What a $2,300 Lens Repair Taught Me About Protecting Every Lens You Own

What a $2,300 Lens Repair Taught Me About Protecting Every Lens You Own

I track every lens I’ve ever tested in a spreadsheet. Budget primes, kit zooms, third-party glass — I’ve run hundreds of dollars of gear through its paces specifically to figure out what’s worth your money and what’s marketing. So when a photographer drops a $2,300 Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM and then fixes it for $100 using a spare part he guessed at online, that gets my attention fast. Not because I’ll ever drop two grand on a single lens without serious hand-wringing, but because the repair logic applies to every piece of glass you own, regardless of what you paid for it.