{"id":2531,"date":"2015-02-27T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T09:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-02-27\/2531"},"modified":"2015-02-27T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T09:32:10","slug":"performing-minor-surgery-on-a-nikkor-24-70mm-f2-8-zoom-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-02-27\/2531","title":{"rendered":"Performing Minor Surgery on a Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 Zoom Lens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMinor Lens Surgery in Progress<\/span>\nNikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8\n\u30ec\u30f3\u30ba\u306e\u624b\u8853\u3001\u59cb\u307e\u308a\u70b9\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I've had my Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 lens (seen here<\/a>) for more\nthan eight years. I don't<\/span> use it all that much anymore because for the last\nfew years I've tended to prefer faster prime lenses, but it's a great<\/span> lens for many situations.<\/p>\n\n

I'm pretty tough on my gear... I don't<\/span> baby it, I use<\/i> it, and\nthis lens is no exception. In particular, after using it all day in heavy\nsnow five years ago (“<\/span>First Look at Snowy Shirakawago Village<\/a>”<\/span>), the zoom became a\nbit<\/span> less smooth. It wasn't so bad that it was worth the bother of having it\nserviced, but it was a slight<\/span> inconvenience I lived<\/span> with for years.<\/p>\n\n

Fast forward to a few months ago and it suddenly started getting stuck\nwhile zooming... I couldn't<\/span> zoom out past a certain<\/span> point. It was hitting<\/span> a\nhard<\/span> stop, as if a bolt<\/span> had been placed to stop the zoom. The problem<\/span> came\nand went... when it came, I found<\/span> that I could<\/span> usually unstick things by\njiggling the lens, or turning it sideways, or something... I never<\/span> knew\nwhat would get it to work, beyond “<\/span>futzing with it until it zooms again”<\/span>,\nsometimes for several minutes. It was a<\/span> major inconvenience when I was<\/span>\nshooting the big new-year's storm at 3am (“<\/span>Kyoto At Night During a Heavy<\/span>\nSnow<\/a>”<\/span>), so I knew<\/span> I needed<\/span> to finally get it fixed.<\/p>\n\n

Thinking to bring the lens on my upcoming across-the-country RV\ntrip<\/a>, I checked<\/span> Nikon's service website and found that the estimation\nto fix a troublesome<\/span> zoom was US$800(!). This is probably for the\nworst-case scenario... having to replace the guts of the zoom... but mine\nprobably needed only a little<\/span> TLC. They didn't have a pricepoint<\/span> listed for\n“<\/span>a little<\/span> TLC”<\/span>, so I was<\/span> reticent to send it in.<\/p>\n\n

So, I decided to open it up and fix it myself.<\/p>\n\n

Three resources really helped:<\/p>\n\n