scott_mclean3

Well after 3.5 years at over 100,000 shots Nikon pronounces my Df a write-off. Exposure compensation dial apparently leaked (not so water resistant I guess - makes it hard to shoot in a rainforest!), locking it to +3. They refused to repair - water damage. Just got it back. At least in their inspection they seem to have disconnected the dial locking the exposure comp to zero, and the camera seems to shoot fine. At least they did not charge me the $528 estimated repair cost. I needed something reliable, so upgraded to a D850 which seems pretty awesome so far. Glad no one else has had issues like this with the Df.

<p>Yes they said that the costs were primarily labor.</p>

<p>Nikon's response. Impact damage. $431 to replace exposure compensation dial.</p>

<p>Yes it is quite likely that the exposure compensation dial gets bumped a lot, it is far more exposed than on any of their other models. This is likely exacerbated by the dial design which is a knurled aluminum so it can catch on things that the more standard rounded plastic dials do not. I shoot a lot in rain forest so it gets wet as well. I certainly do not think the dial is as robust as the versions on most Nikons where it is a small button then a control dial. Likely the weatherproofing is much better on these as I have never had an issue - I have used a D60, D300s, D7000, D800 in addition to the Df.</p>

<p>Just seeing if anyone else has had similar issues. No question the camera takes awesome pictures when it works. I just find it odd the same part has failed twice in less than a year. I have owned Nikons for years never had any issues at all.</p>

<p>I purchased a Nikon Df in March 2014. I have shot about 22000 pictures so far with it and the image quality is impressive (my previous camera was a D300s and I also use a D800 at work). The Nikon D800 I use has about 10000 shots on it, no problems so far. I do find at low light the Df is clearly superior to the D800 particularly for moving subjects. I have shot about 50000 pictures with my D300 in some pretty rough conditions (yes I even dropped it) and never had a problem. Unfortunately, I have to admit the I have to admit though the design of the Df camera is fairly poor. The Df has gone back to Nikon twice in the 8 months I owned it and I really did not expect that from a camera of this level. In fact I have never, ever had to have a camera repaired in my life and I shoot in some pretty tough conditions. Both problems with the Df were with the exposure compensation dial (this to me says design flaw). After one month the setting locked on +3 and although I could move the dial, it had no effect on the changing the actual setting the camera used which made it basically useless. It was repaired under warranty, but it took a month. Now after only 6 more months of use it failed again, this time it is locked and will no longer turn, and it has gone back to Nikon yet again. Disappointing for sure. Has anyone else had similar problems with the Df? I requested they create a menu setting to change the exposure compensation that overrides the dial but they have ignored me. <br /><br /></p>