Market for used Nikon parts

J

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
I'm doing a bit of research on the Nikon part market. Ever since Nikon stopped selling new parts to anyone that is not a Nikon authorized repair center, has the market for used Nikon parts gone up?

Questions:
  • Does anyone work at a camera store that is not Nikon authorized, but still does Nikon repairs? Do you have trouble getting parts? Where do you get them from?
  • If something is broken on your camera, with the exception of sensitive shutter parts, would you repair it yourself?
  • If you have a semi-pro camera or greater would you be more inclined to send it off to Nikon, or fix it yourself?
  • Where would you get a part for your camera if you needed one?
 
C

carguy

Senior Member
Having recently broke a plastic bayonet mount for my 18-105mm I found sites like ebay are flooded with $9 knock offs. I bought one, didn't fit right and promptly returned it. In my online search I was only able to find one OEM replacement and it was $60.00. I'd say for parts like that the prices are pretty well inflated as I'd expect.

The camera store I ended up using explained they have exhausted their supply of parts like that and now need to forward repairs they used to do in house to Nikon in NJ.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
I'm pretty handy but I think with anything digital I would send it in for repair. Even film cameras...I mean I can refoam one but that is about it although I have rosonolled sticky shutters before. I know for the old Nikon stuff film there are still new old stock parts around fairly priced (believe it or not) but most people use donor cameras for their parts. A notable exception, and this sort of applies to digital cameras too, is factory Ai conversion rings. They are almost non existent anymore (or at least the ones for legacy glass) and if you are going to use old glass you are going to need to convert it. Many people convert them but not many people use factory Nikon conversion rings.

What I wonder is how many spare parts are even made for modern models...eg how many spare shutter boxes did Nikon make for the D600, D800, etc. I would assume they make more spare parts for their pro level stuff as that is what they have done in the past.

​Sort of an interesting topic.
 
J

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
§

§am

Senior Member
By restricting availability of parts, what Nikon is effectively doing is driving end users to utilise approved Nikon repairers (is there a cost to become one), or force you to send to Nikon themselves, who can then charge whatever they feel is needed with no competitive market to go to.

At least with an independent you could say "my shutter needs replacing, how much will you charge" and you could shop around for the best price.
 
J

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
I'm sure it costs lots of money to become a certified shop. Training, special tools, etc.

I called a couple shops in my area and they basically said the whole situation is a big pain, and that they send everything out to Nikon to get repaired now. So in other words, they stopped even trying to get parts to get repairs even though they probably could, it's just not worth the time anymore.
 
Top