Repair alerts
Why Side-Mount Buttons and Ports Break on Cameras
We spend a lot of time fixing broken stuff. As sort of a side gig to that, we advise some manufacturers about what is likely to break or is regularly breaking. We offer our input to all manufacturers; some are interested in it, and some don’t give a flying damn. For free, we blog about it, too.…
How We Solve Problems – Fixing the Broken Battery Door of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
### Update: Blackmagic Design has reached out to us following the publishing of this article, and have begun the process of exchanging broken battery doors with an updated design. More information at the bottom of the article. We go through a lot of gear here at Lensrentals. Like, a LOT a lot. Even…
Rental Camera Gear Destroyed by the Solar Eclipse of 2017
We recently had quite a spectacle in the United States, with a Solar Eclipse reaching totality throughout a large portion of the United States. Being that this was the first solar eclipse passing through the Continental US since 1979, excitement ran wild on capturing this natural event using the…
Canon T6 Sensor Issue
NOTE: As of May 8th, Canon has issued a recall of affected units. My hat is off to them for superb Customer Care. I didn’t dream it could be done this quickly. Roger Every once in a while we notice something, because of the large quantities of cameras and lenses we buy, that we think people should…
Lensrentals Repair Data: 2012-2013
Correction: Lenses called “Rokinon” in the “Weeks to Failure” rate incorrectly included Bower & Samyang branded products. Because of this error, data for lenses called “Rokinon” lenses has been removed. We apologize for this inaccuracy, and any confusion that may have resulted therefrom. ## What Is…
How to Ruin Your (or Our) Gear in 5 Minutes (Without Water)
If there hasn’t been a Color Run 5k or 10k race near you, there probably will be soon. And with all that color, you certainly want to take some pictures, right? Not with your camera you don’t (and not with ours either). I’m never one to worry much about lens dust. I’ve written about why you…
D600 Sensor Dust Issues
We tend not to get too excited about sensor dust problems here; we clean sensors on every camera after every rental, so it’s just routine. When we started carrying the Nikon D600 they all arrived with a fair amount of dust, but that’s pretty routine, too. Manufacturing and shipping can be a dusty…
Lensrentals Repair Data: January – July 2012
## What Is This? We have a unique opportunity: We own a very large number of lenses subjected to rather harsh conditions. They get tossed around during shipping, and sometimes the user isn’t as careful with them as you would be with your own lenses. Basically, we have a laboratory set up to stress…
Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 VC Issue
First and foremost, this is just a point of information – something worth knowing about if you own this lens or are considering buying it. The Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 VC is an excellent lens, but as with so many new products, early adopters are always serving the role of beta testers. I wouldn’t be…
Sigma OS Macros on 5DIII / 1Dx Issue
We probably should have figured this out more quickly, but when a brand new Sigma 180mm f/2.8 OS gave us this picture shot on a Canon 5D Mk III, we simply wondered, “what’s wrong with the lens?”. *Sigma 180 OS on 5DIII jpg* Then we tested several others copies of the lens… and they all did it. Then…
Lens Repair Data 2011
### What Is This? We started doing this several years ago. We have a unique opportunity: we own a very large number of lenses subjected to rather harsh conditions: they get packed in boxes, tossed around by UPS, and sometimes the user isn’t as careful with them as you would be with your own lenses.…