(news & commentary)
Nikon yesterday updated their service advisory for the D750 camera for the third time.
Let’s trace the advisory:
- In January 2015 Nikon announced that some previously made Nikon D750 cameras had a problem with bright light sources near the top of the frame, and that this produced a pronounced cut-off flare in images. Nikon pulled inventory from dealers and stopped production of the camera for a time while dealing with the problem and offered to fix any cameras so affected. At the time, there was discussion by Nikon that cameras made after September 2014 should be okay.
- In July 2015 Nikon re-issued the service advisory to include cameras made in October and November of 2014.
- At the end of February 2016 Nikon again re-issued the service advisory to include cameras made from December 2014 to June 2015, a period in which supposedly changes had been made at the factory. As I write this, there’s no news yet on whether Nikon is pulling any inventory back from dealers (see last comment, below).
As before, D750 owners are advised to go to their local Nikon subsidiary site (here’s the US advisory) and enter their serial number to see if their camera is affected. If it is, Nikon will repair it free of charge.
Of course, Nikon’s new hybrid design on the D750 is a bit of a problem. Moreover, I’ve noticed changes in wording in the way Nikon describes the problem. In the original advisory: "The service center will inspect and service light-shielding components, and adjust AF sensor position, to resolve the occurrence of unnaturally shaped flare free of charge.” In the new service advisory: "your D750 camera’s shutter will be examined and replaced.” Does that seem like it might be the same problem to you?
Another problem that now rears its head is Nikon’s practice of putting a black dot in the tripod socket to indicate a camera that has been inspected for (at the factory) or repaired (at the subsidiary) on an advisory. I’m pretty sure that people have cameras with black dots in the tripod socket that fall under the new service advisory.
Finally, if there is affected inventory on dealers’ shelves and that’s pulled back to Nikon, I suspect that will show up as more refurbished product in the pipeline, putting more pressure on D750 pricing. Nikon better have a replacement model in the wings soon.
The good news is that Nikon is trying to clean up issues with their products. The bad news is that Nikon still has products that need their issues cleaned up.
