Nikkor 28-70mm Zoom Ring Frozen

[RedSun]

This is a small 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 D zoom lens I like a lot. It has the macro feature, small and good quality.

My son took it to school and another kid used it. Now the zoom ring won't turn at all. It is stuck at 50mm. So it is turned into a standard lens. Everything else works fine.

What can I do to revive this lens?

 

[snapguy]

idea

Any idea what the other kid might have done to it? Dropped it, got bubble gum in the works, baked it in a microwave?

 

[RedSun]

No, the other kid just used for a few minutes. High school good boy.

 

[John Koehrer]

That's what they all say^^^

The zoom uses rollers in slots to change focal length. Depending on the lens there may be two or three slots in each of two or more sliding tubes(sleeves) and from just a couple to a bunch of rollers.
When a zoom's jammed it's usually because a roller has loosened or the retaining screw is broken or pulled out of it's threaded hole.

You have to do a little exploration to figure it out.

 

[RedSun]

I've opened and repaired several fixed length lenses. But the only time I tried on an old semi-broken Nikkor 35-70mm zoom, I could not put it back. So I'm wary about this situation. I do not know if there is any online walk-through with Nikkor zoom.

This is my everyday lens. No problem for years....

 

[benjiboy]

Time for a trip to the camera repairers..

 

[Hatchetman]

I took apart a lens once. Huge mistake.