Avoiding lens slipping off camera? 40-150 f2.8 came off today...

Colin K. Work wrote:

Tapper123 wrote:

James Pilcher wrote:

Tapper123 wrote:

Have you ever had a lens slip off the camera?

Neither have I, until earlier today.

(In fact I've decided to sell it because I really love my gear to look perfect, so if you're interested it's in the DPreview selling forum here. I have photos of it there as well.)

Great marketing: Announce that you've dropped a lens and then offer it for sale. You may find a taker, though, because there's a sucker born every minute.

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA

That lens is the nicest and most expensive piece of photo gear I ever allowed myself to own, and I wanted to keep it pristine. Until this accident, I have never dropped a lens.

And yes, I am interested in selling it to someone who doesn't care about cosmetics as I do, and they can save a few hundred dollars.

How is that bad, exactly? And how does it make someone a sucker to buy it? Used stuff with cosmetic damage is bought and sold all the time.

Nothing wrong with what you're planning, however from the photos you posted, there seems to be a bit of distortion to the barrel at the camera end of the lens. As a possible buyer I would be concerned that an impact that severe could also have affected the alignment of lens elements. For that reason I wouldn't bid on it.

It might well be worth getting it checked by Olympus, as having a service record could net you a better price. The cosmetics alone wouldn't put me off

He's right, you know. Simply taking a picture and looking at it on your LCD or even computer monitor won't guarantee that everything's in perfect condition. It might look good to you — heck, to anyone but a trained technician, the lens images probably look perfect! It is always good to have it checked out. Unless you go through MTF checking, lens alignment checking, the whole nine, you can never be sure that it solely has cosmetic damage and not some other internal damage.

People will think about this as well, as Colin said. If I saw a listing on eBay for a "cosmetically damaged" lens from a drop, I would have my doubts. You read online all those cases where a lens fell and had focusing issues, increase chromatic aberrations and fringing, etc... Posting without some form of guarantee that the internals are working perfectly will ward off many experienced photographers. So in essence, anyone that buys your lens without going through a thorough check could be called a sucker, since they'd essentially be paying quite a lot of dough for a damaged item...

Not my place to say, but you really should get it checked professionally before selling it off, since you will hurt your chances of selling it.