Do you own a D800/D800E?

[Bill16]

I'm afraid I don't have that excuse for my own buying!lol though I have sold several of my Nikon, I didn't make any profit from them. I was lucky if I could break even! Lol
Nope, all my Nikon's and other photography gear was bought for my enjoyment only!
Counting what I sold, here are the Nikon's I had.

D3100
D5100
D7100
D90
D300
D300
D700
D800E
Nikon 1 V1
Nikon 1 V1
F4s
F3hp
But now I only have the 6 Nikon's listed in my profile! I admit I do miss the Nikon's I sold, but I'm pretty happy where I'm at now! Someday I might add another DX though! Maybe the D400 after the bugs are worked out! Lol

Most of these I bought really cheap just to resell and make a small profit. That seems to be working. I intend to pare it down to one D200 and the D800 and the rest are being sold.

 

[D200freak]

I scored a MAJOR deal on a Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8 lens. 500 bucks! It's perfect for me as it's a "fixer upper", some repair required. The aperture has loose petals and the front glass is loose, as in unscrewed.

That's easy to fix. It'll cost me not more than 150 bucks to fix if I have to replace the whole aperture assembly.

I should have it in about a week. A friend of mine in another state is picking it up for me.

Gambles like this usually work out for me. I should have (finally) completed repairs on an 80-400 Nikkor lens I picked up a while ago that had been broken at the aperture ring. Serious surgery was required to get that fixed. Right now I'm just waiting for the sealant on the repaired flex circuit to cure out.

I've taken that lens apart, and reassembled it, so many times that I now completely understand how it's constructed, and by extension, should be able to easily figure out any other Nikkor AF-zoom lens that needs attention as well. The principles of zoom and focus assemblies are always pretty similar.

 

[Bill16]

Hey buddy, you got the 14-24mm fixed right? How are you liking it, and I would love to see some pics my friend!

I must admit I'm dying to get mine and try it out! But I have at least a couple months to wait yet.

I scored a MAJOR deal on a Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8 lens. 500 bucks! It's perfect for me as it's a "fixer upper", some repair required. The aperture has loose petals and the front glass is loose, as in unscrewed.

That's easy to fix. It'll cost me not more than 150 bucks to fix if I have to replace the whole aperture assembly.

I should have it in about a week. A friend of mine in another state is picking it up for me.

Gambles like this usually work out for me. I should have (finally) completed repairs on an 80-400 Nikkor lens I picked up a while ago that had been broken at the aperture ring. Serious surgery was required to get that fixed. Right now I'm just waiting for the sealant on the repaired flex circuit to cure out.

I've taken that lens apart, and reassembled it, so many times that I now completely understand how it's constructed, and by extension, should be able to easily figure out any other Nikkor AF-zoom lens that needs attention as well. The principles of zoom and focus assemblies are always pretty similar.

 

[D200freak]

All the parts to repair it should arrive in the coming week. I hope to be taking pictures with it by next weekend. It is a much easier lens to work on than the 80-400 I fixed last week.

 

[Bill16]

Ok awesome buddy! I have the same 80-400mm and will be getting the 14-24mm! Lol

All the parts to repair it should arrive in the coming week. I hope to be taking pictures with it by next weekend. It is a much easier lens to work on than the 80-400 I fixed last week.

 

[D200freak]

The 14-24mm lens is now fixed. Working great, and super sharp.

I had some real challenges to work around. Some of the screws are rather "special" and I found some on ebay, apparently from someone who takes apart lenses just to sell them as parts. So I ordered those screws.

And got totally different screws.

I raised heck about it. Got my money back. And then improvised using leftover screws from other lenses that I picked up for parts. Between that and some customized washers I have it rebuilt pretty close to specifications. It works well, so I can't be too far off!

 

[Bill16]

Cool buddy! Are you going to post a few of your test shots, so we can see your triumph in getting it working?

The 14-24mm lens is now fixed. Working great, and super sharp.

I had some real challenges to work around. Some of the screws are rather "special" and I found some on ebay, apparently from someone who takes apart lenses just to sell them as parts. So I ordered those screws.

And got totally different screws.

I raised heck about it. Got my money back. And then improvised using leftover screws from other lenses that I picked up for parts. Between that and some customized washers I have it rebuilt pretty close to specifications. It works well, so I can't be too far off!

 

[D200freak]

Thanks to this adventure, and the others I've had lately with an AF-VR 80-400, I now really have a pretty good understanding of lens construction and how everything works.

On this wide angle lens, since it had been dropped and some parts got slightly dented, I had to do some "gunsmithing" (maybe that's lens smithing?) to make some parts in the zoom system fit properly again. The guide rails have been flattened, stoned, and polished. If I were really of a mind to do it, I could open up any new lens and give it a lens smithing treatment to improve its operation if I really wanted to, but the problem with that is that in some cases you don't WANT to make operation too light and smooth. Anyone who's ever had zoom drift from the weight of the front lens dragging the zoom out knows that.

Now that I've really had my hands into one of these 14-24s, I feel confident in saying that I should be able to repair any of them so long as I can get the parts. I understand them pretty well. But the electronic alignment process will be beyond my capacity unless I get one of Nikon's alignment systems.

 

[Bill16]

Awesome! Way to go buddy!!!

View attachment 190035

Thanks to this adventure, and the others I've had lately with an AF-VR 80-400, I now really have a pretty good understanding of lens construction and how everything works.

On this wide angle lens, since it had been dropped and some parts got slightly dented, I had to do some "gunsmithing" (maybe that's lens smithing?) to make some parts in the zoom system fit properly again. The guide rails have been flattened, stoned, and polished. If I were really of a mind to do it, I could open up any new lens and give it a lens smithing treatment to improve its operation if I really wanted to, but the problem with that is that in some cases you don't WANT to make operation too light and smooth. Anyone who's ever had zoom drift from the weight of the front lens dragging the zoom out knows that.

Now that I've really had my hands into one of these 14-24s, I feel confident in saying that I should be able to repair any of them so long as I can get the parts. I understand them pretty well. But the electronic alignment process will be beyond my capacity unless I get one of Nikon's alignment systems.

 

[D200freak]

Oh yeah! Today I discovered something you probably already know, but I thought it was a neat find. In live view, you can zoom in on the picture same as you can when reviewing pictures. This is very informative for seeing how sharp autofocus is. (From a tripod) zoom in all the way using the picture controls on the back of the camera and then hit the AF button then manually adjust. Ideally you won't be able to get better focus than autofocus. But if you can improve on autofocus, then spending some time fine tuning the AF is going to be time well spent.