Advice on lens issue please

[gremlin16]

I bought a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 which optically is spot on. However, there is some play when using the manual focus ring, coupled with a strange knocking at the M end of its travel.

Obviously it's a few years old, but I have the following quandary;

Seller has offered me a generous reduction in price to compensate for this. Alternatively he is happy to take it back.

Without you all seeing and feeling it, it's obviously tricky to diagnose. Does anybody have any experience of a similar issue? Should I take a punt? Would a repair on the focus mechanism be prohibitively expensive?

Is it likely to pack in completely and render the lens useless?

Potential cost of a repair?

Any thoughts?

 

[Nod]

Give Nikon or Fixation (IIRC) a ring and describe the symptoms. Ask for a ballpark estimate (stress that you realise they can't give a quote over the phone) on the likely cost of a repair and weight that up against the seller's price reduction.

 

[gremlin16]

Thanks nod