Nikkor 20mm 2.8D aperture sticking; repair cost?

[moouers]

Unfortunately, the aperture blades on my Nikkor 20mm 2.8D are stuck wide open. Manually turning the aperture ring doesn't even move them. The ring turns fine, but nothing happens. I'm about to send it to Nikon USA for repair and was wondering if anyone has had this problem before so I can possibly know what to expect as far as payment is concerned. Reading up on the subject shows that perhaps it's some leaky grease causing this problem. I don't know. I'm pretty upset. I treated that thing like it was my own baby. And to top it off, I ruined a whole roll of film because of it. I exposed thinking it was stopping down to f/8 and f/11. I'd just develop and compensate, but I have some shots I want to keep done with my 50mm on that roll as well. I called Nikon for an estimate and the lady was no help...really rather rude, actually.

 

[clayne]

I wouldn't be surprised if the coupling somehow came apart or out of it's groove. If you have balls and aren't scared of opening the lens for pre-exam, check out the following:

http://akikorhonen.org/projects.php?action=view&id=774

and of course:

Dead Link Removed

I can tell you that opening up the lens to look around is pretty benign. In modern Nikkors from AI, AI-S, and AF-whatever, The lens assembly is modular, with the focus assembly and aperture module attached to it. Basically, what I'm saying is that you can open it up to take a look around and, if applicable to your lens, remove the aperture assembly from the rear without fear of 7-9 pieces of glass rolling off the table.

If you don't have any mechanical experience or precision skills, find a Nikon repair place. You don't need to send it to Nikon directly. Lens repair like this really isn't that difficult for a trained individual.

 

[olgeezer]

I have recently had some experiance with sending lenses or cameras to Nikon for repair. I sent my 80-200 f2.8 in for repair as it has a loose front glass and some fungus, they kept the lens for 3 weeks and sent it back un-repaired. They said the parts were no longer available. The repair estimate was $269.00. The same thing happened when I sent in my F4 for cleaning and a check, they said the parts were no longer availabe and the estimate was $269.00. Still un-repaired. I called a local camera shop about the lens and was told the cost would be $100.00. Nikon isn't interested in repairing equipment.

 

[clayne]

Nikon isn't interested in repairing equipment.

Yep - and like Canon - they're sure as heck interested in selling it.

You can thank digital for this new paradigm. Actually you could probably just thank the 1980s and on.

 

[xtolsniffer]

Nikon UK is pretty good, I dropped my FM2n recently and something in the pentaprism go loose and I couldn't read the aperture anymore in the viewfinder. Plus I had a 55mm Micro with old lube that needed a service. They did both within two weeks, and the cost for each repair was about £65.