Lens CLA rates?

I'd be interested to learn what people here are generally paying for lens CLA and repairs.

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I recently dropped off my 20-35/2.8 at APS in Morton Grove, IL, because the AF/manual switch was not

working consistently anymore. A day later APS gave me a quote for $435, for replacing the main circuit

board (the technician whom I talked with when dropping off and picking up said it tested bad),

replacing/repairing the AF switch, and overall cleaning, greasing of the helicoid and adjusting to Nikon

specs. They did not break out parts in the quote, and explained that parts for this lens are no longer

available, but that they still have some in stock.<br>

I do not doubt that their work is worth the money, but since for my strictly hobby purposes the price was a

bit steep I picked up the lens without repair (and got the AF switch working again in the meantime

myself).

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For just CLA they mentioned the following rates:<br>

20-35/2.8 : about $245<br>

80-200/2.8 push-pull : about $235<br>

85/1.4 AIS : about $150<br>

 

 

I expected (or maybe just hoped) these prices to be a bit lower. What are people here paying at other

places, for similar lenses? Are the CLA rates for AFS lenses even higher?

12 years ago, in 2005 APS charged me $200 to replace the AF/MF switch ring on a 200mm/f4 macro lens. They did an

excellent job but they are not cheap: http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00BxJs

Based on my limited experience here in the L.A. area, their prices are right about normal. +/- $150 for a CLA on a

manual focus lens..less for a simple one, more for a complex floating element one.

Big service job on my Nikon 17-35/2.8 at Nikon L.A. cost about $450.

Apparently, the days of the $75-$100 CLA job disappeared with the 1990's.

<p>2012, Nikon Los Angeles, repair of CPU contact on the original 24-120 zoom, repair estimate was $163 <a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00aIaV">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00aIaV</a>. Repair was declined (exceeded replacement value of lens) but carried out nonetheless.</p>

I've always felt if the repair estimate exceeds 50% of the current value of the used lens, declining the repair may be prudent.

<p>That price is about in line with what I've paid other notable repairpersons for lens CLAs. Generally CLA and cheap are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but if the lens is special, that's the cost of doing business.</p>

<p>The days of $75.00-$100 was still alive as of 2012 but is was AIS lenses 55mm Micro, 85mm 1.4, 24mm f2, by Professional Photographic Repair in San Diego. A business that that went through transition but maintained one technician that knows his stuff. Lets be clear as to what A CLA entails for these lenses. They disassembled the lens exposing all glass elements, cleaning the soot off of the glass element surfaces, re-assembling re-oiling, or greasing the helicoid focusing mechanism and importantly, adjusting the drag of the focusing mechanism. In the case of the 85mm 1.4 AIS, the drag on that lens was always a little stiff and was a pleasure to have it loosened up a little. I had at one time thought that lens was destined for tripod only, but since the drag was loosened up, it actually works well for street stuff now.</p>

<p>I suppose any lens CLA will involve one to two hours of labor to disassemble and re-assemble the lens, at a loaded cost for $100 an hour (including shop overheads, etc.). Zooms will cost more since they are more complex. Somewhere a bit above or below $200 seems reasonable.</p>

<p>I have never had any luck with lens repairs done by Nikon (in the UK). They never come back 'right' with zooms having new issues introduced after repair and even basic primes have things like the wrong grease used so they come back completely solid seized. I have sent them back and they attempt to make things better but they never fully succeed. The 18-200 Mk1 came back with rattling and loose zoom. I just sell my broken lenses on eBay now and buy a new one - works out better in the long run and cheaper too as lens repairs start at $150 for a basic re-grease.</p>

Thanks for all the replies! For some reason the new photo.net unsubscribed me from thread updates, so I am manually updating my watched thread list now.

 

Follow-up question #1: Does anybody have any idea what fraction of people are doing their own lens overhauls, and how many of them are happy with the results? I have successfully taken apart and chipped (as in, 'added a lens CPU chip', not 'chipped the glass'...) some of my AI and AIS lenses, but got stuck on disassembling the 20-35/2.8 mentioned above.

