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Future Nikon Service

rayyan

Well-known member
I don’t think this bodes well for Nikon. In their press release Nikon mention that Nikon has to ‘ evolve ‘...
seems more like devolving to me. I don’t expect prospective ( and current ) customers are going to view this favorably.

Business going down could be proffered as a rationale...but I am a cynic and I question why business is so down that an entity chooses to reduce it customer contact point? Increasing repair costs?
Is stock buy back the reason? Is it the ‘ not as expected ‘ sales of their MILC offerings?

There could be a multitude of reasons, of which I am not aware. But this move by Nikon makes me question if I should spend my hard earned cash on Nikon products going forward.

What other camera manufacturer could make me switch brands from Nikon?

To be honest, difficult for me to come up with an alternative. I don’t want Nikon to fail. Or any other camera manufacturer.

But who knows where the death knell rings?

So I shall enjoy what I have, and wait and see.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
I have no skin in this game, my only Nikon Coolpix 990 is worth less than the transportation cost and I don't live in the US but I wouldn't be too dramatic about this change. These days consolidation and scale increase is needed to survive.

You indeed might have to send you camera a bit further, but you get a more experienced repairer with higher volumes. When managed well that's not always a bad thing, you can for instance think of a larger stock of spare parts and other advantages. Secondly before you drop them do a benchmark with other brands, even with two locations left I don't think what Nikon is doing compares significantly unfavourable vs. other brands.

Also, how often do you need a repair facility? I've now had 9 successive cameras over a period of almost 14 years owning DSLR/mirrorless cameras and only one needed to be sent in for repair once. And lenses I have never had to send in. It's a small sample and there's people with different experiences but normally it's not very frequent you need a repair shop for your cameras or lenses.

Just my € 0.05
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
I think you are right, Pieter. In order to survive in a decreasing market, you just have to shrink to adapt, else you are on a suicide-track.
I have only used the Nikon repairservice in Copenhagen once to check my 14-24 (nothing wrong with it though) and now I will soon go with my Df to clean some sensor-spots (because its almost around the corner),
which I as well could do myself.
They have to decrease expenses all over. Or die.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
But these are independent repair facilities! Not Nikon owned.
To say that one has very rarely needed repair service...makes me think of insurance.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Yes, you can consider it insurance but if you need it infrequently (one of the principles of such an insurance) why is it a problem to send the camera a little further. Also with 15 facilities spread across the US there's many customers that don't have one around the corner, I don't think the amount of Nikon owners who have a repair facility within a 10 mile radius changes significantly with this move.

And they might be independent, but did they pay the full cost of the training of all the technicians or did Nikon pay for part (or all) of that. Same with the cost of supplying/keeping the stock of spare parts, taking back redundant spare parts etc. If it's less centralised you need more of all that. I don't know the answers to that, only my guess is that Nikon saw a cost of keeping the facilities, if they don't save anything by this move it wouldn't make sense to make it.

I think rather looking at the move you should look at other brands, is the new Nikon situation much different from the others. I don't know (I don't live in the US) but for me that's the key question that needs to be answered before passing judgement.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
I think Sony ( U.S ) outsources its repair to Precision Cameras ( ? ). I am not sure about Canon.

I believe, in a shrinking camera market, and a product line almost same across all comparable brands, it would be the customer service ( ease, efficiency, turn around etc ) that would contribute to
check the downward trend of a brand's sales; if not increase it.

I have no beef in this issue, I don't live in the U.S.

Irrespective, of the reasons and results of this move, hope Nikon customers in the U.S shall be better served by this move.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
What I see here in Thailand is that camera repair shops are increasingly unable and/or unwilling to invest in the equipment needed to work on modern digital cameras, particularly mirrorless ones. In some cases, particularly for consumer grade cameras, it isn't always profitable to repair cameras, and if they are under warranty, they will mostly be exchanged for a new body, with or without the old serial number and with or without the knowledge of the customer.

Some manufacturers of consumer electronics have had policies like this for decades. I remember during the mid eighties, a representative for Braun told me that they had stopped repairing razors many years ago. It was much cheaper to give the customer a new one than to equip repair shops and maintain stock of spare parts.

In a world that is drowning in electronic junk, this is a very sad development. I'm happy to live in a country where things can still be repaired for a reasonable price. That might not last long though. I had a pair of JBL headphones fail on me a couple of years ago after just more than a year of ownership. The distributor simply told me that repairing stuff was against their policies. So I decided never to buy a JBL product again. Unfortunately, the owner of JBL, Harman International, also ownes AKG, AMX, Becker, Crown, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, Soundcraft, Studer, Arcam, and BSS Audio. Harman is again owned by Samsung.

See where this is going? Don't be surprised if all camera manufacturers are owned by two or three Japanese and Chinese companies within a decade or so. My guess would be Sony, Panasonic and DJI.
 

dave.gt

Well-known member
What I see here in Thailand is that camera repair shops are increasingly unable and/or unwilling to invest in the equipment needed to work on modern digital cameras, particularly mirrorless ones. In some cases, particularly for consumer grade cameras, it isn't always profitable to repair cameras, and if they are under warranty, they will mostly be exchanged for a new body, with or without the old serial number and with or without the knowledge of the customer.

