I am in mourning

People, I am in mourning right now and need your sympathy as well as advice
I have just been out taking some photos in fields and dropped my K5 with my 4 month old DA* 16-50 attached. The lens took the brunt of the impact and has split open (literally) towards the rear. I can actually see the innards
Now, I bought the lens from SRS and want to ask you guys if I should send it to them or do you recommend someone else.
Thanks in advance for your advice.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Are you insured? If so, then a claim is in order. If not, the official repair house is JP Solutions.

See the Pentax UK website for contact details.

Probably because of the weather sealing and such i doubt you can get it repaired... well you can but if it would be cheaper then a new one is the question.

Dont you get a discount on repairs with JP if you are a PU subscriber?

Thanks guys.
Stupidly I am not insured Mike, but I suppose I could claim on my house insurance.
I'll be contacting Johnsons Photopia tomorrow, if I get the time.

Check your house insurance, we asked to insure my camera gear specifically but were assured that all was covered under contents and even large value single items including accidents!

[quote:3496ace15f="dougf8
Check your house insurance, we asked to insure my camera gear specifically but were assured that all was covered under contents and even large value single items including accidents![/quote]Same here, I have camera + lenses etc are covered as part of our contents insurance (Saga because I am a grumpy old man allegedly)

My stuff is also covered on the house policy [ also the grumpy grannies firm ] and as each item is under their limit for Items I'm OK too

I hope your insurance covers it Naim! Is the camera OK?

My gear is covered separately since the guitars take up all the valuable items coverage on our home insurance. It was cheaper to insure my stuff separately than to extend the home coverage even more. Plus my insurance covers me for if I have to check my gear when flying.

I spoke to the insurance company this morning and they had no problems covering the lens. They will pay me for a new one but there is a snag. Unbeknownst to me there is a £250 excess on my policy so I'll have to fork out that money to get a new lens.
I wonder how much it will cost to have the thing repaired and whether it will be the same afterwards? I intend to send the lens to the repair people to get an estimate. If it is less than £250, would you suggest I go down that route rather than getting a replacement?
Oh and I am going to upload the photos for which I broke the lens - sadly it didn't take any shots.

Send it to Pentax repair (via SRS) for an estimate.
I only say that as a friend of mine had the exact same situation with her Canon 17-40mm lens that dropped on the stone floor at Manchester cathedral with her 5D. Both went off to the repairers and both were repaired (the 17-40 had split in two like your 16-50). Both came back perfectly repaired and work wonderfully.

Personally, I would go for repair if it cost effective because a claim on my home insurance would mean losing No Claims Bonus ( I know not all policies have this) , and having to put details of the claim into Confused.com etc. when I come to renew each year for the next c.5 years and potentially higher premiums because of it.

Depends I guess if you have recent claims already it may not be such an issue, but it definately can affect the premiums quoted.

I asked JP Solutions about Weather Sealing and they confirm they restore to factory condition including seals. Get in touch with insurance and get it to JP and all should be well.

A year ago my 12-24mm fell to the ground and I was quoted something like 5-600£ to have the zoom mechanism repaired!! The lens was fine except the zoom was very tight. Just saying, that it can turn out to be quite expensive!

I turned the offer down, but they fixed it anyway and send me the bill. We eventually made an agreement so I have my lens back now and in fact it feels a bit better now than when it was brand new!

I am sure my post doesn't help you make a decision but now you know

Well I sent off the lens yesterday so let's see what they quote for repairing it. I expect I should find out early next week. My insurance company were about to send me the cheque for a new lens but I have told them to hang fire.