(Above D800e image–close enough–courtesy of Wikipedia.)
On January 21st, I sent my D800 in for a repair of the irritating “weird diagonal stripe” on the sensor. (See previous posts: Nov 19, Nov 24, Nov 26, 2013, and Jan 21, 2014.) It was received and processed by Nikon by January 29 and I approved the repair that very day. I just received the camera back this afternoon (Feb 6).
The verdict?
I have to say I was expecting the worst. Nikon’s customer relations seem to have been bumping down a rocky 4×4 trail toward a Wile E. Coyote cliff lately and their concern for customer satisfaction was a big unknown variable in my mind. If you follow Thom “Mr. Nikon” Hogan’s site at all, you know he has been giving Nikon a pretty severe lashing with the cat o’ nine tails lately for all things customer related. And, thickening the plot soup, my camera was technically just barely out of the warranty period (it was a Nikon Store refurb)–and even though the issue looked to be one of a flawed sensor from the manufaturer on Day 1, I figured they’d just say, “Tough luck, son.”
So, again, I was not expecting much–and given what they were charging me for the repair (about $160 clams), all I really expected was a cleaning that would do nothing to solve the issue.
To quote Gomer, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” My D800 is no-kiddin’ fixed and it looks practically new! With a few test shots, I confirmed that there was no sign at all of that weird diagonal stripe. In fact, it actually said “RPL IMAGE SENSOR” on the work order. I am impressed. Kudos to Nikon for doing the right thing and making me one happy camper.
Naturally, that means I’m off at dawn tomorrow in the feezing cold in search of that elusive perfect image. And no more cloning out stupid diagonal stripes in the sky!
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