I'm having one of those moments... MODS - remove if you think this is not appropriate.
I contacted Nikon today because I wanted to get a replacement thumb-screw for my lens hood. This is a small, one inch-ish screw with a wider cylinder at the top for hand-turning.
I was completely blown away when they told me it will cost me £21.31! Now I know anything photographic is expensive, but I'm outraged at this ridiculous price. No amount of sophisticated moulding (of which there's none that I can see from this design), nor material and labour (considering the number they produce), can demand such a price point.
I lost my lens hood on my 600VR when it blew off the top of a mountain-its in 2 parts, The part i lost cost $450 and came in 19 pieces for self assembly
There charging you for each individual piece the large screw,the mounting ,the tiny screws etc!! Silly as it sounds these things do cost money to make and are unique to one or two items hence the cost!!
I'm on my third in severn years so be prepared for more!!!
If you live near Richmond, then try blagging your way in, as I have in the past needed the same parts for my 600 and it has yet to cost me a penny, as Richmond is, as I’m sure you are aware, is their spares/service facility, so they always have spares lying around.
Thanks for the tip Terry, unfortunately I'm nowhere near Richmond. I don't really mind paying for something, but it really does pxxs me off when it's such a blatant rip-off!
Posted by Calum Dickson on March 25, 2010 at 10:17 AM
If it is a thumb screw I would doubt very much that it is a custom made Nikon part. Manufacturing companies don't go out of their way to create non-core business items like thumb screws. It will in all likelyhood be an off the shelf part that a good ironmonger would have.
As good ironmongers are hard to find here's a web link I found using google. The thumb screw will have an M number depending on the thread size (M means metric) so an M4 for example means a 4mm thread. Lovely little diagrams to help you choose on this site too.
http://www.threadedfasteners.co.uk/
Calum
Thanks Calum, looks useful, will take a closer look later.
Des
Posted by David Kjaer on March 25, 2010 at 1:49 PM
I lost a small screw off of my Canon 500mm lens hood and they sent me a replacement free of charge!
A friend of mine can beat what you paid - he purchased a new cutter blade for his Epson A1 printer. this was a tiny blade about a third of an inch mounted in a block of plastic - the whole thing was approx one inch by one third of an inch with no electrical contacts etc and must have cost around twentyfive pence to produce! Epsons best price to the public £92!!!!!
Had a word with my husband and this is what he said.
Do not take for granted that the thread is metric.
He pointed out that the female thread on the underside of the lenses collar, is 1/4 BSW, British Standard Whitworth.
It would be reasonable to assume that the threads used by the Japanese are either UNC or UNF, unified course or fine. As the Japanese he believes followed the Americans in a lot of their engineering methods and America is still imperial. One other thing he mentioned is that he would not be surprised to learn that the threads used are what is used in watch making, which are small and fine.
He also said that he thought that anything smaller than M3 in the metric range, is likely to be a special, and as such will not be available off the shelf.
He also warned that if you go away from using Nikon parts, you could reduce the resale value of the lens.
We could measure the diameter of the threads or my lens for you if you think this will help. Just let us know.
Discussion
10 repliesI contacted Nikon today because I wanted to get a replacement thumb-screw for my lens hood. This is a small, one inch-ish screw with a wider cylinder at the top for hand-turning.
I was completely blown away when they told me it will cost me £21.31! Now I know anything photographic is expensive, but I'm outraged at this ridiculous price. No amount of sophisticated moulding (of which there's none that I can see from this design), nor material and labour (considering the number they produce), can demand such a price point.
Am I being naive?
Dave
I'm on my third in severn years so be prepared for more!!!
Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk
Craig - no, this is just the screw! The mount with screws are an additional £15+!!!
If you live near Richmond, then try blagging your way in, as I have in the past needed the same parts for my 600 and it has yet to cost me a penny, as Richmond is, as I’m sure you are aware, is their spares/service facility, so they always have spares lying around.
Got to be worth a try.
As good ironmongers are hard to find here's a web link I found using google. The thumb screw will have an M number depending on the thread size (M means metric) so an M4 for example means a 4mm thread. Lovely little diagrams to help you choose on this site too.
http://www.threadedfasteners.co.uk/
Calum
Des
A friend of mine can beat what you paid - he purchased a new cutter blade for his Epson A1 printer. this was a tiny blade about a third of an inch mounted in a block of plastic - the whole thing was approx one inch by one third of an inch with no electrical contacts etc and must have cost around twentyfive pence to produce! Epsons best price to the public £92!!!!!
David
Had a word with my husband and this is what he said.
Do not take for granted that the thread is metric.
He pointed out that the female thread on the underside of the lenses collar, is 1/4 BSW, British Standard Whitworth.
It would be reasonable to assume that the threads used by the Japanese are either UNC or UNF, unified course or fine. As the Japanese he believes followed the Americans in a lot of their engineering methods and America is still imperial. One other thing he mentioned is that he would not be surprised to learn that the threads used are what is used in watch making, which are small and fine.
He also said that he thought that anything smaller than M3 in the metric range, is likely to be a special, and as such will not be available off the shelf.
He also warned that if you go away from using Nikon parts, you could reduce the resale value of the lens.
We could measure the diameter of the threads or my lens for you if you think this will help. Just let us know.
Terri - thanks for taking the time to look into it for me. Might come back to you later.
Cheers,
Des