Some manufacturers of consumer electronics have had policies like this for decades. I remember during the mid eighties, a representative for Braun told me that they had stopped repairing razors many years ago. It was much cheaper to give the customer a new one than to equip repair shops and maintain stock of spare parts.

In a world that is drowning in electronic junk, this is a very sad development. I'm happy to live in a country where things can still be repaired for a reasonable price. That might not last long though. I had a pair of JBL headphones fail on me a couple of years ago after just more than a year of ownership. The distributor simply told me that repairing stuff was against their policies. So I decided never to buy a JBL product again. Unfortunately, the owner of JBL, Harman International, also ownes AKG, AMX, Becker, Crown, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, Soundcraft, Studer, Arcam, and BSS Audio. Harman is again owned by Samsung.

See where this is going? Don't be surprised if all camera manufacturers are owned by two or three Japanese and Chinese companies within a decade or so. My guess would be Sony, Panasonic and DJI.
Interesting as always...

The trend for disposable products is unrelenting.:( As is the unsatiable desire to buy more.

How much is enough?

Climate change and irresponsible trends of using resources for disposable products.... quite a pair.

Not that I will be around much longer, but my children will have to deal with the millions/billions of disposed products including electric car batteries. The more things change the more they remain the same. Repair is kind of a lost thought.

In the meantime, I will ignore the world gone mad. I have enough digital cameras and film to last me for the rest of my life and provide enough smiles to endure the insanity around us... LOL.:thumbup:

Let's craft some amazing images instead!:)
 

dave.gt

Well-known member
Almost forgot...

I was trying to think of how many times I had a Nikon sent in to be repaired. Since the 1960s, a grand total of 0!! A 20 year old Hasselblad, yes, for light seals and a body shutter, due to age. That's all.

The only reason I can see that Nikon parts would be withheld from independent shops is squeezing the owner to buy more new products which will have a short lifespan anyway. Good business? I don't think so, but the world has changed and everything is upside down pretty much.

But I still don't need much in the way of maintenance of my old Nikon cameras. If my F80 ever needs work, I will buy another for $25. If my D2x needs work, the used market is cheap enough. Such are the wonders of depreciating value of our photographic products.:grin:
 

JohnBrew

Active member
Service once on D800, twice on D810. Never on D200 & D700. When my cameras needed service Nikon was always reasonably fast and the prices fair.
If the Z7 needs service I have backups.
I feel that Nikon pulling back in this manner is merely industry standard for our times.
 

dave.gt

Well-known member
Service once on D800, twice on D810. Never on D200 & D700. When my cameras needed service Nikon was always reasonably fast and the prices fair.
If the Z7 needs service I have backups.
I feel that Nikon pulling back in this manner is merely industry standard for our times.
Totally agree!;)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Service once on D800, twice on D810. Never on D200 & D700. When my cameras needed service Nikon was always reasonably fast and the prices fair.
If the Z7 needs service I have backups.
I feel that Nikon pulling back in this manner is merely industry standard for our times.
It is. Nearly a decade ago, Panasonic took the best part of 6 months to figure out that they wouldn't repair my GH1 and gave me a new camera free of charge, without mentioning the reason for the delay or the fact that the camera I received back was not the same one. If Nikon is going to maintain their profits, that's the standard we are looking at. With mirrorless and 21st century service routines, backup is a must.

The manufacturers should offer two cameras for the price of one :lecture: :ROTFL:
 

Darin Marcus

Well-known member
Can anyone comment on their experiences with regular maintenance service from Nikon?

I don’t use my cameras that much (at least compared with a pro), but I was thinking about sending my DSLRs for checkup/maintenance, especially now that the D810 was discontinued and the Df will soon be as well...
 

Photon42

Well-known member
My experience out of Switzerland was good so far. At least in the last like 10 years, I think I used it twice. Quick turn-around. All fine. Before that, my then F4 (bought second hand) went into service - the experience was abysmal - and finally they covered the full repair and service cost. It may have been the time they were centralising the service team for Europe.
 
My recent (2019) experience with one of the big (biggest?) authorized repair facilities was negative. I specifically inquired whether they had the tools, jigs and fixtures, and skills to fix my Nikkor AF-S VR 500mm f/4. They said “of course.”. Just shipping to them was a significant cost. They charged me for some adjustment and cleaning and sent it back with exactly the same problem. Big loss for me.

Next, I sent it t to Nikon Service in NY. While I must admit it took two trips to them to finally resolve, Nikon Service persevered and fully fixed my gear.

So, I had already ‘closed’ authorized service centers for myself before this announcement.

I’m quite pleased with all of my Nikon gear, and their company service.
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
I have had excellent service from the Melville Nikon center.

Resolving a issue that developed with my 80-400 which I felt would not be repairable without return to Japan.

And total repair of a D850 and 24-70VRII that fell into a creek while on a tripod. Both totally submerged and powered on. Both came back in top working condition. Lens was full of water as was D850.

Cost was also very reasonable.

I was impressed.

Paul C
 
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