DSLR Photography Forum

When I was growing up, I was known as "The Destroyer" in my family, and not without good reason. Just a bit of background for this story - not long after I got my Nikon D50, the 18-55mm kit lens that came it took a knock when someone threw a ball at me, and since then, the zoom mechanism always "caught" when zooming, which made it unusable. Anyway, I took that as an opportunity to buy the excellent 18-70mm lens, and since then, the 18-55mm has been gathering dust in my drawer.

Last night I had an itch to tinker, so I took out the lens and decided to see what was wrong. Immediately, I saw that there was a plastic ring from inside the lens, that was loose and floating around inside. I thought to myself - the cost of repairs at a shop would probably be more than what it was worth anyway, so I might as well give the old DIY a shot. :|

So anyway, I took out my jeweller's screwdriver kit and opened up the back of the lens by unscrewing three small screws on the lens mount. That came off pretty easily and I took a peek inside. Yes, there was a floating plastic bit which I then extracted. I couldn't seem to fit it back on, so I decided to open the front as well, by removing the black ring (stuck on with glue), which revealed 3 more small screws underneath. Soon, I had the front element on the table. I figured out how to fit the plastic bit back on, and while then I tried to put everything back together again. Somehow in the process, I forgot how it all fit together, and I managed to break some of the delicately soldered wires where they joined to the electronics... oops. :/

Now, the lens is sitting in pieces in my drawer, and I don't know how to re-assemble it, with broken wires hanging out. :o In hindsight, maybe I should have taken some photos or drawn some diagrams to help me... I can't help but laugh. At least now I know what the inside of a lens looks like...


p.s. for the love of God, if you have an expensive lens, please don't follow my example - take it to a qualified service centre...

had a good belly laugh at this!

me too... I can imagine you doing this.

I am a bit curious, but not that curious to open a lens. Pity, you didn't take pictures..

Practise with a hearing aid,. What!
I will clarify that a little. I had a hearing aid that was obsolete and (decided to no longer function)
I opened it and the microphone is attached to a metalcase of about 5mm x 4mm x 2mm by three wires.
One had come off. So I decided to solder it back on, using a jewellers eyeglass to see it.
The wires resemble a human hair covered in something resembling knitted smaller human hairs.
Anyway while trying to hold and solder the other two wires came off. And you really should mark which colour goes where, before................. You know Julian don't you.

I have also had a very similar experience in the past....unfortunately mine was with the automatic choke on my 1982 Vauxall... slighty more expensive and definitely just as none functioning afterwards!

Did I learn my lesson? No, 2 years ago I killed our skipping DVD player in spectacular fashion.

My biggest problem when I reassemble something is left over screws.

Left over screws.... clamps, and in the case of a very dead dirtbike I once owned, the pin that holds the piston onto the crank arm...

I knew this was a great place to learn stuff ! lol

hahaha!
I want to see pics!
This sounds so cool
Maybe you can reconstruct it into a monster!

Hehe, thanks everyone for your comments.

Sorta reminds me of the time I decided to do my wife a favour and replace the battery of her iPod mini with a kit I bought off ebay... she now has a 30g iPod video.