Nikon quality

Hi.

I have a 5700 which I am very satisfied with. I'll go to Detriot (live in Sweden) within a few weeks and I intend to buy a 8800.

Now to my question. According to rumours there are 3 quality levels on most of the japanese cameras.

Q1: Japanese components & Japanese assembly
Q2: Japanese components & Chinese assembly (or vice verse)
Q3: Chinese components & Chinese assembly

Market
Q1: Only domestic (japan)
Q2: Europe
Q3: US and web shops

This is what I have been told. Could any that have insight in this tell me whats true about this?

If so, do you believe there are any significant difference in quality?

Any shops in Detroit that you could recommend?

--
Ciao
Peter

My 8800 says"made in Japan". I am in the USA and purchased in USA. Was it made in Japan??? I guess. Was it assembled in Japan??? I don't know exactly what "made in Japan" means.

I worked in Circuit City(USA electronics store) part-time in digital cameras after I retired. When Asians would look at a camera, if it didn't say "made in Japan", they wanted no part of it.

The CP 5700 I bought last year here at US says "Made In Japan". Few years ago, I asked my Japanese colleague to buy me a CP 800 from Japan. Guess what? It says "Made in Korea".

--
Nikon Coolpix 5 7 0 0
Canon 20D
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Thanks. I have checked with Nikon Sweden and they said that different models are made in different factories (countries) and that each models are made at the same factory, not different ones. Japan in the 8800 case. I'm satisfied with that and plan to buy a 8800 i Detroit.

Peter 5700 said:

Hi.
I have a 5700 which I am very satisfied with. I'll go to Detriot
(live in Sweden) within a few weeks and I intend to buy a 8800.

Now to my question. According to rumours there are 3 quality levels
on most of the japanese cameras.

Q1: Japanese components & Japanese assembly
Q2: Japanese components & Chinese assembly (or vice verse)
Q3: Chinese components & Chinese assembly

Market
Q1: Only domestic (japan)
Q2: Europe
Q3: US and web shops

This is what I have been told. Could any that have insight in this
tell me whats true about this?

If so, do you believe there are any significant difference in quality?

Any shops in Detroit that you could recommend?

--
Ciao
Peter

Click to expand...

--
Ciao
Peter

I don't see why it would matter weather the camera was assembled by a Chinese, Japanese or Taiwanese assembly line worker at all. What does matter is Nikon management at whatever the location properly training workers and insisting on a high quality production line. as long as Nikon's quality management is consistent accross boundaries it won't matter.

--
Just my nickels worth.
Happy Snappin'!

Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
D Seventy

The Japanese allegiance to Japanese products may have less to do with quality than nationalism. The Japanese economy has not been doing well and just like many of our progressives on this side of the Pacific, Japanese nationals may wish to support jobs inside their own country rather than outside of it. Though they likely tell you that Japanese products are the best which is why they support them

However, in my view "made in the USA" and "made in Japan" have little meaning anymore. The supply chains for products are long and include materials sources, design, fabrication, assembly, marketing, and sales. All of these things might be done in different places. "Made in XX" may only refer to one segment in the overall process such as assembly.

An alternative example - go to your local new car lot. Here in CA and maybe in the rest of the US there is a law that says that the dealer must inform the buyer how much of a car is made in the USA and identify what are the sources for major parts (such as engines and transmissions). There should be a little white square sticker on the window identifying the proportion of the car that is made in the US as well as sources of major components. You'll be surprised to find many Japanese cars are assembled in the US. Many US cars are assembled in Canada and Mexico and many parts in US Cars come from Germany, Portugal and other places A Ford I recently looked at had a transmission from Germany. A light bulb company I once interviewed here in Los Angeles for a research project used to send light bulbs to Portugal for assembly into radios that would go in Ford autos destined for the US market. We don't manufacture cars in LA anymore. Can you imagine?

Oddly, it seems US auto makers want buyers to believe their cars have exotic high quality foreign parts with exacting standards while Japanese companies are quick to highlight that their cars benefit the US worker in many ways.

In short I wouldn't worry about what the "made in XX" sticker says as it likely tells you little about the full manufacturing process of the product.

In my other life I am finishing a PhD in Economic Geography at UCLA Hence, this stuff fascinates me. Whenever I talk to online service agents I always ask where they are located and I can't help to always check where the products I consume are made. Everything I saw in the souvenir shop on a recent trip to Disneyland came from SE Asia

Cheers,
Brent

RecalcitrantRon said:

I don't see why it would matter weather the camera was assembled by
a Chinese, Japanese or Taiwanese assembly line worker at all. What
does matter is Nikon management at whatever the location properly
training workers and insisting on a high quality production line.
as long as Nikon's quality management is consistent accross
boundaries it won't matter.

--
Just my nickels worth.
Happy Snappin'!

Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
D Seventy

Click to expand...

--
Brent Haydamack
9-9-5, S-u-n-p-a-k P-Z--4-0-0-0-A-F

Where the phone is made matters little anymore. Nikon sets up very strict controls in the MFG and I don't think it makes a big difference

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida
http://www.pbase.com/greggebhardt

Camera Mart in Pontiac (north of Detroit) is a good shop and carries the 8800. They've been selling them as fast as they can get them in, so you will want to call first if interested.
Early welcome to Michigan to you,
Kelly

--
Just my nickels worth.
Happy Snappin'!

Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
D Seventy

Al Dugan wrote:

I would not be so sure it doesn't make any difference where a product is made or assembled. I am just not sure how you would know in advance, which place would be better. After a camera has been out for a while, problems will crop up and some may be unique to the place of manufacture. It happens all the time and to good companies too. Local management isn’t always as good as head office would like them to be.

I agree that it makes less difference now than before, but I contend even the best companies don’t have that good a handle on things. Sometimes it is counter-intuitive though. Take the Rollei 35 for example. As a collector’s camera, the German made model is more valuable, but if you want one to use, buy the model made in Singapore, it is a bit better. I think that has less to do with manufacturing standards and more to do with improvements they made when they set up the Singapore assembly plant.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Any differences that may exist are not likely to be significant and Nikon stands behind their products.

Al Dugan

I am wondering about Nikon's quality control when the first 8800 I received had one of its main components (VR) dead from the factory. Obviously this one missed any type of inspection. The second is on its way and hopefully all will be well!

Greg

Greg Gebhardt said:

Where the phone is made matters little anymore. Nikon sets up very
strict controls in the MFG and I don't think it makes a big
difference

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida
http://www.pbase.com/greggebhardt

Click to expand...

Al Dugan,

For the record, I got my TC-E2 new and factory packed with a major defect. When I opened the package, it looked like it had never been opened before, but the lens had definitely been dropped or bumped. The glass was OK, but the filter ring had a significant dent in it. The camera store took it back.

Al Dugan

Greg Y. said:

Greg

Greg Gebhardt said:

Where the phone is made matters little anymore. Nikon sets up very
strict controls in the MFG and I don't think it makes a big
difference

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida
http://www.pbase.com/greggebhardt

Click to expand...

Click to expand...