An engineer friend of mine asked, "Why does Nikon use grease to lubricate?"

Bryan Cady wrote:

When discussing D600, a friend of mine who is an engineer, found it strange that the camera would splatter oil at all. He was a little befuddled that Nikon would grease at all to lubricate when there are other, safer lubricants out there. He also said if you do use grease, it should be in a shielded system away from sensitive parts and so the grease will last the life of the part. With grease splattering, this means that eventually all the grease will be gone and the area will need to be regreased at some point.

Not saying this to bring up the oil/dust issue. I just thought he made an interesting point from a non-nikon person.

Is Nikon using old manufacturing techniques or is there a specific purpose to use grease?