elements - that even slight drops could bump elements out of place. I checked over the lens with a harsher level of scrutiny and realized it must have been dropped.
There was a slight bend in the lens, and the grip for the focal range was bubbles out around the 35mm marker. The lens elements also showed signs of the distortion, and the inner tube was off center from the outer tubing. I wasn’t too worried about realigning optical elements, but this looked like it was going to be far more expensive a job.
I reached back out to the seller asking if he knew of any previous dropping he didn’t tell me about, but never received word back.. I guess I should have not let my excitement drown out the warning alerts in my head when he told me about leaving a $1000 lens at the top of a mountain. I then checked how much I might be able to get if I were to sell it online, but route was going to leave me short both on cash and on a lens. Only 2 options left were to keep it as an expensive paperweight, or see how much it would be to repair it.
I checked how much it would cost to repair online, and Nikon’s repair service was listed as the most expensive, longest wait time, and most likely to come back needing additional repairs. There were several other repair services, and I had narrowed it down to a few that I could find decent reviews for: Authorized Photo Service (APS), Midwest Camera Repair, and PhotoTech. Midwest was going to be my choice as they were the most highly praised for nailing focus issues on the first try (typically after Nikon tried several times over the course of almost a year), but they were warning that the turn around time could be several months. It came down to PhotoTech or APS. I found PhotoTech was utilized by Adorama and B&H, and I was nearly going to send to them. I ended up going with APS, however, as they worked only with Nikon equipment, and had better odds of having parts if the lens needed any. Years back, Nikon had severed ties with authorized 3rd party repair services and no longer supplies repair parts - so finding a repair location that might have the parts you need makes this all the more difficult.
The repair bill confirmed my thoughts. Items to be replaced included the lens barrel, zoom roller/guide ring, and another rubber ring. Grand total was $404 + my shipping costs. At the time I was paying for the repair, this lens had gone on sale new for $950. A tough and bitter lesson in buying used equipment. The lens has been working much better since I got it back from repairs. At some point in time I may still send it off to Midwest for them to test the optical alignment just to make sure I am getting the absolute best out of the lens. But, that is for a later time.
For now, I am relieved I don’t have a paperweight, but I do regret this experience. Hope this information is helpful should someone else find themselves in the same predicament. Moving forward, I won’t be buying lenses through Craigslist. I would recommend anyone who does, also be sure to consider the cost of repairs before completing that purchase.