[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Lately the internet has been abuzz with talk of DSLR cameras having a host of dust issues and cleaning this dust is quickly becoming an industry in and of itself. Indeed, the internet is rife with tutorials and blogs on how to and what the best technique is new products for cleaning sensor are coming to the market in ever increasing frequency. Indeed, cleaning digital sensors has become an integral[/FONT] part of the DSLR experience. Simply gauging the number of threads here in Nikonites it's clear that cleaning sensors is a popular topic and most of us have either cleaned them ourselves or have paid someone to clean them. But whether or not you've cleaned them yourself or had them cleaned, the one thing in common is the exorbitant price that either route requires. Indeed, the small, cloth tipped plastic swab costs around $6 apiece and the alcohol based solution runs around $5 per fluid oz. My guess is that a single swab made in China costs approx 8 cents to make which would translate into a 7,500% profit based on the swabs alone and I imagine the alcohol solution is double or triple this profit margin.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Sensor cleaning products represent a new and expanding market place and considering such an enormous return on investment these products can bring in it would be hard not to want to get a piece of this market. Curiously, concurrent with this newly developing market, there seems to be an increase in dust problems with the newly released camera. While dust issues are have always been a factor in digital photography, there certainly seems to be more dust appearing on these newly produced cameras than there ever was in cameras manufactured just 5 yrs ago. For instance, my D70s went 7 yrs before needing cleaning whereas my D800 has been cleaned several times since purchasing it in August of last year. And now with the release of the D600 by Nikon, this crescendo of dust related issues has hit an all-time high.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]This brings up an important question - can this escalating sensor dust problem be part of a greater conspiracy to further part buyers of high end cameras from the money in their wallets? Clearly buyers of these cameras are spending more money on their camera bodies than before so it should follow that these same individuals would be willing to spend more money maintaining their cameras creating a large pool of potential profits for any business selling cleaning products to this newly created market. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Is it possible that Nikon (or any camera maker) is turning a blind eye to elevating dust issues or at worst designing cameras that increase the development of dust issue in an attempt to increase their bottom line? Many businesses invest in companies that offer accessories to their main product, wouldn't Nikon naturally want a piece of this expanding market? [/FONT]If Nikon had invested money or is a silent partner in sensor cleaning companies, would they willingly allow this information to become public? [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Moreover, would such an investment represent a conflict of interest by Nikon towards the buyers of Nikon products?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Now I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist and I'm certainly no Oliver Stone of photography, but it occurs to me that Nikon has been struggling with their profit margin and that owning, partially or fully, could easily increase their overall profit margin. And if Nikon does indeed own any interest in these cleaning companies there would be a certain amount of motivation to ignore this dust problem and, at the very worse, design cameras to be more prone to dust than earlier models.
So what do you think? Is this pattern of increasingly dusty sensors part of a conspiracy to fleece camera owners or just a by-product of modern DSLR? Or is there no pattern of dustier sensors and what we're seeing is yet another aspect of a more and more people using social media giving the illusion that modern DSLR's even have a dust problem?
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Sensor cleaning products represent a new and expanding market place and considering such an enormous return on investment these products can bring in it would be hard not to want to get a piece of this market. Curiously, concurrent with this newly developing market, there seems to be an increase in dust problems with the newly released camera. While dust issues are have always been a factor in digital photography, there certainly seems to be more dust appearing on these newly produced cameras than there ever was in cameras manufactured just 5 yrs ago. For instance, my D70s went 7 yrs before needing cleaning whereas my D800 has been cleaned several times since purchasing it in August of last year. And now with the release of the D600 by Nikon, this crescendo of dust related issues has hit an all-time high.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]This brings up an important question - can this escalating sensor dust problem be part of a greater conspiracy to further part buyers of high end cameras from the money in their wallets? Clearly buyers of these cameras are spending more money on their camera bodies than before so it should follow that these same individuals would be willing to spend more money maintaining their cameras creating a large pool of potential profits for any business selling cleaning products to this newly created market. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Is it possible that Nikon (or any camera maker) is turning a blind eye to elevating dust issues or at worst designing cameras that increase the development of dust issue in an attempt to increase their bottom line? Many businesses invest in companies that offer accessories to their main product, wouldn't Nikon naturally want a piece of this expanding market? [/FONT]If Nikon had invested money or is a silent partner in sensor cleaning companies, would they willingly allow this information to become public? [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Moreover, would such an investment represent a conflict of interest by Nikon towards the buyers of Nikon products?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Now I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist and I'm certainly no Oliver Stone of photography, but it occurs to me that Nikon has been struggling with their profit margin and that owning, partially or fully, could easily increase their overall profit margin. And if Nikon does indeed own any interest in these cleaning companies there would be a certain amount of motivation to ignore this dust problem and, at the very worse, design cameras to be more prone to dust than earlier models.
So what do you think? Is this pattern of increasingly dusty sensors part of a conspiracy to fleece camera owners or just a by-product of modern DSLR? Or is there no pattern of dustier sensors and what we're seeing is yet another aspect of a more and more people using social media giving the illusion that modern DSLR's even have a dust problem?
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