Nikon D80

[ryanur]

Is most of the D80 in the US market are made in Thailand! Is there any Japan

made available!

[ShunCheung]

The D80 is manufactured in Thailand exclusively, at least for the units that are sold on the market. Poentially you might see prototype units made in Japan. As a matter of fact, the only Nikon DSLRs still currently manufactured in Japan are the D2 series.

[Michael R Freeman]

What's wrong with Thailand? It's a modern state of the art Nikon built, owned and managed factory. There is *no* evidence that any of the products from Nikon's Thailand facility are of any lesser quality than equivalent products that are/were made in Japan. Actually, some of the products coming out of Thailand are *better* than some of their now discontinued products that were built in Japan (like this <a href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/afd2880.jpg">gem</a>).

[frank_skomial]

I think the situation with D70 was a different ? or was I conned ?

 

3 years ago I ordered D70 for a bit "lower price", then I got phone offer from the vendor to purchase a "Made in Japan" version, for obviously higher price. I agreed... but surpised ? when the camera came in - it was NOT made in Japan. Though it has been working great through about 20,000 pictures.

[ShunCheung]

You were conned.

 

Typically, Nikon only manufactures a product in either Japan or Thailand, while some lenses and accessories are also manufactured in China. For example, among DSLRs, the D1 series, D2 series and D100 are (were) manufactured in Japan. Everything else (D70/D70s, D50, D200, D80 and I think D40) are (were) manufactured in Thailand.

 

A few months ago, I talked to a Nikon rep who had several 18-200 VR samples with him. I noticed that 2 were manufactured in Japan and 2 were in Thailand. I asked him about that and he told me that all 18-200 VR you can actually buy are made in Thailand. The Japan ones are all demo/prototype units.

[milton]

Shun said "I asked him about that and he told me that all 18-200 VR you can actually buy are made in Thailand. The Japan ones are all demo/prototype units."

 

The 18-200 I bought at Toronto last December is made in Japan. Nevertheless, it creeps after about 1 month of use.

[joel_berez]

Mine from last December was made in Japan, too. I believe the first batch was made there and then production moved to Thailand, where the quality might actually have improved since they could learn from any earlier manufacturing problems.

[ShunCheung]

My discussion with that Nikon rep was around June this year, so he could be referring to the new 18-200 VR you could buy at that time, while some earlier samples were made in Japan. In any case, I am quite sure that Nikon only manufactures the 18-200 in Thailand now.

 

In any case, it really shouldn't matter at all where a particular unit is manufactured, especially in this global era.

[juan_parm_nides]

Thailand construction and manufacturing are improving day by day. The Asiatic Culture has this surprises, (nice surprises , I think). Cheers.