made in Japan vs. made in Thailand

Hello everybody,

I am considering purchasing a new entry level DSLR....looking at Canon 30D, 5D, and Nikon D200, D70s.

I've reviewed a lot of the technical data between the similar product lines and they seem to be pretty neck to neck in most areas...I don't have any lenses in either camera, so I'm starting off new there...I've used Canon G1 and S500 last 5 years, but I'm not certainly not a squatter in the Canon camp and keeping all my options open.

However, can anybody answer to the workmanship and quality (durability under normal use/care) of the Nikon products made in Japan vs. the ones made in Thailand? How does the quality compare for those of you out there that own both???

thanks!
-JXB

The difference is you save probably at least $500 per body when it's made in Thailand.
--
Phil Flash
SF, CA USA
'Trust the 'kon!'

Stuff I own in my profile.

A nice list of "entry level" cameras - D200, 5D...

My Thai made D70 is OK when it comes to the build. I found D50 feel more "plasticky". OTOH D200 is said to be much more solid.

That's how the cameras were designed though, it would be the same if they were assembled in Japan I think.

Reliability - my D70 (Early model - March 2004) was in service twice. First the "back focus issue", now the "BGLOD". Not great, but at least Nikon fixed these for free.

Back focus looked like a manufacturing/QC issue where Thai personnel might have played a role, the other one looks more like a design flaw (cable too short AFAIK?).

This reportedly only affected very early D70's.

OTOH, I remember D2H also had a common metering failure (?), so if these are built in Japan it's not a 100% warranty against defects.

--
Michal Urban
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=224846

m970594 said:

However, can anybody answer to the workmanship and quality
(durability under normal use/care) of the Nikon products made in
Japan vs. the ones made in Thailand?

Click to expand...

I have owned many Nikon cameras including the D70 that was made in Thailand as well as some lenses made in China while most of others were made in Japan. You just can't tell the difference in feel and workmanship unless you read the little text.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

Oops, hope my first unfinished message didn't show up. Pushed the wrong key!

Anyway, I'm not sure why there would be any difference between a camera assembled/built in Thailand or one from Japan. The Japanese companies almost always have Japanese in the management/supervisory positions in Thailand. When a factory is built, new, modern manufacturing equipment is installed, often much more modern than the equipment in homeland facilities. Nikon (like most Japanese companies) uses strictly controlled manufacturing techniques and QC policies, which are the same from location to location. The assembly is mostly just that, assembly with many components coming from outsourcing, not ground up manufacturing. And,..... the list goes on.

You can be confident with international/export products made in Thailand. Thailand's number one export is electronic/computer parts, closely followed by automotive parts and cars so don't be surprised if some of your prized possesions already come from there.

Yes, they do have some junk, but don't we have some junk being made in North America as well? ;-)

i don't have anything to compare with japanese wise or photographic-wise...but 2 biggest comparisons are BMWs made in USA vs GER and BRAUN made in GER vs. made in china.

The difference in workmanship and quality was readily apparent in both cases....no one can argue that the germans don't make quality products, I had Rollei when I was a kid that my dad handed down to me and it was an AWESOME camera at 20+ years old.

In today's throwaway society....maybe that doesn't matter anymore...10 years from few people will be shooting a D200.

My Canon 20D's were made in Japan. My D200 is made in Thailand.

I prefer the way my D200 is built.

That's pretty clear for me that there is no difference.

--
Edward
http://www.edwardtmartins.com
http://www.wildlightgallery.net
http://www.pbase.com/qwntm

Didn't Mercedes get JD Powers LOWEST customer satisfaction rating for the past 5 years in a row or something?

Maybe "Made in Germany" aint what it used to be...

(I could be wrong, but I thought I read that soemwhere.)

