A Visit to Nikon Service Centre

I took leave especially today because my AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED has finished the servicing and is ready for collection. I guess I have not log this down because it should belongs to one of those backlog blogs. Anyway, just a quick summary as to why my lens needs servicing. I drop this lens of mine during our IR Outing at Istana Woodneuk around 3 weeks back. So I have to send it in to Nikon Service Centre (NSC) for service and repair.

The original servicing and repair charges is SGD530.25 ($165 for the fixed tube unit, $160 for the VR unit and $180 for the service charges + 5% GST). I was given that quote on the 2nd Oct 2006. (My IR Outing to Istana Woodneuk is on the 1st Oct 2006, I send it in for repair immediately the next day.) Last Saturday, I was down at TK Foto together with Leo (my ex-colleague from Motorola) as he wanted to get a Canon S3IS. So I relate my story to James and you know what, James offer to help me to negotiate with Nikon to wavier off the service charges because this lens is relatively new (release in the first half of this year) and is still under warranty and it is ridiculous because the service charge is actually more than the cost of (single) component replacement. I gave James my servicing number on Monday (16th Oct 2006) and he proceed to call up NSC and he managed to get my service charges wavier off and my total repair cost for the lens is SGD341.25. Really thank you so much James. Really appreciate your help and business.

Alright, that is a long story recap. So I made my way down to NSC this morning to collect my lens and besides that, I have quite a few things to settle at NSC too. I submitted my application for Nikon Professional Service (NPS), upgraded my D200 firmware to Version 2 and also send it for CCD cleaning in the meantime. That is quite a lot of things I did today.

After all these, I went down to Amoy Street and around Ann Siang Hill there to test drive my lens and my camera with the new firmware, so far so good but my only complaint is that the zoom of my 18-200 VR is a bit stiff, but I don't want to complaint much because originally this lens creeps like crazy. It is a trade-off thing I guess. Anyway, I guess after prolong usage might be able to get rid of the stiffness issue.

Alright then, since my lens is back, my next agenda will be to replace the UV filter in front of the lens (my UV filter was in front of my lens when it drop, it didn't crack but the screw thread was dented, ouch...) and also to get a good and light tripod.