markwilkins

<blockquote> <p>Nice colour is one thing and thinness is another. It's like flat panel speakers. They are very clear in their reproduction but they have no body.</p> </blockquote> <p>I don't mean to be rude, but you're using words that don't mean anything. You have to process your images to get the degree of contrast and saturation that you want. They don't magically emerge from the camera as a finished product.</p> <p><br /> Edit: Low contrast and low saturation allow you more flexibility in processing your image to your liking, and are often a sign of a camera system optimized for high dynamic range. The raw product of a high-quality digital camera is almost never "punchy," or contrasty and saturated, for exactly this reason.</p>

<blockquote> <p><em>"You truly don't know what I'm talking about?"</em></p> </blockquote> <p>On film, a "thin image" to me means one that lacks density. I have no clue what you're talking about in relation to a digital image, unless you mean an extremely low-contrast image that suffers from quantization or other issues related to using too little of the available dynamic range of the image format.</p>

<blockquote> <p>However, when Nikon is trying to improve their service, by offering to inspect and repair 3-year old cameras for free, you reject this offer and claim that it is really evil at work and they're hiding something.</p> </blockquote> <p>I'll note that I was not doing this, I was simply trying to discern their motivation. Whether it's driven by a specific issue or set of issues or just by good PR, I haven't ever asserted that their behavior is "evil."</p>

<blockquote> <p>Various rumor sites always come up with some conspiracy theory to generate discussion and web page hits</p> </blockquote> <p>Considering that Thom Hogan and I (with no financial interest) had the same thought, I think it's unreasonable to accuse him of having that motivation for his comments.</p>

<blockquote> <p>maybe Nikon USA is studying how their cameras fare after 2, 3 years. Note that both the D800 and D7100 were introduced 2, 3 years ago but both have been superseded by newer models: D810 and D7200, respectively.</p> </blockquote> <p>On reflection, I think this is the most realistic guess about what's going on with this.</p>

<p>I don't think you're thinking hard enough about why this approach might be better than a recall in the case of one or more known defects in early versions of a particular camera model. A recall amounts to admitting fault, which may have legal implications. A recall requires that they treat everyone the same with respect to fixing problems, and probably has a higher response rate. Doing this, they can spread repairs out over a period of time and decide to issue a recall later. Also, it may well be that they suspect there's a recall-level problem with the cameras in question, but they're not sure, and wish to use a program like this to collect information about them.<br> <br /> I think that keeping an eye, over the next couple of months, on reports from people who do take them up on this offer will probably yield useful information about what they're doing. If, as Shun suggests, they are simply using it to drum up repair business, then we should hear people reporting that they're being asked to pay for repairs after sending in their cameras. My prediction would be that they return many cameras with significant part replacements for free.</p> <p>Edit: One motivation for this may simply be to collect data on the performance of cameras that didn't have certain engineering changes. Even that seems more likely to me, given Nikon's history of not using repairs as a profit center, than scaring up repair business.</p>

<p>I don't think that's it, since it seems to be targeted at a narrow S/N range of two specific models. Also, Nikon has not done this in the past.</p>

<p>Nikon just sent me a message saying that my relatively early D800 (with a 3007xxx serial number) had been "selected" for Nikon's "Free Maintenance Service Initiative."</p> <blockquote> <p>What will this Free Maintenance Service include? This Free Maintenance Service will include the free inspection of your camera and its operation by a Nikon trained technician and if Nikon’s trained technician identifies any service necessary or desirable to perform on your Nikon D800 camera, we will perform that service free of charge to you (excluding normal warranty exclusions such as misuse, abuse, alteration, negligence or accident). We will also clean and return your Nikon D800 camera at no charge to you.</p> </blockquote> <p>Has anyone else received one of these? If so, what's your serial number? Cynical me wonders whether this might be a repair campaign in lieu of a recall, or maybe just that they want to bring earlier D800s up to speed on engineering changes for some reliability-related reason. Any thoughts? (Or, better yet, does anyone know what motivated this?)<br> Unfortunately for me, I'm no longer living in the U.S., so it's a little inconvenient to take advantage of this before the deadline. However, I'm seriously considering it.</p>