--
Edward
http://www.edwardtmartins.com
http://www.wildlightgallery.net
http://www.pbase.com/qwntm

I own a BMW while my wife owns a lexus. My bimmer has given me way more trouble than our lexus ever has. The AC broke down the first year, the engine burnt because of a faulty thermostat the next year and the whole engine had to be shipped back from Germany to get it replaced. Needless to say, I will not be buying another BMW in my life.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

Some time ago I had a German-built BMW. Nice car, enjoyed it, but I was not particularly impressed with the engineering or workmanship.

My current car is a Honda Accord, built in Ohio. Outstanding quality, very little trouble in 200,000+ miles.

It's management and engineering, not who's on the assembly line.

Ken Plotkin

Nikon owns all their factories. They do not outsource the work and no matter what country the product is made in, Nikon makes the workers adhere to strict manufacturing policies. I have Nikon gear made in Thailand (D70 18-70, D200, 18-200) and while the lenses are made of a combination of plastic and metal as compared to almost all metal on the Japanese made lenses, the performance and overal quality is indistinguishable. My D200 body is more solid than Canon, Pentax, or others at the same or close to the same price.
--
J Zee
Greatness, no matter how brief, stays with a man

All the Japanese cars I've owned have been bullet proof. So when the time came to make a choice between a Lexus and a Mercedes, what did I do? Yup, flipped a coin and ordered the Benz. Big mistake. Most unreliable car I've ever owned . . . even compared to the junk U.S. automakers were rolling off the lines in the 70's & 80's.

I recently received my Consumer Reports member auto survey. Payback time . . . heh heh heh.

Well, what we're talking about here is a little different. We're talking about a Japanese brand made in Thailand vs. made in Japan. I'm assuming that the Benz and BMW you're talking about were made in Germany, however there is a possibility they were manufactured in Thailand as just about any brand you can think of is assembled there. However if I said they were all as solid as the imports, it would be stretching it. Right now I have a Benz and BMW, both assembled in Thailand, both good cars, that's all I can say from experience.

The two bmws i owned were both made in GER. I'm sure knowadays they probably outsource the sub-components...

BMW has a plant in S. Carolina, and i've noticed sublte differences in those cars...same thing goes for a VW made in Brazil and one made in Germany...

Back to cameras: Does anybody think the workmanship of a D2X/D2H made in Japan has the same quality and durability as the D200 made in Thailand?

I've read a lot of posts about how great the pics are for D200, but OTOH i've seen a lot of posts about people returning their D200s for defects...

Growing pains of a new camera? Or lack of quality workmanship???

-------
http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=2183841

m970594 said:

Growing pains of a new camera? Or lack of quality workmanship???

Click to expand...

Lack of quality workmenship I think would mean that they are all shoddily made, not a select very small minority have a clear defect due probably to engineering specs.

As I have a made in Thailand D200 that is FLAWLESS in terms of it's construction, and with no functional defects either, I can't believe that they are all shoddily made.

--
Edward
http://www.edwardtmartins.com
http://www.wildlightgallery.net
http://www.pbase.com/qwntm

m970594 said:

Back to cameras: Does anybody think the workmanship of a D2X/D2H
made in Japan has the same quality and durability as the D200 made
in Thailand?

Click to expand...

When D2X was first released, quite a significant number of people had focus issues, a lot of which were subsequently resolved by FW 1.0.1. But that does not mean, workmanship was bad? It was more to do with bugs in the algorithm that was eventually resolved.

m970594 said:

I've read a lot of posts about how great the pics are for D200, but
OTOH i've seen a lot of posts about people returning their D200s
for defects...

Click to expand...

D200 is actually built like a tank. I don't own the camera but have fondled it enough to develop a clear liking for the workmanship that has gone behind building this machine.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

Variations because of national origins is a fallacy. It operated because of variations in the understanding of industrial engineering or how to organize and run a factory. Japan has studied that with brilliance and it works no matter where they put their factory whether Nikons or Toyotas.

I had no flaws in either my Japanese D100 or my Thai D200.