Reading mode: Light Dark

Thank you to my new friends here--and prolly farewell, too

Go to last post
W

Water Ouzel

Active member
Messages
52
Reaction score
7
Just opened my brand new D800e from B&H.

Took two pics in JPG.

Ran it through exiftool on my Mac and my jaw dropped:

Bradleys-MacBook:~obb$ exiftool /Users/obb/Pictures/shutter1.jpg | grep "Shutter"

Flash Shutter Speed : 1/60 s

Shutter Count : 2744 <--------------------------

Shutter Speed : 1/5

MY FIRST SHUTTER COUNT WAS TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR

I did run exiftool on my second pic. Reports Shutter Count of 2745, so incremented by 1 as one would expect.

Is there something wrong with my methodology, or is there crap in River City?

With all I've seen on Nikon QA and customer support, I'm ready to return the whole package (Sigma 35mm lens) and re-lay the foundation on a 5D3, contrast, lower DR, and all. Mein Gott, the shining Exmor sensor on the altar, and absolute crap behind the curtain.

Or is my overexercise unfounded? I'm inclined to see more validity in exiftool than in Nikon just now.

Any moderating thoughts?

Thanks, Brad
 
B&H probably sent you a returned unit - don't think it has anything to do with Nikon.

The flip side of having those terrific return policies I guess...
 
B&H is very reputable. I buy stuff from them all the time, so does not make sense.

How was the box? Did it look like it was beat up / opened before? I would contact B&H customer service and send them a copy of the picture so they can verify the EXIF information themselves.

If indeed it is a return being passed on you can do one of two things.

1. Ask for a full refund and exchange.

2. Ask for a partial refund to account for a used camera. It could be that they have accidently sent you a refurbished unit. This could be a blessing or a curse. It could be one of the early units with left focus issue, that could have gone back to NIkon, corrected and now back on the market.

HTH
 
Fortunately you bought it from B&H. I'm sure a simple call to them will solve the problem to your satisfaction.
Water Ouzel said:
Water Ouzel wrote:

Just opened my brand new D800e from B&H.

Took two pics in JPG.

Ran it through exiftool on my Mac and my jaw dropped:

Bradleys-MacBook:~obb$ exiftool /Users/obb/Pictures/shutter1.jpg | grep "Shutter"

Flash Shutter Speed : 1/60 s

Shutter Count : 2744 <--------------------------

Shutter Speed : 1/5

MY FIRST SHUTTER COUNT WAS TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR

I did run exiftool on my second pic. Reports Shutter Count of 2745, so incremented by 1 as one would expect.

Is there something wrong with my methodology, or is there crap in River City?

With all I've seen on Nikon QA and customer support, I'm ready to return the whole package (Sigma 35mm lens) and re-lay the foundation on a 5D3, contrast, lower DR, and all. Mein Gott, the shining Exmor sensor on the altar, and absolute crap behind the curtain.

Or is my overexercise unfounded? I'm inclined to see more validity in exiftool than in Nikon just now.

Any moderating thoughts?

Thanks, Brad
Click to expand...
 
I believe they close at 2:00 pm EST today so until Sunday, enjoy the loaner that B&H sent you.
 
So, the packaging was pristine. The JPG file name was _DSC0001.

I believe B&H sent me in good faith a "new" camera but that Nikon forgot to reset the shutter count when they shipped this refurb as new. My hypothesis: Maybe Nikon is swimming in refurbs. And their repair facility is famous for neglect. I qotta wonder if their volume of refurbs is forcing them to send them out as new, but some characteristically inattentive tech neglected the shutter count.

Another thread referenced Monty Python, "Run away, quickly." It's really theatre of the absurd, as I see it, trying to believe in Nikon at this point.

Brad
 
Just like to say I received my D800 last Tuesday from B&H and the shutter count was 1. :-)
 
jaymc said:
jaymc wrote:

Just like to say I received my D800 last Tuesday from B&H and the shutter count was 1. :-)

--
Get your Portable ID!
Click to expand...
Totally valid comment. Glad for you and everyone else who has had good luck with the D800* family right out of the box. But it does seem to be a bit like playing roulette.
 
Last edited:
James JC said:
James JC wrote:

Did you verify that with IExif software?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your good intentions. Did you read my topmost post? If so, I invite you to check up on the credible Mac OS utility exiftool. I doubt that I need to run the same file through someone's Windows system and Opanda's product. exiftool has worked perfectly on other file formats I've thrown at it.
 
Water Ouzel said:
Water Ouzel wrote:

So, the packaging was pristine. The JPG file name was _DSC0001.

I believe B&H sent me in good faith a "new" camera but that Nikon forgot to reset the shutter count when they shipped this refurb as new. My hypothesis: Maybe Nikon is swimming in refurbs. And their repair facility is famous for neglect. I qotta wonder if their volume of refurbs is forcing them to send them out as new, but some characteristically inattentive tech neglected the shutter count.

Another thread referenced Monty Python, "Run away, quickly." It's really theatre of the absurd, as I see it, trying to believe in Nikon at this point.

