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bluzman

bluzman

Senior Member
Late last week, I was watching a little TV when I got an email arrival alert from my phone. It was an announcement of one of Nikon's periodic 4 day refurbished item sales. FWIW, I buy almost all of my gear either used or refurbished. Oh well, I thought, let's see what's being offered. I swear I had no intention of doing anything but taking a quick look and moving on.

Lo and behold, there was a really good offer on refurbished D500's with an additional 10% discount. I already own a D500 but it was such a good deal, I bought one, possibly the only one. If the weather here in Texas allows it, I should receive it tomorrow. The D500 is without a doubt my favorite camera so this purchase is an insurance policy. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :cool:
 
Peter7100

Peter7100

Senior Member
Contributor
bluzman said:
Late last week, I was watching a little TV when I got an email arrival alert from my phone. It was an announcement of one of Nikon's periodic 4 day refurbished item sales. FWIW, I buy almost all of my gear either used or refurbished. Oh well, I thought, let's see what's being offered. I swear I had no intention of doing anything but taking a quick look and moving on.

Lo and behold, there was a really good offer on refurbished D500's with an additional 10% discount. I already own a D500 but it was such a good deal, I bought one, possibly the only one. If the weather here in Texas allows it, I should receive it tomorrow. The D500 is without a doubt my favorite camera so this purchase is an insurance policy. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :cool:
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Can't blame you getting another D500 as I can't think of anything to match it in that price range, new or secondhand!
 
Eduard

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
I just received a FujiFilm INSTAX Link Wide Smartphone Printer. B&H has them on sale with an instant $30 rebate. It is pretty cool, reminds me of a modern Polaroid. (Yeah I’m that old.)

1675414728947.jpeg
 
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Woodyg3

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
bluzman said:
Late last week, I was watching a little TV when I got an email arrival alert from my phone. It was an announcement of one of Nikon's periodic 4 day refurbished item sales. FWIW, I buy almost all of my gear either used or refurbished. Oh well, I thought, let's see what's being offered. I swear I had no intention of doing anything but taking a quick look and moving on.

Lo and behold, there was a really good offer on refurbished D500's with an additional 10% discount. I already own a D500 but it was such a good deal, I bought one, possibly the only one. If the weather here in Texas allows it, I should receive it tomorrow. The D500 is without a doubt my favorite camera so this purchase is an insurance policy. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :cool:
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You can never have too many D500s. Never. :)
 
bluzman

bluzman

Senior Member
Follow up on the factory refurbished D500 body from Nikon.

The camera arrived yesterday afternoon. Cosmetically it looked in fine shape so I set up the language, time zone, and time/date. The only thing it lacked other than original packaging was a DK19 soft rubber eye cup. I'm not even sure if that was included with new D500s but the used body I got from MPB had one. Anyhow, I checked the firmware versions and found the camera version was current but the lens distortion firmware needed an update - no sweat, done.

Next I put a lens on the body, took a snap in my office, and uploaded the image to check the shutter count. YIKES!! 228,594. That's almost 30K actuations over what Nikon publishes (200,000) as the D500's shutter mean time to failure (MTBF).

This morning, I opened a case with Nikon Product Support questioning why a I received a camera body body that exceeded the published MTBF and asking if it could be returned. I thought/hoped that I might be told that the shutter mechanism had been part of the refurbishment. Nope. Within an hour, I got an email with an RMA number and a label to use to return the camera for a refund.

Obviously, I'm disappointed but at least Nikon stepped right up to satisfy my concerns. Guess I'll just keep looking for a backup from a source like MPB where the shutter count is posted with the DSLR body being offered.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
And sadly, you have to wonder what happens to that camera now... Does Nikon recycle it back through their Refurb system until someone isn't smart enough to look at the shutter count????
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
I've had one experience with the the Nikon store. I received a defective lens. I had some trouble with conflicting information on return and reorder, but in the end they made it good.
 
Bikerbrent

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Am I glad that Nikon still supports their older gear. For example, bluzman found out the used D500 had 228,594 actuations. That's almost 30K actuations over what Nikon publishes (200,000) as the D500's shutter mean time to failure (MTBF). Within an hour, bluzman got an email with an RMA number and a label to use to return the camera for a refund. that is great action from Nikon.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Last year I ordered an L Bracket from an Amazon seller. It wasn't that I needed an L Bracket. I wanted an Arca Swiss plate that would allow me to keep my Black Rapid strap attached to the bottom of the plate WHILE the plate was mounted on my tripod. That way if I wanted to remove the camera from the tripod, I wouldn't have to remove the plate and reattach my strap.

So I purchased an unidentified L Bracket that had great reviews and only used the bottom plate. Since I wanted a couple extra plates, I ordered from the same Amazon link a week or so ago. Unfortunately it was a different bracket that was thinner than the original one. So I went on an online hunt to see if I could identify the original bracket. Sadly my L Bracket had no labeling on it. It wasn't until I pulled out the box and found a clear plastic bag holding an Allen Wrench that I saw the word Camvate on it.

It didn't appear any dealers in the USA carried this bracket, but I found the Camvate website. After sending an email with some questions, I purchased from them directly. It's the same bracket. I can either use these as an L Bracket, or I can unscrew the side plate and just use the bottom plate. For the price of $16.80 each, they aren't expensive. And no shipping was added either.

