D800 basket case

Silver

Senior Member
Hi i'm new. Have a need to speak of my shocking disappointment with Nikon Service. About a month ago my D800 with a Sigma 150-500 attached took a dive off of my tripod. The Sigma broke off between the main barrel and the bayonet mount. It has since been fixed. The D800, though, with a pushed in-at-an-angle (if you will) bayonet mount, of about a mm, was returned to me from the Melville, NY, Nikon Service facility with a "Beyond Repair" invoice. The camera actually still works, except that the bayonet and I assume the frame holding it, is pushed in, sort of a permanent tilt-to-the-left situation. I'm assuming that the reason it's "beyond repair" is because the mag frame is broke(?).
The point is that the invoice from Nikon doesn't say why it's beyond repair. It just sent it back and that's that. I called their 800-645-6687 number and the person answering, after I told of the situation, basically said, we're sorry, there's nothing we can do. Period.
So here I am, with a 6 month old $3,000 D800 totaled (even if I repair it myself, IF I can, the dust and moisture proofing is compromised). By repair, I mean take a gear-puller and try to straighten it out, and hope it stays(?). I saved up for this, I'm not wealthy, I have a blue-collar job.
Also, to add to my disappointment with Nikon, this (D800) body had oil spots on the sensor from day one. Sent it in and they cleaned it up (and you have to pay for the shipping when you send it, they don't give you return shipping labels).
It had since, between the time it was cleaned, and before it was damaged, developed oil spots again. And I've noticed on B&H's camera reviews that this is also a big-time problem with the D600 now too. And it was a problem with the D7000. Apparently the oil used in the mirror mechanisms works itself out after use and comes down onto to sensors (?). So if this to be a fact of life, where we have to get our sensors cleaned regularly (?), it can get expensive real quick, with a camera out of warranty and having to pay shipping everytime (in my case the shipping--with INSURANCE--is about $38 a pop.
To get back to the repair problem: my feeling--besides extreme shock---about my situation is: Why couldn't Nikon at least give me SOME alternative? It just basically said to me "TUFF BEANS!" Any suggestions from anyone?
 

jcottone45

Senior Member
Isn't there a one year warranty that came along with the purchase, I think there should be. Then they should be fixing it or replace it.!!
 

Silver

Senior Member
Yeah, warranty doesn't cover a drop or impact damage. I'm not asking for a free ride. Just want to get it fixed. I might add a note that I didn't have in my first submission: Nikon technically didn't say it was TOTALLY unrepairable-- but it said ECONOMICALLY unrepairable. But I wish they would've been more specific. At least given me SOME figure. Then I could decide whether it would be worth fixing or chucking....
 

Silver

Senior Member
I guess the good thing to come out of this is I posted a review with B&H under the D800 urging people to BUY THE 3 YEAR INSURANCE WITH A PURCHASE LIKE THIS. The only reason I didn't is because i (wrongly) assumed that since this was a PRO camera body with a MAGNESIUM frame that I was fairly safe, short of dropping off a cliff, etc. I've owned an F4 and F100 and they both suffered a couple drops and a 20mm Nikkor fell 5 ft. onto asphalt and it didn't phase it (broke the UV filter). I know, it sounds like I'm always dropping stuff, but these incidents were only isolated within like 30 years of field use. Learned my lesson now. Only problem is, what do I do now? I only have fire insurance on my homeowners (I live in New Jersey--- home of highest insurance rates in the USA).
 

pedroj

Senior Member
"but it said ECONOMICALLY unrepairable" I assume they would have to pull the guts out of the damaged case and put it back together in a new one....
That to me sounds like it could be beyond the cost of a new cam...
 

Rick M

Senior Member
As a side, this type of incident brings the alloy vs. plastic body debate to mind. If it were plastic, I wonder if it would have just cracked and been useable.
 

carguy

Senior Member
As a side, this type of incident brings the alloy vs. plastic body debate to mind. If it were plastic, I wonder if it would have just cracked and been useable.

Tough to say. With impact it's hard to say if things would ever be right again with the tight tolerances required for a sensitive piece of equipment like this.
 

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
Sorry to hear about this! Have you taken pics of the damage? Maybe all you need is a new body and a sensor / shutter.
 

jwstl

Senior Member
I'm curious abut the accident. When you say "took a dive off the tripod" was it the result of a faulty or weak tripod or an accidental bump that knocked it over?
 

Ironwood

Senior Member
Can you tell if its cracked, or just bent out of shape ?
If only a bit bent, I would try to straighten and then test it to see if its OK to use, you have nothing to lose by trying.
​I guess its pretty crucial to have the mount in the correct alignment, so it could be a bit more difficult than that may sound.
 

