Fuji repair's quote for XT... A little steep?

[rick.estrada]

Hey everyone!

Sent in my XT1 for repair last week and never heard back from them. I checked the tracking number which confirmed it was delivered Wednesday the 4th so I decided to call them yesterday morning (Monday the 9th) to follow up.

 

Anyway, the issue is that with any lens attached, I'd get F0 and no auto-focus. Fuji thinks it's the entire "mount assembly" and have quoted me $293. This feels a little high for me but am curious if anyone else has had experience with them and if you all have any suggestions as far as alternative repair shops etc. I've had the camera for over a year so there's no warranty.

Thank you!

[rick.estrada]

Got my body back (finally)... repair total was in fact $293 for a faulty main board. The grips were replaced as was the connector's cover door. I'm pretty happy with the work but feel $293 is a little high. Anyway, just thought I'd update the post.

Thanks

[quincy]

I think $293 is fair for a whole new board and that rubber stuff, if the camera was already out of warranty.
After my latest longer photography trip I've finally decided to send my camera to Fujifilm, too. I also want new rubber parts, a sensor cleaning and I've told them about the bigger lenses losing electronic contact sometimes when zooming. I'm curious what my bill will look like. Perhaps I'll get the 'mount assembly' you were promised.

Edited May 30, 2016 by quincy

[darknj]

Considering that almost everything on the camera connects to the board, it's a reasonable price for such a critical component.

 

A colleague broke his D800 shutter recently and it could end up costing that much to replace it.

[quincy]

Just to conclude:

My camera came back today. The log says:

"parts repaired:
- lens mount
- casing

parts replaced:
- grips"

The lens mount is now nice and firm, even the formerly very loose sitting Samyang 12/2 clicks in place with a satisfying 'clonk' and has only minimum rotational play. My XF 27 needs gentle force to be mounted and sits absolutely tight. Very nice improvement.
I don't know what they had to repair on the casing, but I think I'm happy they did it, whatever it was.
All the rubber parts have been exchanged, except for one small piece on the upper left side. The new door now closes tight and does not bulge. The new rubber parts are a lot harder and have a rougher surface than the old ones. I can compare that directly, since they left this one piece alone. Feels more like plastic now, the old one feels like rubber, but of course it might just have aged.

So, in total I paid... nothing. It seems that I, somehow, bought an extended 2-year no-questions-asked-warranty with my camera (demo sample). Lucky me. Oh, and the camera already had the newest firmware installed when it came back!

All in all, I have to say that Fujifilm's customer service left me with a very positive experience, and I think even if I would have had to pay for it (which I expected), I'd be happy now.

[aceflibble]

Interesting what you say about the rubber. The X-T2 has that harder, rougher rubber/plastic, too. Makes me think that's the only type of covering they stock now; perhaps every Fuji camera made or repaired from now on will have that new covering. I like it, personally. More grippy, doesn't feel a cheap.

As for the price, well, yeah. That's about what significant camera repairs cost. I've had a couple of repairs (non-Fuji) which have gone into four figures. But's that's just the nature of camera bodies. They're incredibly expensive to make, and they make very little profit. When you have to have a lot repaired, it's not unusual to end up paying half what a new body is worth, and I've heard of a few instances where the manufacturer has just outright replaced the body because it can be cheaper to do that than repair a broken one, by the itme you factor in the man hours on top of the parts cost.

 

This is why I detest photographers who throw their gear around with the "it's just a tool" mentality. Tool or not, it represents a significant amount of money. No point risking damaging it if you can easily avoid doing so.

[Adam Woodhouse]

When I use to shoot Nikon (before my change to the Fuji line-up) I had 3 bodies repaired and one lens 'checked and cleaned'.  They pretty much wouldn't touch the bodies for less than $300. The lens 'tune-up' ran me $150.  I think your cost is in line with the work done.