Three time is a charm... in my case, Tokina 11-16mm was dropped 3 times and decided to zoom from 11-15 only.
First time, it was carefully wrapped in a jacket and left in back seat. and there goes the lens when I pulled my jacket out the car. It dropped hitting rear cap down the concrete floor at about 2.5ft. Not much damage since it was the metal mount taking the force.
Second time, my failure of walking on log from
Crater Lake trip and front end of lens hit the log at about 4ft but not straight down but it was a hard hit as well. Still work "like new"
Third time... I was in my backpack all happy until I pull the backpack out of the trunk unzipped. It flew out hitting the concrete floor again. This time was the front end and the hood took the hit. Filter thread cracked, zoom only from 11-15. Focus still works.
So I let it go today. 1 year later I lost $40 for this lens. What a deal. That's how much it would cost me to rent it a week or so. Btw, the buyer do know it has problem zooming but was ok with it :)
Lesson learned: look twice where you leave the lens. Don't think you are spider man and can walk on log with camera, tripod on 1 hand. I know we all rush when on the spot doing shoot and leave backpack open, but do always check, don't just yank them out. They cost! Last but not least. Invest in good lens, it'll take the abuse and at then end, it's great return. In fact I made few dollars extra from buying, use, and resale the good set of lens. :)
My collection is getting smaller and smaller... only D90, 18-105, 50mm, 105mm, 70-300mm now. BUT (it's a really really big BUT) Nikon D700 is just around the corner. So D90, 18-105mm and Lumix lx3 is on "retirement" list. btw, I had lx3 for few months, it's a great great camera by Panasonic. It comes in small package but do truly turn heads. There are tons of review about lx3 vs Leica online. It was a smart choice from my end. Since D700 is around the corner, it has to go. :( No more pns for me. Maybe a new phone with 8mpx by Verizon would do the trick :)
