Build quality of DSLR's

BF1983 said:
^^ Chips probably die out quickly. If you check out the old Nikon F rangefinder cameras (no electronics) you will quite a few used bodies lying around. However you will be out of luck if you wish to get some pre 2000 era digital SLR camera around. :(
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My thinking exactly, Brendon. One can still get service from and for a Nikon F, F2, or a Leica M.

Just name a plastic and electronic camera made between 1980 and 2000 and ask yourself "Where do I get this serviced?" Chances are it is just a paperweight. And so it will be with my D700 and all its polycarbonate cousins in a few years.

The idea that electronic devices are more dependable because they ARE electronic is not at all born out by the evidence in camera life. Classic cameras like Hasselblad 500c and others which have absolutely no electronics will outlive today's digitals by decades and decades.

Sure, it's a valid point about the electromechanical stuff failing in modern cameras. But the comparable mechanical stuff in older designs, and which required no controlling electronics, is not nearly as susceptible to failure.

Those electronic parts, and which do not move, can nevertheless overheat and fail from overload. A jammed mechanical component can overload its control and driving circuit or motor. Electronics can become dysfunctional from humidity and corrosion. Components can fail, and these in turn can cause other malfunctions.

And then there are software issues, electrical contact quality issues, and power supply issues. If one looks at a long list of the reasons given for the failure of modern cameras, the list does not look too dissimilar to what happens to PCs and their accessories.

The old Hasselblad 500c will never suffer any of that. It and the Nikon F and the Leica M will still be going long, long after all our modern, battery-driven plastic cameras have gone the way of the 5-1/4 in floppy drive.

:)
 
Sudarshan_SMD said:
Not exactly on build-quality of DSLR, but I want to share something on build quality of DSLR accessory/ consumable part.

I have 9months old Canon 1000D(battery: LP-E5). It was bought in Aug2010 by original buyer, I bought it from original buyer during Dec2010.

I have posted about 'battery not popping out of battery compartment' problem a month back. It apparently is problem caused due to bulging battery(battery size increasing). At this point of time, battery has bulged so much that it's not possible to pull out battery using nails or hands, I have started keeping nose-plier along side to pull out the battery.

Battery performance has been drastically reduced. If I was to use flash for every shot, I can hardly manage 35 shots.

Cannon does not entertain warranty for consumable products. Now I am left out with no option other than to buy additional battery pack for a camera which is not even 1year old.:no: If anybody is wondering about shutter count, it's 4524.

Even though this has nothing to do with build quality of camera itself, didn't expected this to happen.

lol...This LP-E5 thing retails for 4k and you can't be sure about it to last 1 year. I wonder if they provide warranty on separately sold battery.
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OT:

buy the new battery from dealextreme, it would cost 400-500 rs, would last a year easy. make sure to read the reviews & the Q&A of the item you buy to ensure it would work well for you. at this price, you can even buy 2!
 
@T42 - Hey Henry its nice to see you here. :)

Didn't know you had an interest in computers as well.

Realized it was you only on seeing your camera gear on another thread. :P
 
My old 450D died once when it was badly waterlogged in a bag, with some 1 inch of water. Strangely nothing happened to the kit lens (18-55 IS)

2 years later simply charged the battery and turned it on. VOILA :D still using the body :)
 
BF1983 said:
@T42 - Hey Henry its nice to see you here. :)

Didn't know you had an interest in computers as well. Realized it was you only on seeing your camera gear on another thread. :P
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Hello Brendon.

When I read your words in another thread I knew it was you I was seeing here on TE. It made me feel a bit more at home immediately.

Hmmm... about me and computers. Well, I use them. I work on mine mostly to keep them going, and that because I hate wasting money. Computers are in the middle of everything now, you know. So one is really hamstrung if he chooses to disengage from computers nowadays.

This may give you a bit of perspective about the non-photo side of me:

I worked for a US telecom giant for thirty years (AT&T), where among other things I taught electronics, UNIX fundamentals, UNIX systems administration, and UNIX systems security. During my last eight years there I was a salesman representing AT&T's backbone broadband data switching systems. These employed a technology called Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). I also worked with products employing other protocols like X.25, Frame Relay and some others over the years. All that and basic telephony too. After retiring I taught electronics in a community college for five years. Then I retired again, this time for good I think.

I have had a personal interest in electronics since I was a child back in the 1950s. Today my fascination is with circuit design and construction, at the conceptual and discreet components level, more so than not. I like to experiment with TTL, CMOS, logic circuits, and analog circuits as well. When I design and build a wave generating circuit I get a kick out of seeing its waveform on my old Tektronix 465 scope, and then tweaking the design to "just right" as I had preconceived it.

I have a related interest in commercial and amateur Radio. I hold the Federal Communications Commission's Amateur Extra class license and their First Class Commercial Radiotelephone license here in the "States." My amateur radio call letters are KC4I. I have enjoyed using shortwave to talk with other radio amateurs all over the world since the early 70s.

Not much of this would have come up on JJMPF, maybe only a bit about the part where I worked in AT&T's corporate TV studio in the 70s and 80s. I developed most of my experience and prejudiced opinions about photography during that time when I worked with film and video productions.

Anyway, I have been looking about here on TE to see if there is a section which is for people who like to build, modify, or design things electronic. I have read a lot of interesting threads, but have not read much in this respect yet.

Enough, Brendon. Again, I'm very happy to see you and many other friends :hap5: from JJMPF here on TE.

Happy day.

Henry
 
axeman said:
OT:

buy the new battery from dealextreme, it would cost 400-500 rs, would last a year easy. make sure to read the reviews & the Q&A of the item you buy to ensure it would work well for you. at this price, you can even buy 2!
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OT:

Have checked on dealextreme. Batteries costing 7.25$ have got good reviews. I can get 2 in 650Rs. :P But, problem is I don't have CredtiCard and thanks to to paypal's new policy, can't use it to pay on dealextreme.

Global eBay has chinese batteries costing 1200Rs for 2, will mostly get new battery from GeB.
 
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