[Klaus]

This is a 700AUD lens - thus I'd say "prosumer class".

 

And now guess what ... the guy told me that it was "just not worth to repair it" so I'm getting a new one instead (note - from the outside it was in pristine condition). While I surely appreciate the exchange, this is nuts - another user told me the same story regarding his sample.

 

Now there are three options here I'd say:

a ) the first production batch was a complete mess (best option)

b ) such lenses aren't even manufactured based on a serviceable design

c ) the service costs are higher than the costs for a new lens

 

Folks, this is the state of the industry that we are all feeding with our money.

[stoppingdown]

What a shame...  :wacko:

What were the most visible issue with your lens? At this point I've figured out this scheme: as soon as I get a lens I run a quick test (in function of my limited capabilities and testing equipment); if it's really wrong I ask for a replacement; if it's outside the tolerance, but not terrible, I ask for a repair, for fear of getting a copy that's even worse...

 

But this is absurd for prosumer stuff.

[Klaus]

The lens was fine in the middle range.

However, it was decentered at 55mm (one sided softness).

Beyond 150mm the borders were extremely soft (albeit symmetrical) ... when deactivating the OIS.

With activated OIS, the result was an image soup.

At one occasion, the zoom mechanism jammed blocking at 60mm and 150mm.

 

It was the worst ever lens out-of-the-box in my history.

[Guest]

Well in all fairness; unless the repair is simple I think most items that only cost a couple of hundered dollars to produce are cheaper new than repaired. I do not know how much it cost to manufactor the 55-200; but I do know that during the fuji sales it is typically 499; and for a while (3 days) amazon had it for 299.  No clue if they were selling for a loss; but it is quite probably case ©. Fixing things are often more expensive than manufacturing cost unless the fix is very simple. Having said that I kind of wonder if the lens is easy to disassemble or maybe they wanted the lens to figure out what went wrong during assembly.

-

Stillt he failure rate for fuji lenses are scary; are you thinking of dropping fuji and going to sony ?

 

Then again how do you feel about fuji calling you ?

 

 

This is a 700AUD lens - thus I'd say "prosumer class".

 

And now guess what ... the guy told me that it was "just not worth to repair it" so I'm getting a new one instead (note - from the outside it was in pristine condition). While I surely appreciate the exchange, this is nuts - another user told me the same story regarding his sample.

 

Now there are three options here I'd say:

a ) the first production batch was a complete mess (best option)

b ) such lenses aren't even manufactured based on a serviceable design

c ) the service costs are higher than the costs for a new lens

 

Folks, this is the state of the industry that we are all feeding with our money.

[Klaus]

i think you are referring to the Fuji 50-230mm with those prices (which should be in next week).


You know what surprises me ? Japanese cars are boring but rock solid. The car industry is certainly as competitive. Why can't they deliver the same level of manufacturing sophistication in the photo industry ?


After the recent experience I am back to MFT.

[Sylvain]

Klaus, again thanks for the report. It's interesting to hear about this side of the business.

 

But I implore you, collect your efforts :-)

 

See my posts http://forum.photozone.de/index.php?/top...-32mm-f18/

[goran h]

MFT can also be problematic. Last year I bought a Pana 20/1.7, which was a bit soft on the right side. It was sent back to Panasonic. After almost two months I got a new sample and this one performed better. 

This autumn I bought a Pana 45-150 which was miserable. At the short end the left side was soft and at the long end it was better but absolutely not perfect. I sent it back last week (with sample photos), so now just to wait and see what happens.

 

Göran

[joachim]

This is a 700AUD lens - thus I'd say "prosumer class".


And now guess what ... the guy told me that it was "just not worth to repair it" so I'm getting a new one instead (note - from the outside it was in pristine condition). While I surely appreciate the exchange, this is nuts - another user told me the same story regarding his sample.


Now there are three options here I'd say:

a ) the first production batch was a complete mess (best option)

b ) such lenses aren't even manufactured based on a serviceable design

c ) the service costs are higher than the costs for a new lens


Folks, this is the state of the industry that we are all feeding with our money.

See my reply to the Zeiss 32 thread. I am not surprised.

[Guest]

No the prices are for the 55-200. Amazon currently has the fuji 55-200 for 699 - 200 if you buy a body (fuji promotion; not amazone specific) and last week for 3 days they had it for 499 (299 if you buy a body).

-

Was a killer deal and I thought at first it was a pricing mistake but they left it there while a ton of folks ordered them...

--

I do wonder if this centering issue is new or old (maybe in the days of film and hand assembly we just didn't notice ?)

 

 

i think you are referring to the Fuji 50-230mm with those prices (which should be in next week).


You know what surprises me ? Japanese cars are boring but rock solid. The car industry is certainly as competitive. Why can't they deliver the same level of manufacturing sophistication in the photo industry ?


After the recent experience I am back to MFT.

[Klaus]

MFT can also be problematic. Last year I bought a Pana 20/1.7, which was a bit soft on the right side. It was sent back to Panasonic. After almost two months I got a new sample and this one performed better. 

This autumn I bought a Pana 45-150 which was miserable. At the short end the left side was soft and at the long end it was better but absolutely not perfect. I sent it back last week (with sample photos), so now just to wait and see what happens.

 

Göran

 

Yes, I would prefer Olympus here or a non-OIS Panasonic lens.

 

Honestly, I stick to my previous comments that an optical image stabilizer is the cause for most of these problems.

If the manufacturing is already sloppy, things are pretty much doomed to move over the edge in this case.

It took Canon and Nikon years till they reached consistency (thus do yourself a favor and never buy a used IS/VR lens).