Too Many Camera Choices, And Goodbye Nikon
I recently ordered a Nikon D750, one of Nikon’s latest full-frame DSLRs. For years I had dreamed of moving up to the full-frame DSLR world… After photographing on a Nikon D70s since 2005 (yes, it’s now a 12-year old camera!), I knew that an upgrade was overdue and I had been saving up for full-frame.
For me, the decision to buy Nikon was obvious. The D70s treated me well for 12 years, and I was impressed with Nikon’s lineup of DSLR cameras and abundance of high quality lenses.
Unfortunately, Nikon sold me a defective D750. I took it on a trip to Singapore and the camera shut down after taking 20–30 shots in warm weather. There was some kind of temperature issue in the CPU, and the Nikon service center in Singapore said it would cost me ~$600 to repair (USA warranty service was not available, as I was traveling overseas). I was pretty frustrated with Nikon at that point — it was a pain to order the D750 from Nikon in the first place! Their website crashed while I was trying to buy the camera on Black Friday (due to server load), and their system put two credit holds for the full value of the camera on my credit card without actually completing the order. I had to phone Nikon and order the camera OVER THE PHONE instead. It was the first product I ever had to order over the phone in the last 5 years.
I called Nikon to schedule the return and refund for the D750 (I was annoyed with Nikon and didn’t want to go through warranty service; I wanted to get out of the ecosystem). They refused to take the camera back. After much negotiating and pointing out the fine print on their return policy, I convinced them to take the camera back.
I was disappointed that Nikon tried to refuse my return of a defective product. It clearly stated in their special Holiday Return policy that they would accept returns of defective products until January 31, 2017. They tried to argue with me that I had used the camera a lot in the two months I owned it, but in reality the camera sat on the shelf in Singapore for nearly a month because it was defective!
So even though Nikon makes fantastic products, I’m walking away from the company. My entire customer experience with Nikon from ordering the camera, discovering the defect, and trying to return it under the Holiday Return policy was disappointing.
After 12 years of shooting Nikon, I’m quitting Nikon.
Unfortunately, choosing a new DSLR from Nikon’s competitors is challenging. There are too many choices! I could buy a new mirrorless, or I could get one of Canon’s DSLRs. The choices made my head spin — this one had 4K video, that one had more megapixels, this one was full-frame, that one had a touch screen. Eventually, I got decision-fatigue and decided to wait for a while. I still have my D70s, and it works.
I just love photography. I don’t like needing to make decisions about what camera hardware to buy. And the truth is you don’t need a great camera to take great photos.
Here are some shots from my 6 megapixel Nikon D70s:
My D70s shoots a whopping 6 megapixels and has an ISO range from 200–1600. Modern DSLRs offer 24 megapixels and ISO range from 100–25600+!
So, instead of stressing my head about what next camera to buy, I’m just going to go out and shoot on what I have… An old 12 year-old camera with my 12 year-old lenses. Eventually, I’ll probably grab a Canon DSLR or a Fuji.
I’m sad to walk away from the company that helped me produce so many photos over the years with my D70s, but the Nikon of today is a different company. Other photographers like Ken Rockwell have also observed that Nikon’s customer service and quality has declined over the years.
Bye bye Nikon!