 

Follow-up question#2: I've read that some older lenses malfunction on the D750 specifically; reasons given seemed to oscillate between 'firmware mismatch - lens firmware update fixes it', 'too much current draw - lens DC/DC converter replacement fixes it', and 'just too bad'. Could this be the case here, or does it apply to AF-S and later lenses only?

The labor for lens and camera repair can never be cheap. $100 an hour isn't much because most business charge 4 times the tech salary for their hourly rate. And a camera/lens repair tech making $25/hr is not much.

I was told by one tech that it is generally not worth the cost to do a full CLA of a zoom, because the lens has to be diassembled to clean and lube, then recollimated. So a lot of labor time. That was a disappointment, as I wanted to have him CLA my zoom, which had a stiff zoom (old lube). But I was grateful for him telling me the cost, and giving me his advice. The zoom costed me much less than his quote.

I think that the simple truth with most lenses is that most of the time it is better to leave it alone, unless you have an obvious problem with a good lens which is worth getting repaired. I made the mistake of taking my Nikon 20mm and 24mm AIS lenses to the local Nikon agent in Glasgow some years ago and they basically wrecked both lenses, all that was wrong with them was they were a bit dusty, when I went back to collect them they were in a terrible state with loads of black flecks inside the lens elements (I noticed that the company had some windows open including the area where their technicians worked!) I refused to pay for the shoddy work and asked them to put the lenses right, next time around the 20mm was a bit cleaner but with an obvious streaky mark inside the lens and the 24mm lens had a small scratch on the front element. I complained to them and Nikon and got nowhere with it, they gave me the 20mm lens back and kept the 24mm to see what they could do, which turned out to be absolutely nothing at all. I tried the 20mm out with my D800 when I got it back but it was pretty poor and I've never used it since then. I think they still have the 24mm lens which to this day they deny damaging!

 

So if you live in Scotland and need your Nikon camera or lens fixed, please send it straight to Nikon UK and not to their Glasgow agent!

I'm sitting on the fence about a CLA right now. I have a well used 70-200/2.8 VR1 that is very sharp and has accurate AF. The zoom action has gotten pretty rough feeling, though. I don't use the lens all that often, my go to lens is a newer f/4, but sometimes the 2.8 is needed.

 

 

"if it ain't broke don't fix it" mode of operation has served me well, but the zooming action is not getting any better on the VR1.

I'm sitting on the fence about a CLA right now. I have a well used 70-200/2.8 VR1 that is very sharp and has accurate AF.

 

The VR1 is now two generations away from the current model. I would suggest not to spend money on an older lens like that.

Dieter, that lens the 24-120 holds the dubious honor of being ranked by Ken Rockwell as one of the 10 worst all time Nikon lenses. One of my shots with one has received perfect scores and a speakers award and best in class in a professional competition. On a less than state of the art d200.

Dieter, that lens the 24-120 holds the dubious honor of being ranked by Ken Rockwell as one of the 10 worst all time Nikon lenses.

No, that's the first VR version (variable aperture, released in 2003); the one I mentioned above was the original 24-120 that was released in 1996. Dubious and KR in one sentence about sums it up perfectly ;-)

I just had a 1953 Leitz Summitar collapsible 50/2 CLA'd by DAG Camera for $150. Don did a beautiful job.

I always prefer working on Rangefinder lenses- mostly just unscrew. But, I've taken 10 hours to properly clean a 1930s 5cm F1.5 Sonnar, J-3 focus mount, and do the conversion of the Contax lens to Leica mount.

 

I would not consider trying to do a major disassembly on an AF Zoom.

 

$150 for a manual focus lens seems reasonable; $450 for an AF-Zoom, if it was my 70~180 or something equally expensive, I could see it. You would need some time on the bench to test that it all went back together.

Update since my earlier reply: I found an authorized Nikon shop in the L.A. area that only charged $85 dollars for a routine CLA each on an 85/1.8 K/Ai, and a 55/3.5 Micro Ai. I assume that more complex designs

would be more $$. Oh, but I had to wait 6 weeks for the owner/tech to 'get around' to doing the service. Fun.