Credit where credit is due

[Chuck Nacke]

As many of you know I have been fooling around with photographing downhill skiing.  

In three months I have broken more equipment then I did covering wars in central

Asia.  Don't even get me started about the NIKON support (Bad), but I have been using a 

TOKINA 16-28 f2.8 for years and two weeks ago I fell on it.  Called TOKINA USA and

I talked to a real person, shipped the lens and they are expediting the repair and the

repair fee is very reasonable.  It is so nice to see a company that cares about it's users.

 

Chuck

 

 

[Michael Ventura]

Chuck, good to know.  I have the Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 “Opera” lens and it is fantastic and comparatively inexpensive to the Nikon similar lens.  It is 1/3 the cost of the Nikon.  I had the Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 and after several breakdowns, I gave up on it and so did Nikon, they won’t service it anymore. 

[Chuck Nacke]

Just to update.

 

Tokina did a great job repairing the lens, lots of impact damage, and they

did it for a very reasonable fee and in less than a week.

 

I would highly recommend Tokina and the Tokina 16-28 f2.8.  It is a fraction

of the price of OEM glass.

 

Chuck

[Michael Ventura]

9 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Just to update.

 

Tokina did a great job repairing the lens, lots of impact damage, and they

did it for a very reasonable fee and in less than a week.

 

I would highly recommend Tokina and the Tokina 16-28 f2.8.  It is a fraction

of the price of OEM glass.

 

Chuck

 

I have one and love it too!  Good to know they have great support.

[Chuck Nacke]

3 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

I have one and love it too!  Good to know they have great support.

Michael,

 

The 16-28 was never right.  After I bought it new years ago, I talked with TOKINA and they wanted me to send it

in and I never got around to it.  Then when I fell on it while photographing skiing I had no choice.  FYI I also

need my D800's serviced, but I can not deal with NIKON anymore, I've been using a company near Chicago to

service my NIKON bodies for the last five years and they do great work, Authorized Photo Service in Morton

Grove, IL

 

Another lens that I use is the SYGMA 120-300 f2.8 and I love it as well and have been impressed with SYGMA's

support, I fell on that lens at the same time.

 

Chuck

[Betty LaRue]

On 29/04/2022 at 11:12, Chuck Nacke said:

Michael,

 

The 16-28 was never right.  After I bought it new years ago, I talked with TOKINA and they wanted me to send it

in and I never got around to it.  Then when I fell on it while photographing skiing I had no choice.  FYI I also

need my D800's serviced, but I can not deal with NIKON anymore, I've been using a company near Chicago to

service my NIKON bodies for the last five years and they do great work, Authorized Photo Service in Morton

Grove, IL

 

Another lens that I use is the SYGMA 120-300 f2.8 and I love it as well and have been impressed with SYGMA's

support, I fell on that lens at the same time.

 

Chuck

 Chuck, the question in my mind is what falling on those lenses did to your body. Seems at the least you’d have bruises.

[BobD]

On 04/05/2022 at 15:43, Betty LaRue said:

 Chuck, the question in my mind is what falling on those lenses did to your body. Seems at the least you’d have bruises.

 

Depends if the lens' are soft or not.😉

[Betty LaRue]

9 hours ago, BobD said:

 

Depends if the lens' are soft or not.😉

Good one! You’re pretty sharp, Bob!

[Marianne]

Nikon support was great when they were on Long Island - They fixed my then-slightly out of warranty D700 for free - they had just switched all service to, I believe, California, but since I desperately needed the camera and I'm in Westchester, they agreed to fix it here in NY and rushed it back to me. 

 

It's sad how some companies that used to have great customer service in the past are now cutting back so much. 

 

I bought a couple more Nikon cameras and several lenses after that and was loyal to Nikon until I went totally mirrorless (but still kept some of my smaller, lighter Nikon lenses for use with my Sonys). These days I rarely travel without two cameras, but back then I was semi-pro and only had one, and the shutter went while I was mid-shoot. Fortunately, I wasn't on a deadline but I learned my lesson and bought a second body as soon as I could afford it. 

 

I've been happy with Sony support so far but nothing major, though I do have to send in one body to be cleaned - they are dust magnets. I've tried cleaning myself but still finding dust spots in my skies. 

 

Scary to fall on cameras at any time @Chuck Nacke but especially while skiing! Then again, as a war photographer, I assume you're far braver than most of us baby boomers!