3351d2ca42.jpg.240x240.jpg


www.camvate.com

CAMVATE L-Shape Camera Mounting Bracket With 1/4" Screw Arca Swiss Standard

CAMVATE L-Shape Camera Mounting Bracket With 1/4" Screw Arca Swiss Standard
www.camvate.com www.camvate.com
 
Danno

Danno

Senior Member
Well, the Z8 came in. I do love it. It will take a little while to get used to. I know one thing... 20 shots per second is FAST and more than I need day to day. I have one complaint... LrC 12.3 crashes... That is the new version with the Denoise function. It opened the day I installed it and the next, and every other try, it crashes on the splash screen. Version 12.2 will not load Z8 files, so I am learning Capture 1. Sorry for the poor Iphone photo. I just didn't feel like fooling with anything else.

Capture 1 is slow to learn, but I am getting through it. If LrC stays unfixable, I may just be making a move to Capture 1.

IMG_4182.JPG
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Danno said:
Well, the Z8 came in. I do love it. It will take a little while to get used to. I know one thing... 20 shots per second is FAST and more than I need day to day. I have one complaint... LrC 12.3 crashes... That is the new version with the Denoise function. It opened the day I installed it and the next, and every other try, it crashes on the splash screen. Version 12.2 will not load Z8 files, so I am learning Capture 1. Sorry for the poor Iphone photo. I just didn't feel like fooling with anything else.

Capture 1 is slow to learn, but I am getting through it. If LrC stays unfixable, I may just be making a move to Capture 1.

View attachment 392556
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@Danno Did you try one of the other formats in the Z8 such as DNG, before you make the determination that the NEF files for the Z8 don't work????? Usually, Adobe is pretty quick to add Nikon's cameras to Camera Raw... Moving from LR to CP1 is a bigger learning curve than the one you're about to venture on with that camera. Did you call Adobe's support folks and they told you the file format was the problem???
 
Danno

Danno

Senior Member
Fred Kingston said:
@Danno Did you try one of the other formats in the Z8 such as DNG, before you make the determination that the NEF files for the Z8 don't work????? Usually, Adobe is pretty quick to add Nikon's cameras to Camera Raw... Moving from LR to CP1 is a bigger learning curve than the one you're about to venture on with that camera. Did you call Adobe's support folks and they told you the file format was the problem???
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I did not try other formats, Fred. I tried to find a number to call Friday, and I could not find a way to reach them. If you know the number or where it is on the website, I would be most appreciative if you would share it with me. As for learning CP1... You are RIGHT. It is a pain. I have enough to make basic edits, but it is a monster.

I am going to try Tuesday to get ahold of Adobe. This is the stuff I struggle with. Dain Bramage. I am stuck taking things in small bites.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Danno said:
I did not try other formats, Fred. I tried to find a number to call Friday, and I could not find a way to reach them. If you know the number or where it is on the website, I would be most appreciative if you would share it with me. As for learning CP1... You are RIGHT. It is a pain. I have enough to make basic edits, but it is a monster.

I am going to try Tuesday to get ahold of Adobe. This is the stuff I struggle with. Dain Bramage. I am stuck taking things in small bites.
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@Danno Try this first... Change the file format in the camera to one of the other (less new) format... and just snap a few shots and load that image and see if LR handles it... I believe that camera probably defaults to Nikon's new HEIF file format... Try one(some) of the others. I don't see the Z8 in Adobe's Camera Compatibility list yet... In the mena time, I'll dig around for a contact method...
 
Danno

Danno

Senior Member
Fred Kingston said:
@Danno Did you try one of the other formats in the Z8 such as DNG, before you make the determination that the NEF files for the Z8 don't work????? Usually, Adobe is pretty quick to add Nikon's cameras to Camera Raw... Moving from LR to CP1 is a bigger learning curve than the one you're about to venture on with that camera. Did you call Adobe's support folks and they told you the file format was the problem???
Click to expand...

Well Fred, I pondered what you had to say about help, and I know I was tired when I tried to find help. So I took your advice and gave everything a fresh look and found a guy that had the solution. It had to do with permissions, and now Lightroom Classic 12.3 WORKS and it can see my Z8 files. Thanks, Fred. Much appreciated!
 
Eduard

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
Before moving to Fuji, I shot both DX and FX Nikon. My all time favorite body-lens combination to this day was the D300 and Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. That was my go-to for 6 or 7 years and according to LR I shot nearly 90% of my images with it. There was magic in that set.

I recently purchased the Fuji 16-55mm f/2.8. I was having such a flashback (and fun!) shooting that lens on my X-T5 and it felt like déjà vu. I realized how similar the lenses were and captured the specs side-by-side. Holy moly, did Fuji copy the Nikkor lens? I couldn't be any happier with this setup.

Side by Side.jpg


Specs Comparison.jpg
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
Well I should not have, but I had a 10% discount code to use. A used micro Z 105mm f/2.8 showed up at KEH available. It was 1 of 2 Z-mount lenses on my list to get next when I thought I could afford it. I really want a Z 14-24mm f/2.8 more but it would be insane for me to drop $2K on a purchase right now (and 2 of those were available). As is, my Tamron 90mm F-mount macro lens does not work right adapted to a Z-body, so I was limited to my D750 only for that lens. I expect to receive it in 9-10 days.
 
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