My digital is dead

[Stephan]

my d70 is a little over 40000 shots... should start falling to pieces pretty soon 🙁

 

[sf]

Nikon had a service advisory out on the D70 recently:

http://robgalbraith.com/public_files/D2H_D70_N55_Service_Advisory.pdf

However your problem doesn't sound like the issue in the advisory which is unfortunate because Nikon would have fixed it for free.
The D2H had problems as well - I had to send in one of mine from work due to a failed meter.
I heard some folks complain about Canon products too, although I personally have never had issues with my Canon gear.

Bottom line is that they just don't make things like they used to. It seems good quality control went the way of the dodo in exchange for quick gratification by companies who are only rushing to get out the next hot product and consumers who are all to happy to take whatever they get.

Yes, quality has faded as a major strategy of camera manufacturers. This is because the industry has become so similar to the computer industry (or identical), and in order to maintain healthy profits, to stay alive, companies must move quickly from one product, one innovation, to another. They understood that creating something to last years was wrong for the market's evolution, and that erecting a powerful service system would also be less important than simply keeping up. Since the cameras are effectively obsolete within 1 year from production introduction, all that matters is maintaining pace with competitors, and milking the most from that market nature.

Sooner or later, they will (hopefully) invent some way of replacing the sensors in cameras, rather than the entire cameras. People will be able to buy sensor upgrades as they buy processor upgrades, and then things will settle down.

As someone here has said, they are not building for quality, but rather building with the assumption that the product's useful life is so short that any statistically common mechanical or electronic failures will only become likely long after the camera has been trashed for the next best thing.

Of course, in my case, the camera died less than '60 rolls' into its life. Rude awakening. It opens my eyes to the hideous direction of things. Like how depressing it must have been when horses and such went the way of cars, or when many of the other beauitful aspects of early technology were evolved out of existence.

I damn digital to the dark, cold place, but realize its permanence, and technology's destiny to consume yet another good thing. Crazy humans.

 

[T_om]

my d70 is a little over 40000 shots... should start falling to pieces pretty soon 🙁

Perhaps said in jest, but pretty close to the truth.

I would not expect your shutter to last much longer, as it is getting on toward the end of its design life.

However, you have 40,000 photos now that you did not have before. 😀

Were you shooting film that would be about 1111 rolls of 36 exposure or about 1666 rolls of 24 exposure film. Even inexpensive color film, say Fuji Reala (a pretty good 'walking around' film) costs about $2.60 a roll. Processing ONLY (no prints) will add another couple of bucks... say a total of $5.00 a roll, given tax (and I'll bet these numbers are on the conservative side).

Do the math. You got $5555.00 worth of images out of your camera so far.

A Nikon D70 is, what? $900.00 bucks at Adorama?

Take the lens off, the battery and CF card out and keep them for your next camera. Then toss your D70 in the trash today and buy another. You are still WAY ahead.

Cameras are tools, not religious icons. (Sorry if I offended any Leica users 😎 )

Tools that are actually used wear out.

Tom

 

[bmattock]

Cameras are tools, not religious icons. (Sorry if I offended any Leica users 😎 )

I agree with you, but I also understand the sentiment that regrets the impermanence of things, and the slow (sometimes not so slow) decline of quality manufacture as a point of pride.

It is true that my Pentax *ist DS is not built to last anywhere nearly as long as my Canon FTbN was, as an example. And neither has lasted as long as my Voigtlander Avus plate camera has (from before my time AND my dad's time). My wristwatch will never be around as long as my grandfather's pocket watch, still ticking after all these years (1903).

On the other hand, I like having flush toilets that are indoors, yet. Not having to crank-start cars. Flying to another continent in a day. Having music that doesn't wear out from just listening to it. For every ugly little thing that technology brings, it also brings some convenience, some usefulness, that we find acceptable as a whole, or it would not continue to be acceptable.

Technology is not done to us, it is done by us.

I know, it sucks to see quality manufacture slipping away. Some of the alternatives suck to modern disposable technology suck, too.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks