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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
D3 shutter failure (and a small NPS rant)
Gary Jones, Photographer
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Rocklin | CA | United States | Posted: 1:32 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> Well, my D3 shutter died yesterday and it's off to Nikon for repair. I've fired off 76,413 actuations since I bought the camera 4 months ago. My D2Hs lasted over 300,000 shots without a problem. Based on Nikon's claim of a 300,000 rating on the D3's shutter life, and my assumption that this rating represents a more robust shutter than the D2# bodies, I'm hoping my D3 failure is not typical.
Now the part that bothers me about Nikon's NPS policy. Since my so-called "part time" photo business (that I work more than 40 hours a week on) excludes me from NPS membership - I have to wait in the standard queue for the repair. I've got well over $20K of Nikon gear purchased with my hard earned photo dollars (which thankfully includes a D2Xs as backup), am the largest action sports business in Rocklin serving two high schools, Little League, girls fastpitch softball, and contract the services of two other local photographers to provide coverage for my schools and leagues.
Having said that - I just have to say how happy I am with the D3 (apart from the shutter failure). I've been shooting indoor and outdoor, daytime and evening sports since December and the available light performance is amazing. |
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John Plassenthal, Photographer
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Vandalia | OH | USA | Posted: 5:02 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> Gary,
As a part-time pro with over 25 years in the business I can share your feelings with NPS. NPS has always excluded pros who don't derive their income solely from photography. Our money is good enough to buy the equipment, but we don't qualify as working pros who deserve the same level of support. The fact that we rely on our equipment just as much as the full-timers and spend just as much on equipment (in some cases more since we don't get equipment from our employer) doesn't meet the criteria for NPS. Being a professional isn't enough, you also must be full-time.
I belive that Cannon has the same policy, and I understand that a company has to draw the line somewhere. However, as the business gets tighter and jobs get more and more scarce, I expect that more and more will opt for part-time to make ends meet. NPS (and CPS) are great services provided by companies interested in making sure their (full-time) pros are supported. But being the red-headed stop child does tend to get old after a while.
Unfortunately until they change the policy you only have the choice of being left out, or like some guys I know get someone to lie and say you are full-time. I count myself lucky that I haven't had many needs for service and when I did it wasn't too long of a wait. |
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Drew Broadley, Photographer
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Wellington | NZ | New Zealand | Posted: 5:07 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> "Being a professional isn't enough, you also must be full-time. "
Definition of professional in photography sense, is someone who is earning 100% of their income from photography.
You sir, are an amatuer! |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 5:07 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> Gary
First of all, I'd never advise you to be anything less than 100% honest...but I can assure you that there are TONS of NPS members that are not full-time photographers.
Delane |
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Kevin Leas, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 5:21 PM on 04.27.08 |
| ->> John, Canon does not have the same policy. They have several different categories with different requirements listed (press, commercial, etc), as well as a sort of "state your case" kind of approach. Basically, if you can show them a small handful of tear sheets, invoices, various marketing material, etc, then you're good to go. For anyone who considers themselves to be a professional photography, this shouldn't be too much to ask. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 5:42 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> I'll second Delane.
The last time I looked, the NPS application asked for three things:
•A reference from an existing member
•A selection of tear sheets OR invoices and business cards.
•A credit reference
A good friend who is a former Nikon sales rep explained that at some point in the mid-80's Nikon decided to make NPS a true professional service and devised the above formula to weed out orthodontists with way too much cash and way too little talent.
When I applied, I sent along all the material I had that demonstrated my freelance activity and the card arrived in due time.
dp |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 8:05 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> I'll second what Delane & Dave say...it's actually a two-step process:
"Nikon Professional Services is available only to bona-fide, FULL-TIME professional photographers. There are absolutely no costs involved in joining NPS, only important benefits designed to help you.
"To become a member:
"Write a letter of introduction to Nikon Professional Services (see address below) on your letterhead (or your company's stationery).
"Tell us about your photography and request an invitation to join.
"You will need to meet the qualifying requirements below after you receive your application." [Which Dave spells out above.]
See http://www.nikonpro.com/about_nps.php.
I think the letter of introduction gives Nikon a better way of determining who qualifies as a "FULL-TIME" photographer than the "100% of income" requirement.
Chuck |
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Richard Orr, Photographer
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Longmeadow | MA | USA | Posted: 8:18 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> My advice is to call the place where you bought your D3 and speak to their professional rep. He can tell you HIS/HER contact at Nikon. Ask for their help in getting this resolved.
