I have a second (or third) hand D2H which gave up the ghost a few days ago... typical meter failure.
So I wrote a nice letter, and tried to weasel my way into a warranty repair for this obviously well known problem.
It seems to me, after speaking directly with the nikon repair tech, that my letter was going to go unread... I mentioned the well known meter problem, and the burned up lan. (his response: "its possible") I asked him if this type of service was covered under warranty and he asked for the warranty card... I told him that the camera was 'pretty old' but I didn't mention that it was second hand... his
response:
'tell me that you bought it last year'
so my response was:
"i bought it last year."
and then he agreed to fix it under warranty. Now I got to speak with him directly because I live 5 miles from melville, but I think it might be a good idea for others who have this problem to say that you have had the camera for just over a year, or that its just out of warranty, even if its slightly untrue... It seemed almost as if it was the free fix key word...
Just passing along potentially interesting information...
I read some, not all of that post, Bill, and I hope things turn out okay for you.
As my camera was second hand, I was suprised to get any service for free, but when I got mine back, they also changed the card door, which stuck from time to time, the rubber grip, which rubbed the aperture dial so it was a little sticky, and generally my camera looks new again. They also upgraded firmware, cleaned the sensor and performed meter accuracy and parallax adjustment (whatever that is)
I was also originally told two weeks, so I was suprised to see it back so quickly, but I also talked to the guy behind the counter for 30 minutes, so it seems like I got some sort of preferential treatment.
I am not sure if it will help, but when I find my repair ticket again, I can perhaps email you a phone number and the techs last name (i never got his first), who may be able to help a bit...
When the D2H made its debut I seriously thought of buying one. The reports I read were very encouraging, specially those that were praising its speed. At that time, many photographers were complaining of noise. All of the sudden problems began to take place, mainly the exposure meter but also the AF. Nikon has been pretty good fixing it for free but very nasty on its response to customers. As it is customary with them (they denied the D100 came from the N80 till they had to admit it) they were denying there were problems with the D2H. All of the sudden the D2Hs was in the market but I do not believe it is selling like they expected; all of this while the D2H continued to have unhappy owners.
Unquestionably, the D2X is a great camera, if you are willing to pay 5 Grants. The D70 is not a professional camera but it is doing very well and keeps a large proportion of Nikon fans very happy. For its price it is unquestionable a bargain.
I still keep my D100, yes old technology but I know the camera by now and I know what I have to do with it to get great files. RAW files from the D100 are simply awesome.
Save some money, go for the D70 and save yourself some headaches and those nasty remarks from Nikon.
William Rodriguez
Miami, Florida.
