Nikkor lens - broken or not?

[Erik Petersson]

Dang! A Nikkor Ais 24 mm 2.8 fell out of my hand onto a rock with an F3 attached. The filter is now broken and seriously jammed into the filter thread of the lens. Worse is that the focus ring does not move any longer.

Do you think there is any hope?

 

[BrianShaw]

From your description I wouldn't think there was much hope of repair. If you are lucky I'll be wrong. Replacement might be a better option. Those types of manual focus lenses seem to be selling quite affordably these days. Maybe even with shipping from who-knows-where to Sweden it will be affordable for you. How is your F3?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Erik;

Same thing happened to me with a telephoto Nikkor lens years ago. When I worked the filter ring out of the front end of the lens, and worked with the end of the lens, cleaning it and gradually losening it, the lens itself returned to normal.

I also had this happen climbing down a cliff with a tele-zoom lens and I was able to do the same, but this lens, althoug it works, binds slightly.

So, I would say good luck. You kinda, sorta, might get lucky with care.

PE

 

[Erik Petersson]

The F3 is fine, I think. First I could not rewind the film, the little button under the camera had jumped out of order in some way. But now it seems to have jumped back.

 

[Erik Petersson]

Hi PE. How did you manage to remove the filter from the lens? Were you able to unscrew it?

 

[Photo Engineer]

No, I could not unscrew it. I used needle nosed pliers and bent the ring inward until it formed an "V" shape thus breaking the ring. I did that in several places and it fell out along with some broken glass, dust and dirt. Then I blew the lens as clean as possible with canned air.

PE

 

[Erik Petersson]

Ok, I certainly need to do the same.

thanks for your replies

 

[Sirius Glass]

Take it to a camera repairman and ask it can be fixed.

The worst that could happen is that he would say no, and then you could advertize it on eBay saying "I do not know much about camera lenses, but this is a rare ruggedized Nikkor lens ..."

Steve

 

[GeorgeDexter]

To remove bent, stuck filters: get a small hammer and a knife. I use an old, dull paring knife with a 4-inch blade. Lay the lens on its side, on a piece of cardboard or corkboard. Place the knife blade parallel to the front element in the slight groove between the lens and the filter, sharp edge down. Tap gently with the hammer, trying to force the blade between the lens and filter. Turn the lens and repeat, sometimes it takes a couple dozen tries. Patience and care are your friends, here. Usually you can get the filter threads to 'jump' back into place. This works for cross threaded filters, too. If you get a stubborn one, gradually increase the force. I've done literally dozens of these, and never scratched a lens. (Something I doubt one could say for the needlenose approach!) I learned this trick from an old camera repairman, and it has served me well.

George

 

[BrianShaw]

...and then you could advertize it on eBay saying "I do not know much about camera lenses, but this is a rare ruggedized Nikkor lens ..."

... and a "fully experienced lens" also.

 

[Erik Petersson]

An update - with the filter removed, the lens appears to work beautifully again. Looks and feels right!

 

[Xmas]

That is good news.

I dropped my F2.8 24mm on to patio pavement, it bounced cause it had a rubber wide angle 3rd party hood.

The hood was not damaged and only the aperature ring was slight marred.

Hoods are real useful... contra jour or pavement...

Noel

 

[Erik Petersson]

Yes, it works fine. Here is an example. Thanks for your support, everyone.