Did I buy the worst two Nikon cameras (or are they all this bad?)

I don't know about the Nikon 5000 battery (probably Nikon engineers goofed on the charger because the batteries would presumably come from a variety of suppliers). Nikon has a bad reputation for battery chargers.

But I do know about the Nikon Coolpix battery door latch flaws as I had the Coolpix 2100 which uses the same idiotic design.

Here is a photo of the latch from a clueless reviewer

Here is a photo of the common Nikon engineering flaw the reviewer missed

See how a paperclip & superglue were used to fix Nikon's engineering flaw

See how a tripod screw & plate were used to fix Nikon's engineering flaw

Here is a photo of how Nikon fixed the flaw themselves

I would think that Nikon fixes these under a secret warranty for free even after the warranty period has expired.

Does anyone know how to invoke the Nikon secret warranty?

Here are a dozen photos showing how I used the advice in this thread to fix my son's Nikon Coolpix 3100 digital camera body which broke at exactly the same spot in all the photographs listed above.

You'll notice nobody said which drill bit to use, nor which dremel bit to use, nor which glue to use - and I think I screwed up in all three but the results still seem to work. It's a bit messy because I use the wrong dremel tool and probably the wrong glue (it melted the camera body a bit).

It's too late for me but does anyone know what the Nikon Coolpix camera bodies are made up of and therefore what glue to use which won't pit the camera body everywhere it touches it wet?

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Where can we put these instructions and photographs so that the next thousand people with a Nikon Coolpix camera can fix it themselves?

Not only did the prior articles (which were wonderful, mind you) not say which dremel tool to use, which drill bit to use, which glue and epoxy to use, but they also didn't say how to adjust the paperclip on the Nikon Coolpix 2100 & 3100 camera body to fit the Nikon Coolpix battery latch door.

I photographed a three-step description for the next hapless Nikon Coolpix owner.

STEP 1 Pull the paperclip out of the Nikon Coolpix camera about a quarter inch

STEP 2 Gently close the Nikon Coolpix camera battery door on the paperclip

STEP 3 Open the camera battery door so the paperclip is now automatically adjusted

Even my glueing was a three-step process that wasn't described in the otherwise wonderful notes on how to fix the Nikon Coolpix 2100 or Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera battery latch.

STEP A I drilled two 0.052 inch holes in the inside ribs of the Nikon Coolpix camera body for the legs of the paperclip and I notched out two spots for the paperclip in the edge of the camera body.

STEP B I glued the paperclip in place with superglue on the Nikon Coolpix camera

STEP C I added liberal amounts of epoxy for strength on the paperclip and Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera body.

In the hopes of helping someone else with the Nikon Coolpix line of cameras, what is the best way to post these photographs to help others?

For the record, I had called Nikon Service Relations at 800-645-6678 and they basically said that many people have the problem with the Nikon Coolpix series battery latch door breaking and that it wasn't something they cared about.

This is perhaps a good reason for not owning a Nikon camera. Canon seems to have a better attitude -- at least about their SLRs. (You can reach Customer Service on Saturdays. Even early in the evening.)

It's worth noting that manufacturers are legally obliged to provide "mechanical" replacement parts for at least three years after a product is discontinued. The availability of parts _implies_ the availability of service (though there seems to be no guarantee of _that_).

I'd suggest you get the necessary part and have an independent service shop fix it -- though the cost might be more than you would care to pay.

Even better, I suggest you contact the Federal Trade Commission and file a complaint.

By the way, the reason LocTite is not to be used on certain plastics is because it's an anaerobic glue -- it sets in the absence of oxygen. Those plastics allow oxygen to pass, and the glue won't harden.

flaw

That's REALLY BAD design. The "tongue in slot" lock is common among digital cameras, but the slot is usually a molded space within the camera body -- not a fragile plastic loop projecting from it.

I agree -- a reviewer should have caught this and at least warned potential buyers.

PS: Pardon my stupidity in not having first looked carefully at the photos. The "part" is a major chunk of the body, and is not easily replaceable.

I was going to mention that. :)

Not only is the "part" the camera body, but it's guaranteed to break given the stresses on a little tiny loop of plastic.

Why couldn't Nikon have designed the latch better? Is Nikon that stupid?

And why didn't the legion of reviewers for the Nikon Coolpix series notice this? Are THEY that stupid?

Or is it just me?

Thank you for this kind note. When I googled for this problem, I found that it's a common problem. But I had read the major reviews, e.g., dpreview, and I never saw any mention that this was going to be a disaster.

The folks at dpreview pumped up the camera so much that I now look at dpreview with total distrust.

How can ANYONE trust a reviewer who totally misses the fact the camera will be made senseless within a year of use in almost every case?

I partially blame the reviewers like dpreview and Steve's DigiCams who never told us the camera they were touting so blatantly would be a brick within a year due to Nikon's poor engineering.

I have totally lost my faith in at least the two reviewers I trusted

- Dpreview

- Steve's DigiCams

I guess the next question is whether or not there are ANY reliable & reputable camera reviwers out there who actually test the cameras for more than a day or two & report accurately on such obvious mechanical flaws?

Aha!

Maybe. However, they're not so wonderful about fixing what few engineering mistakes Canon does make. For example, the Error 18 problem which plagues their bottom of the line cameras:

This has actually been a benifit to me as I've been buying Canon cameras that display Error 18 and repairing them. Clean out the sand, un-jam the lens drive gears, and it's as good as ummm... used.

Canon is marginal at honoring the warranty on bottom of the line cameras. Two of the cameras I've fixed that displayed E18 were well within the warranty period. Both were S510's. The authorized repair center claimed that it was abused by the customer and therefore was not covered under warranty. This may have been true, but I was able to fix one by simply tinkering with the partly extended lens, and the other by tearing it apart and removing some accumulated dust that was jamming the gears.

Incidentally, I own a Canon A70, S510, A40, and just ordered a new S5-IS. On the computer front, I really like Canon printers.

SMS is right. This tiny flimsy piece of plastic holding the stress of the battery door is part of the body of the camera. So when it eventually breaks (within weeks in some cases, within a year in others - but given the design, it just has to break sooner rather than later) - the camera is kaput.

Now, I wonder why Nikon didn't just put a paperclip-like metal pin in the camera body. It would have cost pennies (how much can it cost) per camera and they'd not have the ruined reputation that the entire coolpix series has now.

Nobody who ever owned these coolpix cameras would ever trust Nikon again.

They also won't sell parts for the repair by a third party. The one exception is that if you were a resident of the country you bought the camera in when you bought it, they will honor the warranty.

Geoff.

Well the touch screen is a giant array of buttons so there is potential for them to stop working.

Mike

wrong. there are five mechanical buttons on the iphone.