Damaged my 24-105L today...

[DavidWare]

I was out and about today in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, trying to get some good pictures of the snowfall.

I had my camera around my neck and was carrying my 5D Mark III with my 24-105L attached. While walking, I stepped on some ice and slipped. I managed to maintain my grip on the camera, but upon landing, my arm extended and the tip of the lens hit the pavement, hard.

Upon inspection, the glass, which had been my immediate worry, seemed fine. However, a decent sized chunk of the filter ring had broken off and cracked. I took a few shots and the internals seemed to be fine as well, I noticed no lag or inaccuracies with autofocus, and the zoom and focus rings still worked smoothly.

I have had this lens for just over a year and a half now and I am not sure if it is still covered under warranty. I plan on sending it in regardless to get it checked on and fixed. I am going to call Canon's customer service as soon as they open on Monday to get everything figured out. Has anyone experienced something like this before? Any ideas on what it will cost to fix?

Here are some pictures of the damage.

[Kayaker72]

David,

Really sorry to hear that. I took a similar fall in Exeter, but without as bad of damage. I would get a quote. From what I can see, it also looks like not only is the thread ring damaged (likely easy to fix), but also the lip of the main tube/barrel that extends zooming (my guess, more difficult to fix). So, I would be comparing your quote against the price of the 24-105 on the used market.

That said, if you take the averages, it looks like Canon is typically ~$300 and takes less than 5 days.

For what it is worth...great pics....

Good luck,
Brant

[Bill W]

David.....repeating Brant's sorry and I've also fallen a couple of times, but w/out the damage you have just experienced. Brant's estimate on Canon is my experience also.

Suggestion for the future of your safety and your equipments; look into Kahtoola micro-spikes (what I have), Yaks, etc. I don't go anywhere in this wx w/out them; e.g well troddened sidewalks, Deer Island, Ipswich Audubon, etc.

Good luck
Bil

[Kayaker72]

Suggestion for the future of your safety and your equipments; look into Kahtoola micro-spikes (what I have), Yaks, etc. I don't go anywhere in this wx w/out them; e.g well troddened sidewalks, Deer Island, Ipswich Audubon, etc.

Good advice. I use Diamond grip Ice Trekkers. But I just looked at the Kahtoola micro-spikes and those look good as well.

[Dave Throgmartin]

Microspikes are really nice. They'll grip on a sheet of complete ice coverage. I've used them for hiking efforts though not for photography. They are not made for walking on uncovered concrete though. I can't imagine it is good for the spikes and it also hurts your foot because of the pressure points.

Dave,

I'm sorry to hear about your lens, but this is a good reason to use the hood. It may have prevented lens damage in this case.

Dave

[DavidWare]

Thanks guys. I'll definitely look into getting some of those for my boots. They'd served me well in ice and snow up until now, but they betrayed me.

As for the lens hood, I typically have it on, but I packed light this time around. I won't be doing that again.

Brant, I took a better picture of the crack and highlighted the hairline part of it, barely noticeable unless you have a bright light on it.

[Haydn1971]

Similar thing happened to me with my 16-35MkII, cost me £180 to get fixed, needed a new front body section and it was checked over as part of the repair

[peety3]

IMHO, no sense calling Canon, just use their website (http://www.usa.canon.com/repair). It takes no effort at all to generate a repair ticket with everything you need to ship the lens in except the box and the bubble wrap - shipping label and another label you can rubber-band to your lens.

I'd also say that it's next to useless to take a few "test" shots after the fall. Let Canon disassemble the lens and verify that internal mechanisms are still correct.

[DavidWare]

I'd also say that it's next to useless to take a few "test" shots after the fall. Let Canon disassemble the lens and verify that internal mechanisms are still correct.

I planned on that, as I stated in my initial post.