D200 problems/quality control issues

[joseph_aczel]

I finally bit the digital bullet and purchased my first DSLR yesterday. Today, I returned the first, and tried

out the second. Tomorrow I will return the second, and will either give up and keep on with film, or hope

that the third D200 will be the charm...

 

First one had a lot of bad pixels, and was quite noisy, much more so than the several D200's that I have

rented and used quite happily. It was part of a kit with the 18-70 lens, body serial 908xxxx. Second one,

which I got this afternoon, refuses to work at all! Once you turn it on, the top LCD display info blinks on

and off very rapidly, the camera will not focus, pop-up flash doesn't work, finder exposure info blinks very

rapidly from f number to "FEE". This occurs in any mode, with any lens. Serial is 909xxxx, both cameras

appear to be about 1200 units apart.

 

I have heard of Nikon's QC problems with this camera, but figured things on the web were a bit

overhyped, but now I'm not so sure.....

 

I don't need a 1700 camera that isn't reliable- is this just a bad batch, or is Nikon quality losing out to the

pressure to bring as many units to market as possible to meet demand. Two bad cameras in 48 hours

could be just a coincidence.....

 

BTW, I have been using Nikons since 1986, have owned Nikkormats, F3's, F4's, F100's, all impeccably

reliable.

[lee hamiel]

Joseph:

 

I too have bit the bullet - got a D200 with no problems - curious as to where purchased?

 

Also - battery charged up?

[peter_nelson1]

<I>I too have bit the bullet - got a D200 with no problems </I><P>

 

How carefully did you check for bad pixels?<P>

 

My first D100 was simply awful so I returned it in a few hours but the second one was OK.<P>

 

But if all I intended to take was normal "sunny 16" snapshots I would probably not have even noticed the problems with the first one. Whenever I buy a DSLR I put it in manual mode and do a 1/2 second exposure with the lens cap ON and NR OFF. I expect to see <B>no</B> hot pixels. The average person probably doesn't bother to test that way, so they might not know how noisy their camera is.

[joseph_aczel]

Yes, the battery was fully charged. I wasn't looking for bad pixels at first, I only noticed them

when I had the image at 100% in Photoshop while examining the unexpected noise and bit of

a back focus issue. I shoot film 80% of the time still, but wanted a digital for some back up

and for assignments where the client demanded it. Right now, I am seriously looking in to an

S3- it's slower and not as rugged, but I've used the studio's S2's for several years without any

problems, and hey, it's only 1100 bucks and will output a 34mB jpeg....I really like some of

the features on the D200- the ability to meter with older lenses, to use the aperture ring to

actually set the aperture-it just seemed it would be a better fit when using it and the film

cameras at the same time (F-100's). But it's not worth it if it's not going to be reliable....

[johnmarkpainter]

Mine has been excellent

(knock on magnesium)

[Uhooru]

Mine's been fine too, haven't seen any dead pixels.

[lee hamiel]

Peter:

 

I had previously done the pixel test shots & had no dead pixels - All works just fine & I hope it stays that way ...

[david-m]

Sorry not a D200, but a year ago my new D2X would not lock the selected focus area, took

it back to 'Ye Olde Digital Camera Shoppe' here in the UK and it was replaced in two

minutes with one that worked just fine. I guess these days, every company, in all spheres,

has some QC problems. Sad but probably true.

 

Regards

 

David

[bill_force]

Joseph!

Due to several post I have read on this and several other forums some of the sensor issues with the D200, I have cancelled my order for a D200. I am replacing the order with a new S3 AND a D50 (for travel) for less money for the both than the cost of a new D200.

In addition, I love some of the intangilbe atributes of the S3 files....perhaps DR but some of the best images I have seen on print have been from the S3.

[ray_rupnow]

Does anyone know if all the D200's are manufactured in Thailand? I wasn't aware of this till I looked on the bottom of mine and saw "Made in Thailand"...does this bother anyone else that Nikon is making them out of Japan? Maybe it doesn't mean anything...but all my old Pro Nikons have ben made in Nippon, and I allways had the finest qaulity cameras- FE/FM/F2/F3/F4...just fabulous cameras, and never any malfuntions in the lot. I do love the D200 though, I just hope it's as reliable year after year as the rest of them..<div></div>

[aidy_ledgard]

hi,new on here,just my point of view regarding where nikon are manufacturing their cameras these days.Yes,it does bother me that they are manufacturing out of japan,to me it would lower the feel good factor of owning a nikon not made in japan,i own an f3/md4 combo + various other nikon made in japan.These days it's all about how cheap can you make things and how quickly,i.e greed. quality control isn't as strict as it was. Nikon is just one of thousands of manufacturers who have gone this route, the poor workers who assemble the products are being paid peanuts while the prices in the west are high,there's some creaming off going on and it bothers me a great deal.I mean if Rolls Royce were still british (don't get me going on that one!) and they started manufacturing them in china,would you buy one? just think about that!