This is not a rant, this is and actual incident! I own and owned the renowned Nikon AF-s 24-85 f3.5-4.5 lens. Recently the AF-s motor in the lens broke and I looked for a replacement. After a long search, I found a brand new copy at a local store with a full warranty so I decided to disect the broken lens, clean it and learn how the lens design works. I am curious by nature so when I have nothing to loose, I dig. What I found inside disappointed me very much. Nikon quality assurance, CLEARLY did not work in this case.
It is has to be said that the Nikon 24-85 f3.5-4.5 AF-s is probably the most cost effective lens I have ever bought and it was my steady walk around lens. It is small in comparison to the Nikon AF-s 24-70 Pro lens but has all the goodies (ED, AF-s etc.). The copy I had, I bought used and it had some dirt inside the lens which did not impact the pictures in any way. When it broke, I disassembled it (full tear down article will come later on for those that are interested in the innards of a lens) to see how it works. While doing that, I figured, I could clean the elements and use it to maybe train my manual focusing skills. Well to my surprise the lens elements themselves had little or no dirt on it. Instead, the dirt which looked like small wood splinters, are INSIDE a glass element that is sealed. This leads to the conclusion that this was in the assembly stage already present. I could not find ANY way for anything this element and you can see the photos below.
Nikon, if you are reading this, I hope you are doing better Q A now. I realize that this is a semi old lens but come on, inside the element??
I am unsure what to do about this since my 105mm Micro also has a small dust spec in the lens but since it is fairly new and I don´t want to break a working lens, I won´t open this one but maybe send it to be cleaned.
Needless to say, I wanted another 24-85mm AF-s lens and hunted ebay and the like, but the prices are pretty high still for heavily used copies. So I called and mailed the small Photography shops within Finland for good second hand lenses of approximated the smae focal length that go with my Nikon D700. I received an email from Optotek Oy that they have a brand new boxed AF-s 24-85mm lens still in stock and gave me a reasonable price. I just picked it up and it is absolutely spotless. It’s a great small shop, not necessarily the most cost effective store but VERY cozy and friendly service and these guys know what they are doing and talking about. Also very good on advice and you can always test equipment there.
This has a happy ending but I wish Nikon would make lenses with better seals and especially lens elements without dirt inside!
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Hi! What about that “Full tear-down” article?
Regards