I have been a Nikon DSLR user for last 12 years and now finally decided to sell off all my Nikon bodies, Lenses, Flash lights etc. But before doing so, I would like to advise anyone not to buy Nikon DSLR anymore. I think, Nikon was good till the time they manufactured their DSLR bodies in Japan. The day they started outsourcing it to Thailand, their quality has gone down the drains.
I bought D7000 some 10 months ago and my problems started after it has crossed 25k actuations. Before that, I had owned d40, d90, d3100, d5100, and I never had problems. Here are the top 3 reasons why you should not buy Nikon DSLRs
1. Very poor quality body
Quality of Nikon DSLR bodies are very poor. Even if you don’t not change lenses, still dust will appear on sensors for no apparent reasons. But the reason is of course obvious, poor quality. My Nikon d7000 was cleaned, complete prism structure replaced, took around 800 pictures, many large spots on sensors appeared. I cleaned as per their manual page 284 using a blower, some gone, some remainined. The cleaning of sensor can be done only at Nikon Service centre, and if you don’t live in at least state capital in India, it will take 10 days, Rs. 500 plus taxes. So, every time you want to get sensor cleaned, you spend Rs. 500 plus taxes, wait 10 days. And the sensor gets dust after every 1000 clicks! Most probably, Nikon has started producing poor quality DSLR bodies, just to mint money from their customers from sensor cleaning!
2. Very unprofessional Customer Service
If you dial Nikon customer care number, you can never speak to their superiors and keep speaking to their customer agents only! Even if you want to escalate your problem, you can not do it! in this 21st century, have you ever heard about such customer service when a complaint can not be escalated ?
3. Discriminatory Treatment as per cost of Nikon DSLR Body
Nikon Service quality varies depending on the price of their DSLR cost! One of friends has Nikon D3S which was their top of the line SLR body and he is always treated royally while, we poor people, owners of Nikon’s D7000, are treated like pauper where one has to plead in Customer Care just to get heard or get a response of emails!
I had asked around and spoke to few Nikon DSLR owners in Udaipur. The story and experience is same. They keep getting dust on their sensors frequently and keep shelling out in sensor cleaning and are just putting up with these cost and inconveniences. Many are putting up with sensor dust as they don’t shoot beyond f/11 normally and dark spots start showing after f/14 or so.
I sincerely hope Nikon gets their acts right, stop dumping their low quality DSLR bodies in India, improve their quality, customer service before they go Nokia way!