
Nikon Will No Longer Authorize Anyone to Repair Its Cameras - notRobot
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvgggp/nikon-is-making-it-harder-to-fix-its-cameras
======
sfusato
My Nikon D90 still has life in it after 10+ years, but I guess I will have to
consider other brands once I'll be in the camera market again.

------
chin7an
I am still squeezing life out of my mid-2012 MacBook Pro and am very much pro
right-to-repair. But given the complexity of professional DSLR cameras, and
Apple laptops since I gave that example, I have to question my own belief that
these decisions are purely profit/shareholder-value driven. There has to be
something else at play here, maybe someone familiar with the high-tech
manufacturing process can shed some light.

Alternatively, what stops these companies from offering technical education on
repairing their products, and allowing the graduates to setup their own repair
businesses? I don't think it's sustainable to keep forcing customers to pay up
for $2k+ laptops or cameras every 3-4 years.

~~~
Daishiman
It's entirely a business decision that's profit-driven.

There's nothing technically limiting these manufacturers from making reparable
devices. It may extend their development cycle by a month or more for a
product though, as they need to settle on standardized parts, keep stock of
materials for repair, produce readable manuals, and make alterations to make
components accessible.

It is not in their interest to make any of this available, and it is entirely
in their interest at the same time to discourage repairability, through
marketing of new products and suppression of right-to-repair movements.

Ironically, a right-to-repair law would at least put everyone on equal ground
as far as having to comply to a minimum standard. But tragedy of the commons
and all that.

~~~
chin7an
Agree on the right-to-repair putting players on a common ground.

Thinking more on this, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out for
Nikon. They have serious competition from Canon, Sony and others and if they
keep their repairs open, Nikon will just end up hurting themselves in the
long-run.

Apple on the other hand, is in a much safer position. There is no real
competitor when it comes to macOS and so they can make these profit-driven
decisions without any serious consequences.

I'd like to point out that when I say "no real competition" to macOS, I don't
mean it's better than Windows or Linux. Rather, people who prefer macOS will
keep using it, just like people who prefer Windows will keep using it. The
force required to make them move to a different platform, change your entire
workflow etc, is, in my opinion, much higher than switching cameras. Yes,
changing the glass costs a small-fortune, but you have adapters, and image
formats are standards.

~~~
neuralRiot
>Nikon will just end up hurting themselves in the long-run.

IMHO tis is a desperate move from Nikon to increase profit, which might work
in the short run but might mean it’s death, i’m a “prosumer” photog and after
long years and lots of money in gear last year i decided to switch to sony
mirrorless getting new gear in the process, Nikon used to be great some time
ago and even having on-site techs giving tech support and repairs at big
events where lots of press where working, whenever you needed a part you just
call an 1-800 number and in a few days you had them shipped. Now you need to
risk shipping your gear to most likely be returned to you ater a month with a
non-repairable note and the charges for the service. Sad to see you going down
Nikon.

