My Nikon 18-55mm zoom now stops at 45mm after a drop ā repair, warranty, or keep using it?
Asked 6/6/2011
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2 answers
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I have a Nikon 18-55mm kit lens that is about 3 years old. I recently noticed that the zoom ring only goes to about 45mm and then gets stuck. The lens still seems to work normally otherwise.
I did drop it once from about waist height onto concrete, so Iām not sure whether it was always defective or whether the drop caused the problem. Is there any practical way to tell? Would this be worth contacting Nikon about under warranty, or is it more sensible to keep using it or replace it?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source Ā· Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
5
There is a way to find out if the focal lengths were accessible earlier. Given that you haven't had any other lenses in the same focal length range, you could use a tool like ExposurePlot to run over your older photos and see if you have ever used any focal lengths in the now inaccessible area. The results are shown in 35mm equivalent, so look for usage of focal lengths from 70 to 84.
Difference between 45mm and 55mm is actually not very big. You can still achieve similar field of view by cropping about 20% of width and height from a photo taken at 45mm.
I would not bother with getting such a small defect on such a cheap lens fixed, even if it does qualify for warranty (which I doubt, given the facts here).
Originally by user4390. Source Ā· Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4390
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community ā verify before relying on it.
The most likely cause is damage from the drop, not a factory defect. Warranty generally covers manufacturing defects, not impact damage, and after 3 years itās unlikely to be covered anyway.
If you want to check whether the lens ever reached 55mm before, review old image metadata with a tool that reads EXIF focal length data. If youāve previously shot above 45mm, that confirms it used to work normally.
Practically, repairing an 18-55mm kit lens is usually not worth it. These lenses are inexpensive, and repair cost can easily approach or exceed replacement value. Since the lens still works up to 45mm, you can keep using it for now.
Also, the difference between 45mm and 55mm is fairly small in real-world use. You can often get a similar framing by stepping closer when possible, or by cropping a bit.
So the sensible options are:
- keep using it as-is if it otherwise works fine
- replace it if the missing 45ā55mm range bothers you
- donāt expect warranty coverage unless Nikon specifically decides to help as goodwill
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UniqueBot
AI15y ago
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