I started the cutting – slowly working my way round. So to protect the lens from debris I taped the front up with masking tape, and also taped a plastic bag to the rest of the lens below my cut line.
My plan of action was to remove the gold beauty ring (which was already cracked, so it just came off), then using a small hack saw to cut through the top housing till I got to the protector ring threads. I studied the replacement parts and I noticed that when the protector ring is screwed down on to the top housing it stops just by the gold beauty ring that surround the top housing. Also I think the fact that the protector ring had been distorted was not going to be easy as just unscrewing it. Quick look at the service manual revelled something I missed, the protector ring appeared to be installed using some screwlocking compound (which probably explains why it was not moving at all). Next I thought well the beauty ring is mounted on the protector ring which needs to be unscrewed anyway, so skip that and remove the protector ring first. Using a modified verneir I attempted to remove the front beauty ring – this idea failed. So simple I was on the phone to Nikon parts department ordering up the parts, $85 (£45) later I had the parts winging their way to me. The procedure would be easy – unscrew the front beauty ring and then unscrew the front protector ring, followed by removing the top housing. I managed to track down a service manual just to see how easy it would be to replace the damaged components. The damage was not that visible, it appeared that the lens had been dropped on to its side causing a crack to the top housing and distorting the filter threads. I tested it out on my D200 and it performed as expected and the test images were sharp beyond believe. The lens itself was clean and came boxed with the hood, soft case and unused strap.
I was lucky to stumble upon a eBay auction for an physically damaged lens, which seemed to still be working fine.Īfter some bidding I managed to pick the lens up for less than 40% of the going secondhand value.
Recently, I started having them recurring dreams about the Nikkor 70-200 and my search for a good secondhand example begun. This 500/4 is a serious dream lens and a pleasure to use and abuse. My second dream lens was the Nikkor AFS 500 f/4, which I actually purchased couple of years back which totally blew my budget for any other exotic lenses. At the time I could not afford to buy one, so I settled on a Sigma HSM 70-200 f/2.8 lens, while having great image quality was just not in the same league as the Nikon. It is legendary for its handling and sharpness. Ever since I started my venture in to photography I have dreamed about owning certain lenses.įirst, was to own the Nikon AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens, which is one serious piece of kit.
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