wsa111 Loc: Goose Creek, South Carolina

I am alway leary about purchasing a new product.
I have worked in the automotive field & i would never buy a new model in the first year of production.
After a year of the product being produced i have seen many engineering changes in a new auto vehicle.
The camera production is no different.
Look at the firmware upgrades during the first year of production.
The public is the guinea pig for the initial production run.
I would love to purchase a new Nikon D800E, but is the gain worth the pain.
I'm thinking about selling my D200 & D7000 & my DX lenses while the market is still hot.
After the new products come out the price for older DSLR's will drop.
There will always be a market for DX products, but that remains to be seen. Bill

randymoe

I am the opposite of you. I love being an 'early adopter' Yes, I am single at age 61. 2 divorces. One great daughter.

Any way, I worked all my life in automotive engine R&D. Yes, we did improve things over time. I spent 10 years just on the head gaskets for Ford's 4.6L. I currently drive a 1999 version, no worries.

Non-the-less, I find it fun to have the first model.

Buying early was not a mistake with any Nikon digital product I have bought.

All excellent with some firmware upgrades.

Coolpix 100, 1996

Coolpix 900, 1998

Coolpix 990, 2000

D70, 2004

D700, 2008

D7000, 2010

D800, 2012

All great cameras as soon as I got them.

I also liked my first year cars,

1967 Firebird convertible triple blue 326

1975 Volkswagen Rabbit

1984 Pontiac Fiero

1985 Chevrolet Astro van

2007 Toyota Yaris

And motorcycles,

2009 Honda CRF230M

2011 Honda CBR250R

2011 Honda PCX 125

When you buy first, your camera, computer and vehicle is usefull for a longer time before you need the next big thing.

I buy new computers every 2 years when big changes happen and I always buy fully loaded.

Been doing my best to keep the economy going since 1951.

Right now I am buying all the good deals in second hand darkroom and film.

I love my D800 for what it is good at, high res images and excellent video.

Just sayin!

Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC

Anecdotal evidence is worth little. The facts remain, first year production runs into new problems more often than not.

randymoe

Obviously, it would be best to not buy anything until it is fully vetted by exactly whom?

Some lead, some get in the way.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I was one of the first to get the D7000, and have had no problem. Hopefully Nikon has better QC that GM.

I wonder if a camera made on Monday is the same as a car made on Monday????

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

That's true of any product but the question is: are the problems that a product has relevant to the end user?

What if there were a software update? Would it be relevant unless it fixed some heinous issue that everyone was having?

No...of course not. Just because there are improvements and updates doesn't imply "trouble" necessarily.

wsa111 Loc: Goose Creek, South Carolina

All valid responses.
Some products spend more time in prototype testing to make sure its right the first time.
Off subject but thanks for the head gasket design on the Ford 4.6. Whoever designed the cylinder heads 2002 & before should be fired cause the spark plug threads only secure 1/2 the spark plug threads, result plugs blow out of the cylinder head.
Also having 2 piece spark plugs on the 2005-2010 engines & the lower electrode area breaks off when trying to remove the plugs.
I am giving the purchase of the 800E serious thought toward the end of 2012.
Thanks for the comments.
How many card slots are in the 800E??

randymoe

The 5.4L engine had the BS spark plugs that break off in the heads. There is a kit. This was once more, Cleveland vs Windsor. On the 4.6L we pulled the plugs every 2 days for leakdowns, compression and N2 1000 psi head gasket tests. I never stripped a 4.6L plug hole. Each plug hole was used at least 200 times an engine. We used up about 50 engines with an average of 1600 dyno hours per engine. It is one tough engine. It was the first engine we submitted to severe thermal shock. We ran the engine at WOT full load 4600 RPM until coolant out hit 230 F. Then hard shut down and heat soak for 1 minute to 240 F. Then, with engine off force pump -35 degree F coolant through the engine until block temp hit -20 F. Then restart, idle 10 seconds and got to step 1 and repeat 200 cycles. We had a million dollars in refrigeration just to do this. At that time we were the only facility in the world that could successfully achieve all parameters, without engine failure. I think Ford was interested in more than head gaskets!

Chrysler decided to add frozen oil, not a good plan. We got 2.4L engines in 6-pack pallets. We broke those consistently at 60 hours.

Cummins had even more insane tests.