Is the D2X a professional quality camera

Hello Wet Pixelites,

About two weeks ago I bought a Nikon D2x. And my initial playing with it has been interesting. However, today I happened to take a close look at the warranty.

I was incredibly dismayed to read "valid in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Central and South America, and the Caribbean"

So I called Nikon to question them about this and asked, "Does this mean that if I am in Europe, or Asia, or the South Pacific, Nikon is just going to say tough luck if my D2x acts up and I bring it in to an authorized Nikon service center?"

Nikon's response was that they wouldn't just say tough luck, but that I would have to pay for any service work that might need to be done. This means if you are going to use a D2x anywhere other than the new "limited" warranty area, you'd better have extra bodies with you because otherwise you could be stuck with a very expensive repair bill, even though the camera is virtually new.

So Nikon is willing to warranty your digital camera as long as you don't travel too far from home with it or don't even think you might need or want service on it anywhere but the region you bought it.

Nikon's film cameras come with a worldwide warranty, usually one year. Or, three years in the case of the F5 and F6.

To me this suggests that Nikon has no real confidence in their digital products for professional use because many pros travel a lot, and if you are on assignment anywhere other than your defined region, they will not give you the same kind of warranty and support that they give their film cameras.

All the worse because my Fuji S2 came with a worldwide warranty. So it would seem Fuji is willing to give better support to its serious users than Nikon is, or at least has more confidence in their products.

I told the Nikon guy that I travel to many places around the world and that if I had known about this warranty I would not have bought the D2X.

divegypsy

I read this message in disbelief, so I pulled a D2X off the shelf and sure enough the warranty is worded exactly as above. I checked a D70s as well and it's worded the same as the D2X. I'm going to contact a friend in the Nikon USA Service department and check into this.

FYI, I checked the Nikon F6 and it still has the Worldwide Warranty card.

Here's the Nikon response:

Warranty for Digital SLR's around the world are domestic to the Country of Sale Origin, so if you travel outside the USA, then you would need to wait till returning to have it repaired under the warranty period. Same anywhere else in the world.

Don't start bashing Nikon yet, Canon's warranty is exactly the same. Here is the text copied and pasted from Canon's 1ds MKII warranty:

"Your EOS Digital Camera , when delivered to you in new condition in its original container, is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship as follows: for a period of one (1) year from the date of original purchase, defective parts or a defective EOS Digital Camera returned to Canon U.S.A. or Canon Canada, or their authorized EOS Digital Camera service providers, as applicable, and proven to be defective upon inspection, will be repaired with new or comparable rebuilt parts or exchanged for a refurbished EOS Digital Camera, as determined by Canon U.S.A. or Canon Canada, or the authorized EOS Digital Camera service center."

Remember that you can mail your camera to Nikon USA from anywhere in the world. If your assignement is longer than 2-3 weeks (usual turnaround time for repair), you can ask Nikon to send the camera to your home and have someone forward it to you from there.

I don't really think this is Nikon bashing, it's important to know how the coverage works.

Personally I don't think it's an issue at at all as most folks won't be in a location long enough for the repair turn around time anyway. Bringing the camera back home and having it serviced is the way to go. For customer's that live outside of the warranty coverage area the equipment would be returned to the purchasing dealer for them to handle the warranty service.

Also if you're a working pro, you should be signed up for CPS (Canon Professional Service) or NPS (Nikon Professional Service). This must be arranged with your purchasing dealer and their manufacturer's sales rep. This will guarantee you two to five day turn around time on repairs and in some cases loaner equipment.

That's how they stop people from countries where they charge more for products from buying it from other countries where it is cheaper. Many of my european and african friends always ask me to buy stuff for them when I visit, be it Ipods or cameras. That's why grey market cameras are not covered in the US. I think it's also databases are not shared internationally. I wish it were so stolen cameras cannot be fixed anywhere in the world without being found out.

That said, as UWphototech says, being in NPS and CPS helps. I had my 1D2 recalibrated FOC in Singapore even it was bought in the US. All it took was a flash of my CPS card.

It is also funny video cameras are better than their photo counter parts. Sony's Z1U gives a 90 day international warranty for everything , then covers parts only for the rest of the 9 mths.

The funniest thing is that lenses have international warranties but not the cameras which use them.

PS We should be bashing Canon instead. At least Nikon covers continental areas with its warranties, not like Canon which is country specific.

from what i have seen this is the same for all electronics ... all around the world .. living in the cayman islands i am lucky if i can get people to ship electronics down here.

Warranty is normally only valid in country of origin of sale for electronic goods.

If this upsets you then you can get insurance .. or travel insurance (if you're american you may not have heard of travel insurance, it's quite a handy thing will stop you having to sue so many people)

Sony for example used to do their own insurance .. i took it out for a video camera. it was so comprehensive that (and i asked before putting it to the test) that you could completely destroy the camera and they owuld either fix or replace it. So i used to lay it in the middle or roads during races to get some close up car action .. the cars only hit it once but it got battered with rocks a lot.

I was told i could take a sledge hammer to it myself infront of the insurance company and they would still replace it. There is probably something still around like that.

Hi Again Guys,

The point is not whether "that's the way it is or isn't", the real point is why should a camera have a lower value warranty just because its digital capture, instead of film capture. And whether or not this lower coverage warranty reflects a greater frailty, or greater failure rate that the companies are trying to sleaze out on by saying they will not cover the camera if it is far away from home. When do many people use their cameras the most? When they are on vacations, which is often when they are the farthest from home in the whole year. And the pictures there are so "one time" oriented that many people will decide to pay anyway just to have the chance to take more pictures. So when have the camera companies decided not to cover you any more? At the time when most people use their cameras the most, when they're far away from home?

As a diver you take that long dreamed of three or four week week trip to dive in Australia. And your new digital camera craps out during the first week. The camera company says they can fix it in a week, but it will cost you $500. You've already paid thousands for the trip, so its rather likely you'll be unhappy, but you'll pay it to have the camera for the rest of the trip. They have just screwed you again.

Why should a $400 film camera (say a Nikon N80) be covered worldwide and not a $5000 digital camera? To say its electronics and should be different doesn't wash. My Apple laptop computer has a worldwide guarantee, and so does my girlfriend's Toshiba. And so did my little Sony video camera. Grey market has very little to do with it because there's much more grey market in the lower and mid-ranged priced stuff, then in high end professional gear. The reality is the camera companies have simply looked at when most people use their cameras the most, and are most willing to pay for a quick fix, and have decided not to cover you then.

Why should Nikon's flagship film camera, the F6 (at about $2000), come with a three year worldwide guarantee and their top pro digital camera, the D2X (about $4800) come with a one year warranty only in the region where it was bought?

And unless we start complaining about it to the camera companies, that's the way its going to stay.

divegypsy