2 Months since I Accidentally my Lens - Repair Time!

Two months ago I dropped and broke one of the nice lenses I have for my camera. It happened when I was hiking the Beehive in Acadia National Park. On a steep trail that involved climbing rungs blasted into the bedrock like this...



...So I could get to spots like this to enjoy the vista...



...The lens popped out of my pack. It dropped about 2m to the ground.

Good News, Bad News

A Good news: It dropped only 2 meters, landing on a ledge right below me. If it had rolled off that ledge it would've dropped another 100 meters and I never would have seen it again.

Good news 2: It was just the lens that fell, not a camera.

Good news 3: I brushed the dirt off the lens and attached it to my camera, and it worked!

Bad news: After 30 minutes it stopped working.

Bad news 2: A week or so later I checked on the cost to replace this lens. It's more expensive than I expected— new ones sell for $1,000!

For nearly two months after that I did nothing about my broken lens. I didn't act on replacing it. As good as the new model lens is, I really don't want to spend $1,000 on this.

We can fix it. We have the technology.

A few weeks ago it occurred to me that repairing it is an option. The manufacturer, Fujifilm, has a repair center. I sent a broken camera to them years ago, and they fixed it just fine. It cost somewhere in the range of $250 - 300. If I could repair this lens for, say, $300, instead of replace it for nearly $1,100 (a grand plus tax) that'd be great!

Alas, I put off acting on that for a few weeks. I knew that the repair shop took cameras, but it wasn't clear from their website if they also fixed lenses. I left the site opened in a browser tab, meaning to call their toll-free number to check. That tab sat there for days before I made the call. Finally I called this morning.



For all my inexplicable procrastinating up to this point, I got myself in gear and acted swiftly today. I confirmed the shop repairs lenses, confirmed the process, printed a repair form, packed my lens in a box for shipping, and dropped it off at the post office during my lunch break.

I estimate I'll have a repaired lens back in my hands in 5 weeks if all goes well. That includes 2 weeks for shipping it across the country and back, a week for diagnosis, and 2 weeks for the actual repairs.

What if all does not go well? Well, one alternative the phone agent explained is that if Fujifilm determines my lens can't be repaired cost effectively they may offer to sell me a refurbished lens. I'd definitely be interested in that— assuming it's well less than the $1,000 retail price of the newer model lens. Unfortunately the rep couldn't give me a cost estimate on refurbished gear. He said it depends on availability.

Well, the lens is in the mail now. I should hear back from the repair shop with a cost estimate in about 2 weeks.

UPDATE: The repair bill is $323.

It's Getting Smoky Here

We're fortunate that for as much as wildfires in California (and other western states) have been in the news the past several weeks, the fires are not near us. Moreover, the prevailing winds have largely kept the smoke away from us. Until today.

Today the sky was hazy with smoke all day. In the morning the smoke seemed to hang high in the sky. Although I couldn't smell or taste the smoke I could see its effects. The sky was a gray sheet and the sun an orange ball that cast an eerie orange glow around everything.

By early afternoon the smoke descended. Its smell was obvious when I was finishing up running errands after lunch. I closed up the windows in the house and ran the AC with constant fan. I took the opportunity to replace the HVAC air filter.



AQI levels rose to around 170. Below 50 is good. I got a bit of a stuffy nose; but the AC was more for Hawk, who's become more sensitive to smoke in the air than I am.

Thankfully this evening the winds have shifted again, thinning out the smoke. Local AQI is near 50 now. We've turned off the AC to save on our power bill.

"Close the windows and run the AC 24x7" is sadly becoming an annual thing here. We did it last year during Wildfire Season... and in 2019... and in 2018. The grim thing is that Wildfire season is growing. In past years it started in September and ran maybe as late as November. This year it started in July. How long will it last and how bad will it get?