New guy with questions...

[btraven]

I have a Nikkor 18-55mm DX VR kit lens on a D3100. Both were Nikon factory refurbs and worked fine at first. About 3 months after I got it, in the middle of shooting random stuff at a shopping center, I felt a roughness at about 35mm when going from wide to tele. As I rotated the zoom ring it would feel raspy, like it was stuck. I could gently force it past the spot and it seemed to focus okay at every focal length--at least I didn't notice anything way out of focus when I looked at the pics at home.

Now, after rotating it back and forth a few times, the lens zooms smoothly but the inner barrel seems a little wobbly or loose. I remember it being slightly loose from the beginning but now it seems more so and I don't honestly know if this is just my imagination because of the roughness I experienced or not. Even so, I don't have any apparent focus problems except with stuff I know I focused wrong.

Then again, maybe I'm not looking hard enough or don't know exactly what to look for--except to go 1:1 and look around, which I do as a matter of course. I sharpen almost every pic from all my cameras anyway before I print or post them if I've done any editing or correction.

I also found a couple of videos on YouTube showing the likely cause of this issue, a broken or loose bushing inside the lens.

I can send the lens in for repair under a service contract--they've already agreed to this--but I'm wondering if it's worth it, should I even bother? Also I've noticed that under the terms of the service contract, a "no problem found" issue is billed to me and, because I made a bit of stink to even get them to agree to this, I'm a little leary about them sticking it to me just out of spite.

Has anyone else had any problems with this lens or had issues with service contract administrators or does anyone have any experience-based suggestions or insights?

 

[robbins.photo]

I have a Nikkor 18-55mm DX VR kit lens on a D3100. Both were Nikon factory refurbs and worked fine at first. About 3 months after I got it, in the middle of shooting random stuff at a shopping center, I felt a roughness at about 35mm when going from wide to tele. As I rotated the zoom ring it would feel raspy, like it was stuck. I could gently force it past the spot and it seemed to focus okay at every focal length--at least I didn't notice anything way out of focus when I looked at the pics at home.

Now, after rotating it back and forth a few times, the lens zooms smoothly but the inner barrel seems a little wobbly or loose. I remember it being slightly loose from the beginning but now it seems more so and I don't honestly know if this is just my imagination because of the roughness I experienced or not. Even so, I don't have any apparent focus problems except with stuff I know I focused wrong.

Then again, maybe I'm not looking hard enough or don't know exactly what to look for--except to go 1:1 and look around, which I do as a matter of course. I sharpen almost every pic from all my cameras anyway before I print or post them if I've done any editing or correction.

I also found a couple of videos on YouTube showing the likely cause of this issue, a broken or loose bushing inside the lens.

I can send the lens in for repair under a service contract--they've already agreed to this--but I'm wondering if it's worth it, should I even bother? Also I've noticed that under the terms of the service contract, a "no problem found" issue is billed to me and, because I made a bit of stink to even get them to agree to this, I'm a little leary about them sticking it to me just out of spite.

Has anyone else had any problems with this lens or had issues with service contract administrators or does anyone have any experience-based suggestions or insights?

Ok, keep in mind that the person who took your call most likely has zero contact with the people who are going to be examining your lens so even if they were reluctant at first remember, it's there job to try and dissuade you a bit from sending it in for repair, keeps people from sending in stuff for repair that might not really need repair. From the sounds of things your lens needs repair. If you have a service contract, it would be completely silly to not use it.

 

[btraven]

Thank you. You have a wonderfully touching concern for the profitability of the extended service contract industry. No abuses there.

 

[hamlet]

I have had bad experiences with used stuff all my life, people aren't always honest about what their gear has gone through, so my used stuff almost always ended up failing on me. But that is my personal experience and it could just be a freakishly rare unlucky situation. But enough about me. I think that it sounds like a defective lens, you should return it for repair if you are positive that the lens hasn't suffered any damage caused unintentionally by you or a previous owner.