Bye-bye Fisheye | How To Evaluate Your Insurance Coverage
One of my favorite, but maybe least-used, lenses is my 15mm Fisheye. I remember the day I bought it. I casually drifted in to Ken Hansen Photographic... actually, there was nothing casual about it, nobody goes from Brooklyn to Manhattan and then casually drifts into a jewelry store (which is what Kenny's place was like) on the 15th floor of a Madison Avenue office building... and dropped a little more than $925 on a lens that I knew I was going to have a hard time justifying. I had to invent all kinds of things to do with that lens to make it pay-off, and pay-off it did... in spades! I've made some of my favorite pictures with that lens and easily earned a 40x ROI.
So, when my Canon EOS-5D unexpectedly flew from my bag, with the 15mm riding up front, and took a nose dive into the carpeted floor of my sister's guest bedroom I was mildly annoyed... until I reached to retrieve it and noticed that the lens barrel had broken leaving most of the lens on the floor and the lens mount still attached to the camera. Now I was upset!I'm certain this lens is a total loss, I don't think it can be repaired. I also still have to drive over to Canon and get my camera checked-out. If you look at the image of the broken lens you'll see it's soft in some places and not in others. The impact may well have done damage to the camera's lens mount. I'm also going to call my insurance broker and make my first claim in over 20 years of being in business.
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Top: Canon EOS-5D, 50/2.5 Canon Compact-Macro Lens EF, ISO 800
posted by Joe P. at 11:08 AM
3 Comments:
Joe,
If your insurance agent is a friend, you might ask him or her about the impact of a claim on your rates. A new 15mm fisheye is $579 at KEH.com. That may be less than the long-term increase in your insurance.
Of course, just asking can get your rates increased, even without a claim.
Hi Ken,
No claim. I just got back from Canon and they're going to fix the lens for $171, checking the body for damage to the lens mount ring & etc will cost $310 and... the big eye-opener: as long as I was going I took my 28~105 Ultrasonic in for an adjustment (it doesn't always focus well) and they told me that it was a total loss, they won't repair it.
To add insult to injury I learned that my CPS membership lapsed exactly one year ago. When I asked why I wasn't notified to renew, I was told that it's my responsibility to keep my CPS membership current. Go figure!
Joe P.
Thanks for the heads-up on the CPS membership. I just checked, and mine expires next month. (They *always* sent reminders in the past....Sheesh.)
I will say that I have been very happy with CPS service. I have a pair of elderly 1-D Mark II bodies, and they go in several times a year, and always come back looking and working like new.
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