My guess is that if you go that route, you will get satisfaction.
Nikon is not stupid. NPS works great for those of us that have needed it in a pinch. But, the personal touch has always worked better.
Just a suggestion.
PS: If you havent established such a relationship at the place where you purchased your D3, you should do that tomorrow. THEY want you to buy their high end products. And they want you to buy the products from THEM. And, you know what...if you decide to dump your Nikon gear, they usually sell Canon gear as well. They can truly be your best friend. |
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Gary Jones, Photographer
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Rocklin | CA | United States | Posted: 9:25 PM on 04.27.08 |
| ->> I already completed the first step which is to send a letter of introduction and a description of my business. Nikon did send me an invitation to join. I filled out all of the info, including the equipment registry, credit ref, etc. But I need an NPS sponsor to verify my information. If anyone here is willing to sponsor me I can send you a copy of my online sales totals from last year, or any other info related to my photography business. I have tear sheets from my local paper, and have business cards and online sales reports for any time period over the past few years. But since I have a non-photography day job I could not claim to be a full-time photographer. BTW I decided to send the camera back through my local dealer where I purchased the camera hoping they would have a somewhat faster track through the repair process. |
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Kevin Leas, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 10:09 PM on 04.27.08 |
->> Gary,
Richard is spot on with his advice about working with the dealer. When our pro customers had issues, we would always try to get the issues fixed through CPS/NPS, instead of the regular channels. It worked like a champ. If you didn't discuss this with the dealer when you dropped it off, do it tomorrow. Ask if they have an NPS account that they can use to take care of this. Good luck! |
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Allen Hubbard, Photographer
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Spokane | WA | USA | Posted: 3:06 AM on 04.28.08 |
->> "Definition of professional in photography sense, is someone who is earning 100% of their income from photography.
You sir, are an amatuer!"
WTF!
Drew, you need a reality check.
There are many photographers who are "Professionals" that have some income from something other than photography. |
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David Bailey, Photographer
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Flower Mound | TX | USA | Posted: 9:38 AM on 04.28.08 |
->> Actually in most cases only 51% of your annual income from photography is needed to satisfy most requirements of being a "professional". Full-time is a relative term as sometimes you can work 80 hours a week and other weeks maybe only 20, that's why NPS doesn't define exact #'s to determine "full-time". In most jobs 32 hours is considered "full-time".
If you work "part-time" and earn $40k per year from photography you still make more money than most "full-time" photographers, it shouldn't really matter if you happen to have a nother job as well. Most of my life I have had at least 2 jobs/businesses.
And yes, photography is my only source of income so I'm not making these comments for selfish reasons. |
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Drew Broadley, Photographer
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Wellington | NZ | New Zealand | Posted: 8:36 PM on 04.28.08 |
->> Allen,
It was a tongue in cheek comment.
I believe it's to stop daddy-with-a-big-wallet "amatuers" coming along and consuming important "professional" camera services time and resources of repairing brand new D3's that have been dropped and had peanut butter poured on them, instead of priority jobs on people who need to be at an assignment tomorrow and their camera is broke. |
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Derrick den Hollander, Photographer
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Melbourne | VIC | AUSTRALIA | Posted: 1:06 AM on 04.29.08 |
| ->> Nothing but positive reports from NPS here in Australia, in particular Melbourne - they are fantastic. |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 10:51 AM on 04.29.08 |
->> Gary ... You must have stood on the motor the last 4 months. At that rate, you would have ended up with more than 229,000 releases in a year's time.
I have a D300 I bought two months ago and it's just turning over 8,000 releases. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Not Listed | MA | United States | Posted: 12:08 PM on 04.29.08 |
| ->> Jeff I know of a member that shoots that in six months. I easily fired almost 400,000 frames on a D2Xs last year. |
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Luke Trottier, Photographer
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Bath | ME | US | Posted: 1:29 PM on 04.29.08 |
| ->> On a long weekend I will put 30K on my 1D3. It just depends on what your shooting. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Not Listed | MA | United States | Posted: 1:56 PM on 04.29.08 |
| ->> Luke I wasn't going to out you but tis you that I spoke of. |
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Gary Jones, Photographer
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Rocklin | CA | United States | Posted: 4:08 PM on 05.02.08 |
| ->> It's been just under a week and I decided to call my local shop to see if they've heard anything from the repair facility. They said it normally takes 4-6 weeks. ACK! I've sent two bodies back in the past 4 year - a D2H and a D100. In both cases the turnaround was about a week. Not sure if things have changed in the past couple of years. |
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