Hot shoe missing bits prob, advise needed please?

I had a tear in my camera bag which the hot shoe kept rubbing against. Now the top metal bit of where my flash gun would have gone upon my K30 camera has gone. This has worried me a bit as I got a new camera bag, the old one kept catching on my hot shoe which was on the top of the camera.

I went to Castle cameras and they told me that it would cost me £80 to repair! Please can you tell me if this is serious?

I don’t use a flash gun anyway as I use the built in one if I need to. I have now ordered a hot shoe cover which should help.

It'll need a professional repairer. Search this forum; there are a few mentioned who can quote.

I can only imagine the camera hit something?

The camera still works okay, it just got tangled up in that blasted tear inside the bag. More of the lining was getting caught on the hot shoe as I pulled it out of the bag to take photo's.

I can't afford £80 at the moment so I hope this isn't a seriouse problem?

It must have taken a fair bit of force to rip the hot shoe off especially if you've never used it. If the metal bit is off then the cover you have ordered isn't going to stay on. Could you post a photograph from your phone or something?

If the camera works fine and you don't use the hotshoe it's not a serious problem.

If ripping off the hotshoe has left a hole where water and stuff might get in and you don't want to pay for a repair you might tape over it.

I don't think it's left a hole, but I notice now on checking that one of the silver screws which the missing plate has exposed has dissapeared so I am really worried now that it might let dust or dirt in. I won't be using it until Castle cameras's ring me up to tell me that the hot shoe cover I have ordered has come in.

I got my camera from Microsystems, so is it worth ringing them up?

The best advice is going to come from the repairers you have already talked to and who have actually seen the camera. Short of that I would just stick some tape on it.

Use my compact today and go into Castle cameras tommorrow and have a word with them. i have sent Microsystems an email. I can't risk loosing my camera as it's all I got, why's it so damned expensive to fix a small area?

I'm getting a little concerned about your description of the damage, Aura. There are no exposed screws in the hotshoe, for example, but there is a perfectly normal hole for a (flashgun) locking pin in the hotshoe. See here;




It would really help if, as said previously, you could post a shot of the damage before taking it in for repair.

Are you sure it isn't just the hot-shoe cover that's gone missing? (see jeffstclair's first shot).

jeffstclair's picture is the closet that matches it, Gartmoor I will try an do a copy of the damage.

So am I, really worried.

I'm starting to wonder if you're just telling is you've detached the black plastic protective cover....

Dunno what I've done.

I sometimes feel I am being treated as an inconvience more then a valued customer in Salisbury's castle cameras. Most of the staff are nice, but it's just one person.

I can't help worrying and I was treated this way when i got stuck with the zip on my new camera bag yesterday. I can't go anywhere else as being 'Salisbury' there is no where else.

I think what would be most helpful would be a picture of the damage, so we can see what has happened.

You can do this with a compact or even your mobile phone, or perhaps with your camera, using a couple of mirrors.