Dropped 70-200mm f/2.8L in a stream...

Ok I've had it sent back from Lehmanns -

They have not opened it, dried it, so they would be unable to test it.
These guys basically looked at it, printed off a piece of paper "returned water damage uneconomical to repair'.

I've been told that this is insane, that by not even drying the lens out and testing they have basically done nothing.

Is there anyone else in the UK thats even reliable?
The complete ambiguity surrounding Lehmanns answer has left me feeling I've wasted my time and only added to the corrosion.

Gutted.
 
Did it cost you to have Lehmanns say "it's screwed mate"? Pretty messed up if so.

Have you spoken to your insurance company yet?
 
Just by letting it air, you will never get all the moisture out before it dries on the internal elements leaving drying-marks that can never be removed without re-coating them - which would be prohibitively expensive i.e - a write-off...

Other people's theories and opinions are fine when it's not your lens...

Get it to an approved repairer as quickly as you can, preferably before all that internal condensation dries.

Guess what - this happens a lot in my line of work, so please take it as gospel - don't delay. It's not worth the risk.


*edit* Sorry only got to the third post before panic set in...
It is repairable, but you may have to shop around.
 
TBH I'm never going anywhere near Lehmann's, despite the good reviews they seem to get. They quoted £160+ just to clean a bit of dust out of a lens, a 15-20 minute job at most. If it's a warranty job then I'm sure their work is excellent but, if you're paying for it yourself, they appear to be a bunch of crooks.
 
You could bathe it again in distilled water. Actually give it a couple of baths/rinses in fresh distilled water. That should remove the salts and contrary to public believe, pure water is actually an insulator. Sediments are a different chaper of course. Let's hope the river wasn't too murky.

I've never tried this myself, but that's what my chemist side would advice.

For drying, I'd use Silicagel or rice in an air-tight container. The former can be recycled by drying it in an oven. Often there will be a Cobalt-based moisture colour indicator added - pink being moist and blue being dry.

Good luck with the lens! What a bummer that it got soaked.
 
You can try Advanced Camera Services in Norfolk

I had a lens done and they did a superb job of cleaning up the internals - cost me £200 to get it done. Did take them a while, with poor / non-existent comms but pleased with the work.

Unfortunately water damage of the exent here really is several hours of work to repair, so its really the labour costs that make it uneconomical to repair in many cases rather than new parts.
 
:O ouch, unlucky.....send to Canon for repair, cant imagine it being cheap though. :thumbs: good luck
 
Ekkkkkkk, I dont think anyone can suggest a price and to be honest depending on how much water got in it, how dirty the water was, how much dirty water is actually in the motor/moving parts will all determine how much it will cost to repair. You say you have used the lens and can hear dirst when focusing, I would advise not to do that again, your ounly moving more dirt around the moving parts.

As alot of these companies offer you a 6 months warranty none of them will do a botch job, hence in my opinion repair it isn't going to be cheap. Its impossibe for anyone on here to say wheather its repairable or not so send it off to be looked at to someone else.
 
It's laying in parts now, completely dried out. Been hunting a replacement via eBay both fully working and a damaged that may someday help in restoring the wannabe submarine.

Anyone selling a broken one, and also a fully working one?

:o)
 
Emmett, any chance of you popping up some photos of it in bits? Just curious to see the innards.
 
Those of a strong affinity with this lens look away now!















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Large: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4652354545_5a46dd4705_o.jpg

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Large: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4652974388_e9302f1f47_o.jpg


:'(
 
That's what having a little set of screwdrivers and an hour on your hands does for you :D

Do you know how it goes back together
 
wack61 said:
That's what having a little set of screwdrivers and an hour on your hands does for you :D

Do you know how it goes back together
Click to expand...

Yea I have the engineers PDF, but the main (top right) front eye is damaged with water spots in and out, so need a 2nd hand damaged one to replace this.
 
Emmett,

I hope you do realise that you've now got serious misalignment issues with that lens :thinking: :p; I also think this thread ought to be moved to lens-porn asap.

Good luck with the restoration of that :thumbs:
 
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