Each week Roger Cicala, founder of Lensrentals.com, hosts conversations about the art and science of capturing images. From photography to videography, film, history, and technology, the show covers a wide range of topics to educate and inspire creators of all kinds.



How to Break a Lens



Roger is joined by our Repair Manager Aaron and Senior Photo Tech Joey to discuss broken lenses, the types of repairs they’ve encountered, what they think can be attempted at home, and how to prevent repairs from being needed in the first place! They dish on which repair center takes the longest to get the gear back from, what environments they can count on to break a lens and advise the best gear for shooting in the rain. In this talk, they reference enjoying working with PhotoTech which is an authorized service center for Canon, Sony, Nikon, FujiFilm, and Sigma.

If you’ve frequented this blog before, you probably realize that we do a lot of repairs. With over 300,000 pieces of gear in our inventory, it’s not uncommon to get the occasional broken return. As a result, we have a repair department headed by Roger and Aaron. With their expertise, along with Joey (who is among the team that inspects the gear for damage), we share our insight as to what is often broken on lenses, and what you can do to prevent damage to the gear. From scratches on the front element to broken Image Stabilization units, tune into to this podcast to get a better insight on what might break on your lens, and how to ensure the longevity of your gear.

Spotlight on Ryan Hill

Ryan is our Video Product Development Specialist, which is a mouthful but means he helps figure out what new products we want to carry, how to inspect, support and accessorize it and how we’ll market it. Ryan has had all the jobs. Really. But before working at Lensrentals he used to PA in North Carolina. His favorite job was working on Eastbound and Down and tells us why and how he got the gig which is quite a tale indeed. Ryan’s favorite new piece of gear is the Quasar Science QLED light kit which are super bright 4ft long LED’s that are easy to control with full RGB spectrum.

Timestamps

00:45 – Introduction to Roger Cicala, Aaron Closz, and Joey Miller

01:00 – What is identified as a broken lens

01:30 – Mechanical breakdowns are by far the most common break of a lens

02:00 – What is the most common breaks for Canon and Nikon

04:00 – How to detect if image stabilization is working properly

06:00 – How to detect if a scratch on a lens is insignificant and what needs to be repaired

07:30 – How Aaron tests lenses and scratches for flaring

10:00 – What are everyone’s individual policies on UV filters (for protection of the lens)

13:20 – What is the quickest way to destroy a lens?

17:00 – BREAK

24:00 – Let’s talk repairs, and what is done inhouse and what is sent into the manufacturer

25:00 – What is the turnaround times for each manufacturer brand

30:00 – The difference of repairs and how in-depth the repairs might be depending on what needs to be fixed

35:00 – Which autofocus systems are more expensive to repair – ring focus or linear electromagnetic?

36:00 – Which lens repairs can be done at home?

41:00 – Which repairs aren’t worth the cost of repair?

45:30 – What do you do with your equipment to avoid having to get it repaired?

The Lensrentals Podcast is hosted by Roger Cicala. Our sound engineers are Ryan Hill and Julian Harper. Our other regular contributors include: Sarah McAlexander, Joey Miller, John Tucker, Drew Cicala, and SJ Smith. Our theme was composed by Jacques Granger. You can find more of his work here and here.

Let’s keep this conversation going! Leave a comment on our voicemail at 901-609-LENS or shoot us a question at: podcast@lensrentals.com

Find us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Send us pictures of your cat on Twitter