Silver

Senior Member
Thanks for the feedback... and sympathy. Just have to accept that things like this happen... again, SHOULD'VE GOTTEN THE 3YR INSURANCE with it. But, again, Nikon Service could be a little more warmer in their handling of this. They were very bluntly cold, business-like. I guess business is business. Business is business, too, I told them, if I sold all my Nikon gear and went with Canon. Not because Nikon isn't great stuff. It is. But-- support---?
About the plastic vs. metal... funny you should mention, because one of the reasons I bought a "pro" model is because it (is supposed to be) able to withstand, well---at least SOME knocking around. I don't expect it to work after dropping it out of a plane...but.... if I thought this could happen, maybe I'd buy a plastic camera, one which, when broken, would not be so costly to replace by virtue of a WAY lower price tag. Course I wanted---and still want-- a full frame sensor bod.
 

Silver

Senior Member
Ironwood, I haven't fully determined what the exact nature of the damage is because it's sort of on the inside of the front, might need a small dentist-like mirror to see. But the bayonet mount is pushed in and screw on the upper left on the outside of the body that holds the inner assembly has broken though the frame. Like I said earlier, if it comes to no one is willing to take it on, I might as well try fixing it with a small gear puller. I did contact and receive back an email from CRJ and they said that if Nikon didn't want to repair it, that they probably couldn't either, nevertheless they said they could take a look at it. I'll try that first, got nothing to lose. Again, thanks everyone, for your help.
PS-- I'm a wood turner too-- noticed your pen!
 

Silver

Senior Member
jwsti, I'll tell you the exact story. It's already becoming a classic within my circle (ha): My brother and I were at the Conowingo Dam on the Susquahanna River near Port Deposit, MD, to shoot eagles during the shad run. We had a successful day, or at least I did, up to the fateful moment. Around 4:30 pm or so, I finally got some shots of an eagle with a shad, flying with it and eating it. Soon, the activity died down as late afternoon waxed on. I was on the concrete bulkhead there where everybody sets up and shoots, and I was pretty much done. I was hand-held at that point, using my Sigma 150-500mm (which by the way is incredible), and I was going back to my tripod which was about 30 feet away. As I walked, I noticed one of the guys fishing there, who had two poles with lines out, had hits on both of his rods at the same time. This caught my attention. I was sort of putting my camera back on the tripod and looking at this guy and his lines at the same time. (I had a Arca-Swiss quick-release plate on the Sigma's tripod collar, and a Jobu "gimbal" on my Arca-Swiss Ball head). By this time the guy was frantically reeling in one line, and finally he pulled up a walleye. He says "Ah ____, it's just a walleye!" and drops the fish onto the concrete and kicks it back into the water. Now my attention was fully on this, because I was getting mad at this guy's treatment of the fish, which is not only cruel but illegal... Somewhere in here the camera is now on the tripod via the Arca-Swiss plate. Then this guy reels in the other line: he pulls up out of the water a striper, which looked about 29-30" to me (which would have been a keeper IF it wasn't catch and release at the time). He drops it onto the rocks (not intentional, but out of carelessness), then gets back up on the bulkhead, and drops it down onto the concrete from about 3 ft., steps on it to get the hook out, and picks it up for a couple people to take pictures, then throws it back. I wonder if that fish lived after this treatment. It was a female full of roe, too. So after he throws it back, I start back to my car, tripod over my shoulder. I walk about 100 yards to my car, and 10 feet before I get there, I felt my tripod dip forward and something hit the back of my leg. I turn around, and there is my camera and lens on the asphalt, the Sigma broken in two with the small section still bayonetted to the D800. I was so dumbfounded that I didn't even have any reaction. I just stood there for who knows how long staring at it. So... what happened? Apparently I did not tighten the knob on the Jobu Arca-Swiss mount. My attention was so focused on this guy with the fish that I forgot to tighten it. It didn't fall off until I got almost to my car probably because it was at an angle where the plate was parallel to the ground. Now, I got the Sigma fixed and it works fine. Again, amazingly, the D800 still works, but with a bent in bayonet, and breached moisture & dust proofing. Also, one of my lenses wouldn't work on it, it gave me a FEE error. Lesson here? Maybe try not to get upset over another person doing something bad? I don't know.
 
That Stinks.. For the fish and for you.

I don't feel near as bad about dropping my D3100 and putting a big hole in the case by the battery compartment. I did not even bother to send it off to Nikon. I new that the cost if it had been repairable would have been more than it was worth. Just took the opportunity to do a upgrade to teh next level up. The D5100.


That is a long cry from the D800.
 

Silver

Senior Member
Dude you're right, man! I've gone from totally throwing in the towel to getting another one and not looking back, because my whole life has been PHOTOGRAPHY. And I'm not making a living at it. Sure I've made some money with it, but my particular unique situation has not allowed me to to be a "pro". But another facet of this is that I bought an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 and have been making prints, FINALLY, after wanting to for about 40 years now, of photos I took in the last 45 tears, and am ecstatic at the results I'm getting. I've scanned old slides with a Plustek and worked them in Silverfast, and recently have been making 17x22" prints of them, and am just AMAZED at the prints I'm getting! Better than Ilfochromes I had sent out for in the '90's. And the 127x22's I'm making from the D800 no words can describe!!!
​Yo, I see you're a Philly guy. I'm South Jersey, my parents born and raised in Kensington!
 
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