aaron kirsch

<p>Thanks for the info Shun. My D300 went in for repair on September 22, two weeks before Nikon Thailand's factory was shut down.</p>

<p>And the Nikon Thailand trouble does not explain why both of my bodies suffered fatal electronic failures long before their estimated life expectancies (40K actuations on the D300, 30K actuations on the D70), which required costly repairs.</p>

<p>It also does not explain why Nikon USA customer service did not return multiple e-mail requests, why customer service personnel were unhelpful and unknowledgeable on the phone, and why Nikon USA asked for customer feedback and ignored my comments.<br /><br />I'm afraid Nikon has become just another multinational manufacturer making products with complicated electronics, planned obsolescence, minimal quality control, and unresponsive customer service. Emilio Gutierrez said it well: "You don't like our service level? Try our competition, good luck, at best they'll be the same, we use the same outsourcers."</p>

<p>Whether you are buying a washing machine, microwave oven, or Nikon DSLR, I think the best thing to do is buy the least expensive gadgets that suit your needs. They will all fail at some point whether the product it is top of the line or entry level, so save your money to buy a new product when your current one stops working.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>My D300 had an electronics failure after 40k shutter actuations. The repair cost was originally going to be $265, but mercifully the local Nikon authorized repair department reduced the charge to $150 since it took Nikon's El Segundo facility 3 1/2 months to get the parts to repair the problem. My Pocketwizard Transceiver attached to the hotshoe of my D300 fried with the camera body's electronics, which cost me an additional $75. And while my D300 was sitting in a repair facility for months, my D70 with 30k actuations experienced a rare "OFF" error code and would not take any pictures. Nikon wanted $245 to repair the D70. The zoom barrel of my lightly used "travel lens," the 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 froze around the same time too- a $120 repair.<br>

And the worst part of it was dealing with Nikon USA, who could not give any estimates or reasons for the delay, who would not let me speak with any technicians about the equipment failures I was experiencing, and who conducted "customer service satisfaction surveys" and did not even acknowledge my discontentment with their lack of customer service or premature failures of their equipment.<br>

This was my first experience with Nikon "customer service" so I cannot compare how they are now vs. how they used to be, however I have concluded that Nikon is a company that is relying heavily on its brand name and is not willing to support its customers.</p>

I am trying to come up with a simple solution to hard sunlight when

shooting brides and portraits outdoors. I generally work without an

assistant, so I'm thinking of using a 60" to 84" silk umbrella

mounted on a C-Stand to diffuse direct sunlight.

Has anyone else tried this, or does anyone have a better solution?

Thanks!

Aaron