NIKON answered me: BEYOND ECONOMICAL REPAIR.

gaston · March 2016

Nikon D800
MIRROR SUDDENLY STUCK UPRIGHT DURING SHOOTING.
NIKON ARE TELLING ME THAT I HAVE DROPED MY D800 SO HARD THAT THE WHOLE CAMERAHOUSE IS DEFECT AND BEYOND REPAIR.

Hi guys, I am having a fight with Nikon since a couple of month now since my mirror got stucked upwards in a middle of a shooting. After that Nikon send me a mail and told me to send them the camera I have been in a fight with them. I did send them my D800 and one week later they told me that I have been dropping my camera so hard that the house is dammage and beyond repair.
??????!!!!!!!What?
Since then I have been in a fight with Nikon. I have never dropt the camera. I have been using Nikon and diferent Nikon models for 10 years without having a scratch on them and never had problems with other Nikon models. Now when Nikon totally changed the construction on the mirror this is happening to me.
The camera is from 2012 and 30.000 shutter count. The camera is nearly brand new.... So if any of you out there having or had this issue and had a fight with Nikon... let me know. For the moment I have send a complain to Nikon Euope and will go futher up if needed. Oh,, I am living in Sweden if someone wonder why I send my complain to Nikon Europe.
(The camera or any of my lenses have no damage mark what so ever. Using Pro lenses as: Nikon 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200. Not even a slightly scratches. All equippment is in top conditions.)
Pro photographers/asossiates I am working with daily can confirm my care with my camera equipment.
NO CAMERA DROP AND NO OTHER DAMAGES.

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starralazn · March 2016

well. 2012 is hardly brand new. but i feel you, it feels like something that should be fixable at least. maybe they think the cost of repair exceeds the price you can prob buy it refurbished? (since you can't buy the d800 new anymore...)

i sent in my camera body and was told it was beyond repair, but i actually dropped mine so i guess thats a different story

spraynpray · March 2016

Stories like this rarely end well for the customer. I know because I ran the after-sales repair function of a company which had end-users complaining about the products from time to time. In cases where the financial worth of the stoppage (caused by the failure) or the worth of the customer to my company made it worthwhile, I would personally fly to see the application and find the fault. It was always poor specification of our product by a third party, poor installation or poor maintenance by the customer that was the cause.

OK, then, let's say that you or your wife/girlfriend/children/whatever haven't dropped your camera so you can say without doubt that it hasn't been dropped. That doesn't mean it hasn't actually been dropped, just that you don't know of it happening. The repair centre has a very simple job in that they open your camera up and let what they see tell them what has happened to the camera. Assuming they are a Nikon repair centre, they will not make this story up (if you suspect this you can get a second opinion from another repair shop). Once they see what the damage is, they simply add up the cost of the parts and labour and tell you the cost to repair it. In this case, the damage must be significant to make the unit beyond economical repair so it isn't like they can miss it.

My belief is that either the camera has been knocked off a shelf or dropped and you just don't know about it or it happened before you got it and the camera is only now stopping working correctly.

Even as recently As two weeks ago I received a lens that was inadequately packed such that by the time I received it, the inner carton was loose in the outer carton. I told the company that sent the lens about it, and they said that they always use that packaging method. Duh. I told them that I called to give them free feedback on their packing to save their other customers from possible disappointment and to save them from associated costs, but they didn't seem to get it. I suspect that your camera has had a journey in a package at some point in its life and you were unaware of it BUT nothing changes the fact that the repair centre is most likely only telling you what they see which is completely black and white to them.

Sorry to hear your story though.

paulr · March 2016

I believe Spraynpray is absolutely correct.In view of the age of the camera and its second hand value. Nikon are giving you the best advice, I take it you have no form of house insurance you could claim against, as you now have a professional opinion that the camera was accidentally damaged,

WestEndFoto · March 2016

My question in a situation like this is where did you buy the camera? If you bought it from retailer, it may have been dropped three or four times and you wouldn't even know about it (and possibly not even the camera store), until this comes up. This is why I never buy retail, or only buy what they special order for me.

spraynpray · March 2016

Even special order has its dangers as the item would not be delivered on a pallet whith other items, but most likely would arrive by courier in a 'throwable' carton. No, there is no easy answer to this situation as it is impossible to know how many G's the item has experienced before you bought it. I think that even if you had sent it to service due to it stopping working after only six months the answer would have been the same.

WestEndFoto · March 2016

True, but it is about mitigating risk. You will never eliminate it.

gaston · March 2016

Thanks guys for you comments. Just need to repeat myself about the use of my camera. It has never been dropped or smashed in what so ever... The camera is for sure 4 years old and thats nothing for a D800.
30.000 shoots is nothing for a D800.
I will go on with my fight and Nikon since I understand that a lot of people had similar problems with them. I will never give up.

paulr · March 2016

You did not state if you bought the camera new from an official Nikon Dealer.The normal warranty for all Nikon equipment is not transferable to the second owner.Swedish consumer laws may differer to other european states. But clearly you do not have a warranty claim after 4 years.
Taking the fight as you put it to Nikon, will only frustrate you more and take a considerable time., with sadly a doubtful result. Some you win, some you loose. . Thats Life.

WestEndFoto · March 2016

Unless you have been with your camera during the manufacturing process and every moment since, you can never know that it has not been dropped.

As a wise consumer, one can never eliminate risk. All you can do is mitigate it. You then have to balance the remaining risk against the benefits.

As a Nikon consumer, the benefits are more than enough to mitigate against the few remaining risks.

Pistnbroke · March 2016

D800 do have the problem with the cracked chassis so if you use a tripod then this can cause the damge ..if It was me I would research it on the internet ..remove the bottom and see if its cracked then re align the crack (it rachets out of alignment) then epoxy followed by ebay.

The pictures are here http://www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=1282070
PS never buy a camera from me

spraynpray · March 2016

Have you read this @gaston?

http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/1956/d800-mirror-gets-stuck-and-viewfinder-becomes-blurred#latest

DaveyJ · March 2016

Sounds like a real problem and some very good advice from NR regulars. Every once in awhile there are legitimate horror stories. I myself subscribe to the notion that just because I did not drop a camera, doesn't mean it hasn't been dropped. Also putting a camera on a tripod, ANY tripod that can hold a camera, really,really steady.....can bite down so hard on the body it could crack the toughest construction. I have had this happen in my view camera and medium format days........there are forces that would challenge a pretty long drop and a sudden stop. Do you use a tripod? Does the camera look firmly in place when you use it!
Recently had a perfectly good farm use vehicle damaged when it got jacked up to repair it replacing brake rotors and pads on the rear. I am sure Nikon Repair is as good a repair service as exists anywhere! Now I guess I would be assessing what the four year life span of the camera produced to,try to reconcile the cost of replacement. Cause I think that is what you face. I truly sorry to hear of this. I hope in the future you never see a similar disaster.

One of the saddest accidents I ever had with a camera.....lost in an Alaska River for 33 days......was kind of over ridden by getting the camera back,from the National Park Service who only deduced whose camera it was based on the photo contents of the capture card....and today the sand filled body and lens has a place of honor in my project room!

Pistnbroke · March 2016

The other trick when you have epoxied it is only to put in 3 screws not 4 so that takes the load off the weak spot

paulr · March 2016

This is in French but I think you will get the jest of the Video PS don't buy a secondhand camera off this Guy

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NIKON answered me: BEYOND ECONOMICAL REPAIR.

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