Question for owners of Nikkor 28-105 D

[Jeremy Z]

I just got a used one on ebay. Good optical condition. Zooming it is pretty high effort though. It's tough enough that I have to turn my left hand upside down to zoom it back to 28. It's one of those zooms in which there are two tubes that telescope in and out, so I'm wondering if it's inherent to that design, or if there's either some grit inside or if the lube has just dried up.

It's double the effort of my EOS 35-135.

 

[Huss]

No issues w mine. And I’ve had two over the years. Sounds like urs is defective.
🙁

 

[Austintatious]

The example that I have is smooth as a baby's bum 😀

 

[Paulbe]

I have two, both are smooth and excellent lens!
Work well on most all AF Nikons...
Paul

 

[Rob-F]

Smooth and a pleasure to use. And I prefer the separate zoom ring to the "one touch" type.

 

[Fraser]

I had one and it seemed just normal not stiff east to use.

 

[Huss]

No issues w mine. And I’ve had two over the years. Sounds like urs is defective.
🙁

Just checked mine again. it is smooth and easy to use, as you’d expect.
Send yours back, it is broken.

 

[webOSUser]

I just got a used one on ebay. Good optical condition. Zooming it is pretty high effort though. It's tough enough that I have to turn my left hand upside down to zoom it back to 28. It's one of those zooms in which there are two tubes that telescope in and out, so I'm wondering if it's inherent to that design, or if there's either some grit inside or if the lube has just dried up.

It's double the effort of my EOS 35-135.

Have you considered sending it in for a CLA?

I wonder if the grease has dried up.

Steve W

 

[Rob-F]

Probably not worth getting a CLA, since there are others available in better condition, at decent prices. I'd send it back.

 

[Jeremy Z]

Thanks guys. I found one at my local shop for a lower price that was in perfect condition. Nice smooth zooming, just like I'd expect from Nikon. I bought that and have requested a return from the seller for the other one. He's not responding after a couple days. Probably gonna have to involve ebay.

I think this one has sand or some other grit inside it. Or maybe he cleaned it, but did not re-lube, fearing some would get in the aperture blades....

 

[Rob-F]

I have experienced good support from eBay in such matters. I'm sure they will support your getting a refund. I'm glad you got a good one. It is quite a good lens!

 

[Jeremy Z]

I just wanted to post to wrap this up, in case anyone is curious how it turned out.

I'm all set. The seller was aloof at first, I could tell he thought I was trying to scam him. He asked me to send it back on my dime, which I did. (I could've fought that and had ebay compel him to send me a shipping form) He confirmed that indeed it was the exact same lens and that it was indeed hard to zoom. Said it must have slipped past him; said it was hard to check everything. He refunded my money and most of the shipping cost, so I let go the fact that it is indeed quite easy to check zoom action. ;-)

Anyway, I lucked into a good one locally and that's going to be on my N90s probably 80% of the time now. Santa brought me a Nikkor 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 pumper zoom for Christmas, which will be on probably 15% of the time. AI primes the rest.