Nikon Does It Again

[Mike Farley]

It seems that whenever Nikon introduces a new DSLR these days, it is obligatory that it should be shipped with a design defect of some kind. Apparently the D750 can suffer from flare caused by internal reflections from the AF sensor. There's a long article at Imaging Resource about the problem, but fortunately there is a tl:dr quite near the beginning which explains all that most will ever need to know.*

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... s-not-lens

All I can think is that Nikon's constant churn of new models trying to find every niche in the market means that adequate product testing has been a victim of short development cycles. Why bother when there are thousands of customers out there who will do the job for you and even pay for the privilege?

* Actually, with Nikon the best advice would appear to be that becoming an early adopter of its products is never a good idea. Mind you, Nikon is far from unique in this regard and the principle does not apply just to camera equipment.

[Mike Farley]

After writing the previous thread, I had a quick look at a couple of reviews for the Nikon D750, neither of which make comment about the flare problem. Maybe it is not a significant issue and did not occur during testing? Maybe it was discovered during testing and the reviewer did not wish to upset a major vendor? Manufacturers refusing to co-operate with someone who has previously written a critical report is not unheard of.

This is the recently issued review by DPReview for the D750 and there is not one mention of the flare issue in the summary, even though DPReview must have been aware of what others were saying before it published.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d750/15

[Mike Farley]

Nikon does appear to be learning from some at least some of its previous mistakes and, unlike the D600 oil on the sensor problem, has moved quickly to issue a statement about the flare issue. The company acknowledges there is an issue and says it is working on a resolution, but at present there is no indication of what or when that might be.

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answer ... MWQ3Ym0%3D

Thom Hogan has written about the problem and says that it does not happen with every camera, which is why he did not report anything in his review. Hogan believes that variations due to manufacturing tolerances means that some cameras are more susceptible than others, which is one possible explanation why other review sites did not report the problem. Hogan also writes at some length about deficiencies in Nikon's quality control process, especially as internal reflections in DSLRs is an issue which has long been known. As I noted in my first post, Nikon's recent track record in releasing new models without one defect or another is hardly impressive.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/nik ... nt-on.html

[Mike Farley]

More from Thom Hogan about the all too obvious reasons why Nikon needs to get its act together when introducing new cameras. Prices are at their highest immediately after a launch, but who is going to want buy Nikon's next new model, especially a premium priced full frame one, until they are assured that there are no manufacturing defects? Nikon is at least now acknowledging problems rather more quickly than it did with the D600 oil from the shutter on the sensor issue, although its initial response to customers who had purchased D750s was to avoid siuations where it could occur. Not that Nikon is alone in such an approach and even Leica has done something similar in recent months.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the ... -news.html

[Mike Farley]

Thom Hogan reports that the D750 flare issue is caused by a component that is not manufactured by Nikon, but is supplied by more than one third party. It appears that that the problem only manifests itself with condensor lenses from one of those manufacturers, which currently makes the purchase of a D750 something of a lottery. Another thing that Hogan writes about is historical hardware issues with its D70 and D2h models where failures occurred in parts sourced from other manufacturers, when Nikon was slow to respond to complaints from users. Once again Hogan queries the efficacy of Nikon's quality control given that apart from the Df, every one of Nikon's recent full frame models has come with some form of defect.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/qa- ... later.html

Towards the end of the article, Hogan also mentions issues with the D1X, for which Nikon DID react promptly, but does not state what the problem was. So far as I can tell this came about when IBM made a change to its Microdrive* which created an incompatibilty with Nikon's cameras. IBM acknowledged its error and Nikon quickly updated the camera's firmware, so kudos to Nikon on that occasion.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/content_pag ... -4059-4092

* Back in the day when there were only two companies manufacturing the NAND memory used in memory cards, this monopoly meant prices were eye wateringly high. I still wince about paying £80 for a 256MB compact flash card back in 2003. Eventually, other NAND production facilities were introduced and with increased supply costs dropped to more reasonable levels. IBM's solution was to introduce compact flash cards known as Microdrives which contained minaturised hard drives. These had capacities of 512MB or 1 GB which were good for the time and came at a lower cost. As conventional flash memory sizes increased and costs reduced, Microdrives were consigned to history. There is more at Rob Galbraith's site.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/content_pag ... -4059-4092

[Mike Farley]

DPReview reports a further announcement by Nikon USA about how it will service D750 cameras affected by the flare issue. Presumably something similar will be happening in the UK.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/678382 ... s-for-free

It does make me wonder what will happen to cameras imported through unofficial channels. It's certainly a question to ask of companies which specialise in selling cameras sourced from markets where prices are lower than in the UK as to what they would offer in the event of a product recall for a manufacturing defect. Whilst this is something which particularly affects Nikon at present, other manufacturers are not immune.

[Mike Farley]

Thom Hogan reports a further update from Nikon, with repairs starting later this month in the States.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/nik ... edges.html

Curiously, Nikon's European website is silent on this matter, nor does it mention the earlier D610 problem in its Service Advisories.

https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app ... list/c/900.

[Mike Farley]

DPReview has now given its opinion on the D750 flare issue after conducting its own tests. Verdict? Flare only occurs in very specific circumstances and is unlikely to be an issue for most people. Nikon has also taken steps to suspend sales temporarily until affected units can be withdrawn, so anyone buying a D750 today should not experience any issues. Those who already have a camera which flares (not all of them do) can have it fixed without charge. Interestingly, in similar lighting conditions as those which cause flare in the D750, DPReview managed to get a Canon 1DX to produce a comparable result and there have been no reports of problems with that camera.

Undoubtedly the issue does exist and Nikon has been lax in its QA procedures, which has been compounded by so many of its recent full frame cameras have suffering from one defect or another. In particular, Nikon's handling of the D600 shutter oil on sensor problem was a PR fiasco, so I do wonder whether people are now actively looking for faults of any kind in Nikon's new models? That said, it can be a frustrating experience if an important shot is ruined through no fault of the photographer. It does highlight the risks of being an early adopter and it is usually better to wait a few months until others have discovered any anomalies. Prices will be lower then as well.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d750/9