Bad luck strikes!

They say when things are going wrong for you they really go wrong.  Today I set off in what I’d hoped would be a day out with my camera and hopefully catch up on some photography and wildlife.  First stop was to see if the Rabbits from past visits had recovered their numbers and worth an early morning visit.  When I arrived on location and took my camera and Sigma lens out, to my horror the lens and camera detached from one another – or more correctly my camera and part of the lens detached from the rest of the lens.  My first thought was that this is not a good thing, then how did this happen?  It was fine the previous day when I packed it away and did my pre-checks, then I remembered earlier I dropped my bag.  It seemed pretty innocuous at the time as it was from barely a foot in height but it must have landed awkwardly or was just bad luck.

The result, as you can see from the images above is that the section of the lens that attaches itself to the camera (left) has sheared off breaking at the three connectors.  Needless to say I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic to continue with my day and this lens won’t be taking any pictures with this lens in its current state.   On returning home I emailed Sigma and informed them of my plight and hoped they could give me a quote on how much this will cost to repair and now await a reply.  To be honest though it doesn’t look promising.  This couldn’t have come at a worse time for me, particularly for financial reasons and if the cost they quote me with is as expensive as I fear it may be, that may be that for the foreseeable future.   I  checked on the net for any clues as to a cost but one example was 40% of the lenses price new which if true is crazy.  It would be a case of replacing the small section which clearly screws onto the main part of the lens, so how much this converter size component plus service charges would be, I can’t even guess. So, basically, I will be back to pre 2010 days before I got the lens.  This will take some adjustment as I’ve taken the luxury of the extra reach for granted.  It will be back to my 400mm or 300mm lenses both of which have tended to be brought out only for their uniqueness as I’ve been using the Sigma now for 90% of my wildlife photography. I am now left trying to console myself by consuming copious amounts of Easter chocolate in the hope of releasing a few endorphins – it doesn’t appear to be working thus far – and looking to a future without my pride and joy lens.