Author Topic: Df-wear and tear  (Read 11287 times)

stenrasmussen

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2016, 15:35:26 »
Design these days are more scewed towards looks than function/solid build quality. The other factor is cost cutting (perceived? improved monetary rate of return).

Frank Fremerey

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2016, 16:50:31 »
Nikon could do well not to launch, with lots of advertising drive,  a camera that wasn't properly field tested. I feel the Df project was subject to wrong decisions by the overzealous bean-counters. There is nothing wrong, not at all, with the underlying concept, my reservations are for the implementation of it.


I feel that the advertizing drive was targeting mostly Hipsters and life style users who are ready to pay a high price for a mediocre product like SMEG Refrigerators, which they treat like a RAW egg later. Usage pattern: snap shots & showing off.

What then happened was that a lot of people with honest and earnest photographic ambition and professional usage patterns needing a field robust camera took up the piece.

This is not a FM-2 or OM-1 or Leica M3 that you can take up the Everest, through the desert sand storms and to the North Pole and it will work flawlessly with outer wear only.

This is basicly an overpriced D600 style camera with a second layer of GUI on top of it, an exceptional lens compatability and a very good HiISO sensor, the best Nikon had available at the time.
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Akira

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2016, 17:02:45 »
Hope that the monocoque and the floating mirror box construction method of D750 and D500 solved or at least mitigate the "impact damage" problem.

I dropped my D750 with AF-S 50/1.8G attached on the tile floor from the stool that was 40-50cm high.  The lens hood seemd to absorb much of the shock, and the camera was not damaged (scrutinized at Nikon service).

All the new Nikons after D5500 will employ the same method.
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Erik Lund

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #18 on: December 23, 2016, 20:06:52 »
Nikon Df 2 Titan could be interesting I guess ;D
Erik Lund

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #19 on: December 23, 2016, 20:34:00 »
My Df haven't been on the top of Mount Everest, yet. I guess I have to wait until that becomes a "hipster thing" ;D But it has been dropped to the ground at least three times, the last time in a pretty decent bow into the tarmac, when my son grabbed his training gear from the car and the Df came with him. It has worked flawlessly in temperatures from -27 C to +37 C and been drenched more than a few times. So I am actually quite surprised it could hold up this long. After the last shower it had to dry out for two days before strap was dry.

Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #20 on: December 23, 2016, 21:50:22 »
Nikon Df 2 Titan could be interesting I guess ;D

I'll buy it instantaneously ...

richardHaw

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #21 on: December 24, 2016, 05:48:35 »
I'll buy it instantaneously ...

Why!? :o :o :o

If I have the money, maybe I will. makes for a nice collector's piece ::)

Akira

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #22 on: December 24, 2016, 07:36:29 »
Why!? :o :o :o

If I have the money, maybe I will. makes for a nice collector's piece ::)

You should know how Bjørn "caresses" his cameras.   ;D
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richardHaw

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #23 on: December 24, 2016, 09:13:21 »
I just hope that they change some things. I do not go to the nearby bar where me and Goto Tetsuro goes. he goes on weekdays that's why. If I see him I will tell him a few easy ways to bring new life to the Df with a few simple things that can be done with firmware :o :o :o

Akira

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #24 on: December 24, 2016, 09:35:41 »
Unfortunately, the cracking ceramic PCB problem cannot be solved by the firmware update...
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BW

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #25 on: December 24, 2016, 10:48:58 »
If there is a new Df, it is probably being field testet as we speak. Hope it is pure in the sense that all necessary information is visible in the viewfinder and no screen or menus. Only wheels to adjust the settings. And only RAW. Thats my christmas wish 8)

Pistnbroke

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #26 on: December 24, 2016, 12:51:29 »
The use of ceramic with a printed conductive track has been in use for 30 years in vehicle fuel sender units ( the bit in the tank that signals the level of fuel) and they usually outlast the vehicle despite continuous movement .....so who or what is causing the crack.
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Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #27 on: December 24, 2016, 13:13:08 »
There is the small, but probably significant, difference of having a lens mount immediately adjacent to the ceramic plate...

Had the front plate on the Df been of  titan, the incidence rate of cracked ceramic PCB would have dropped dramatically. My Nikon F2 Titan has endured beatings that would have demolished modern cameras.

Erik Lund

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #28 on: December 24, 2016, 13:14:07 »
I believe that the issue is also related to the performance of the return spring. At least that is the case for the one on a D3 that I have seen.

Edit to add: I think your right Bjørn
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Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Df-wear and tear
« Reply #29 on: December 24, 2016, 13:17:01 »
The return spring (of the aperture follower)  is sensitive to accumulation of dust and grime underneath its collar. A good reason why cameras should have regular maintenance.