All Repair Services aren't Created Equal

[x-ray]

This has been my year for repairs unfortunately.

I'm a long time Nikon user. last week while on a commercial shoot I pulled my Df off of a table. I was in a small LowePro backpack along with quite a number of prime lenses. It was my fault and the pack fell from table height onto a carpeted floor but hit on a corner where the camera was. I checked the camera out and everything seemed to work fine.

I proceeded to to do the shoot for four hours and review images on may laptop and all was fine. On my final location I noticed the images were over exposed and couldn't figure it out. Anyway I worked things out and completed the shoot. When I arrived back at my official of the images looked great and the I checked the camera. I found the lens was not stopping down completely.

What had happened was the lever or mechanism that activates the aperture pin on my primes was catching in the horizontal position but worked for verticals which all of my first shots were. There were no dents or obvious damage but the mechanical part was not functioning properly.

I've been a member of NPS (Nikon Professional Services) since the early 80's or or longer. Nikon provides a flash drive to the NPS customers with everything on it you need to get a repair going. It has forms and an interactive link to the NPS site. In ten minutes I had an estimate on line and all the forms filled out including shipping labels. I even pre paid. The next day I had my camera in the mail and this morning I received a revised estimate for less than the initial one. I approved it and will receive my camera back this week. The total cost including parts and shipping Fedex,$285.

If I were in a pinch for a loaner, it would have been shipped overnight Fedex at no other charge than shipping. No questions no problems with NPS.

Canon has a similar service, CPS.

Nikon and Canon never forgot the people that built their business. Professional service for professional customers. Now if Leica would do this.

 

[Huss]

Nikon and Canon never forgot the people that built their business. Professional service for professional customers. Now if Leica would do this.

The clue that Leicas are amateur cameras is that the digital Ms have only one memory card slot.

I was initially delighted with my Nikon repair experience - a recall for the shutter on my D750 even though I didn't see any issues. Until I got the camera back with a dirty sensor. I gave it to them clean. I complained, they agreed and cleaned it again (initial repair mentioned complimentary sensor clean). And this time it is worse than before.
I now don't want them to touch it and will clean it myself.

 

[x-ray]

The clue that Leicas are amateur cameras is that the digital Ms have only one memory card slot.

I was initially delighted with my Nikon repair experience - a recall for the shutter on my D750 even though I didn't see any issues. Until I got the camera back with a dirty sensor. I gave it to them clean. I complained, they agreed and cleaned it again (initial repair mentioned complimentary sensor clean). And this time it is worse than before.
I now don't want them to touch it and will clean it myself.

I don't really care if there are two card slots. In the film days we didn't have cameras that shot two rolls at once or two sheets at the same time. With digital you can confirm you have the shot and with film you confirm at the time of processing. I guess I have more confidence in my equipment. My D800 has two slots and I've never used a second card and my Df only has one which is no big deal. Also I've never had a card fail other than the old micro drives.

I never send my cameras out to be cleaned. I take care when I change lenses and have never had to clean my Df sensor. It was just getting to the point I needed to get one speck on the left side but I bought it when they were introduced and never had a dust problem. I always turn the camera off before changing lenses and rarely work in a dirty environment.

Good luck with the cleaning.

 

[Huss]

I never send my cameras out to be cleaned. I take care when I change lenses and have never had to clean my Df sensor. It was just getting to the point I needed to get one speck on the left side but I bought it when they were introduced and never had a dust problem. I always turn the camera off before changing lenses and rarely work in a dirty environment.

Good luck with the cleaning.

I hadn't sent it to be cleaned. They did that as part of their service and messed it up. Twice.