Hit 500 lens repairs this morning without ever dropping a single element

I was going through my logbook for insurance purposes and landed on that number, which surprised me since I mostly work out of a beat-up motorhome, but then I realized every single one of those repairs came from word-of-mouth referrals in truck stop parking lots - has anyone else here managed to build a mobile repair setup that actually works long term?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannah_williams1mo ago

The truck stop thing is actually a smart niche but you gotta watch the dust and temp swings in that motorhome. I used to rebuild lenses out of my van and a simple dehumidifier box for storage saved me from a few horror stories with fungus. Just be real careful with those big zoom lenses since the barrel grease can get funky if you're parked somewhere that bakes all day.

elliotr391mo ago

Nah, I gotta push back on the dehumidifier box thing. I've been running out of a beat-up motorhome for three years now and temp swings are just part of the deal. You learn to work with them, not against them. I keep my element stock in a cheapo cooler with some silica packs and just let the tools adjust with the truck cab. The real trick is timing your work for when the sun isn't pounding on the rig. If you're parked at a Pilot in Arizona in July, you're not tearing down a 70-200 at noon anyway. I lost a helicoid once to a cold snap that hit overnight, but that was my fault for leaving a lens in the unheated bay instead of bringing it inside with me.

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