Brad
Click to expand...
I think you are making some leaps of logic here. While B&H probably sent it in good faith, there is no way to tell why your camera has so many actuations. I think the most likely scenario is that Nikon had nothing to do with it. B&H accepts returns. They don't trash returned cameras. Nor do they sell them as used. They send them out to customers as new. I think you simply got a camera returned to B&H.

Since they accept returns. Return it to them. Have them send you another new camera. Repeat the process until you get one that shows only one actuation. Or, buy from some other store.
 
Water Ouzel said:
Water Ouzel wrote:

Just opened my brand new D800e from B&H.

Took two pics in JPG.

Ran it through exiftool on my Mac and my jaw dropped:

Bradleys-MacBook:~obb$ exiftool /Users/obb/Pictures/shutter1.jpg | grep "Shutter"

Flash Shutter Speed : 1/60 s

Shutter Count : 2744 <--------------------------

Shutter Speed : 1/5

MY FIRST SHUTTER COUNT WAS TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR

I did run exiftool on my second pic. Reports Shutter Count of 2745, so incremented by 1 as one would expect.

Is there something wrong with my methodology, or is there crap in River City?

With all I've seen on Nikon QA and customer support, I'm ready to return the whole package (Sigma 35mm lens) and re-lay the foundation on a 5D3, contrast, lower DR, and all. Mein Gott, the shining Exmor sensor on the altar, and absolute crap behind the curtain.

Or is my overexercise unfounded? I'm inclined to see more validity in exiftool than in Nikon just now.

Any moderating thoughts?

Thanks, Brad
Click to expand...
...it's the return policy. People buy stuff for fun and use the return policy to return before the time is over. Don't blame Nikon for this. That's why I never buy cameras from shops which allow that kind of behavior.

Anyway, use another EXIF reader to verify this before you return the camera as well. A few frames are OK, that's Nikon QC, but 2745... that's another customer or a previous demo camera, not delivered from Nikon.
 
If I remember correctly from countless other post's, B&H consider's 200 click's or less to be a new camera. ( I would expect a count of #1.) So the idea of them taking returns with shutter counts of 2700 and trying to pass them along as new, Sounds a bit crazy.. Unless the buyer's name was Gomer Pyle... :)))
 
Robin Casady said:
Robin Casady wrote:

I think you are making some leaps of logic here. While B&H probably sent it in good faith, there is no way to tell why your camera has so many actuations. I think the most likely scenario is that Nikon had nothing to do with it. B&H accepts returns. They don't trash returned cameras. Nor do they sell them as used. They send them out to customers as new. I think you simply got a camera returned to B&H.

Since they accept returns. Return it to them. Have them send you another new camera. Repeat the process until you get one that shows only one actuation. Or, buy from some other store.
Click to expand...
 
Did you format the card you used in camera before you took your test shots? If not that could well be your problem.
 
Water Ouzel said:
Water Ouzel wrote:

So, the packaging was pristine. The JPG file name was _DSC0001.

I believe B&H sent me in good faith a "new" camera but that Nikon forgot to reset the shutter count when they shipped this refurb as new. My hypothesis: Maybe Nikon is swimming in refurbs. And their repair facility is famous for neglect. I qotta wonder if their volume of refurbs is forcing them to send them out as new, but some characteristically inattentive tech neglected the shutter count.

Another thread referenced Monty Python, "Run away, quickly." It's really theatre of the absurd, as I see it, trying to believe in Nikon at this point.

Brad
Click to expand...
does the camera work, is it in good condition, and does it have the full factory warranty? if so, who cares? maybe they put it though a bunch of test fires at the factory. you are protected under the warranty, and i dont think ive ever met anyone who actually exceeded the shutter life of a dslr.
 
There have been posts on DPR, from time to time, by people getting previously returned items from B&H, Amazon, and other large retailers. Some stores are open about reselling customer returns. I believe B&H and Amazon state that their policy is not to resell returns. However, we'll never know what really goes on at the stores. Perhaps there was a legitimate mixup. Perhaps the customer claimed that the D800E he returned, assuming this is a returned unit, was never opened and B&H believed him after some some inspection and decided to resell the "unopened" unit. What I do know is that over the past 20 years of doing business with B&H I've never found a more legit and honest store. They'll probably send you a shipping label and do a 2 day FedEx for a new D800E on their dime. It seems the real question you are asking has nothing to do with B&H. Your question is whether or not you want to do business with Nikon given their current CS and QA track record. Is Nikon putting parts from returned D800E's back into production ? It's certainly possible. Apple and Dell use parts from returned merchandise for warranty service while Paul Buff is relatively open about using parts from returned strobes in their new products.
 
Water Ouzel said:
Water Ouzel wrote:
Water Ouzel said:
Robin Casady wrote:

I think you are making some leaps of logic here. While B&H probably sent it in good faith, there is no way to tell why your camera has so many actuations. I think the most likely scenario is that Nikon had nothing to do with it. B&H accepts returns. They don't trash returned cameras. Nor do they sell them as used. They send them out to customers as new. I think you simply got a camera returned to B&H.

Since they accept returns. Return it to them. Have them send you another new camera. Repeat the process until you get one that shows only one actuation. Or, buy from some other store.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top