How often do DSLRs go bad

[IanMoone]

I am looking to get a camera off of ebay brand new. It is probably going to be a D90. I noticed that not all of them have the Nikon 1 year warranty. How important is that? Assuming I treat the camera well, what are the chances that it will develop a defect?

 

[sobolik]

They are very dependable. The lack of warrenty is probably because they are I believe called gray market. Not an authorized dealer in the USA.

To avoid defects never stick anything in the shutter area with the lens off or just be stupid. Like throwing it across a highway when exiting a car. My D90 survived but I had to send the lens in for repair. They are computers so at any time they can get goofy. Fortunately they are worth repairing if something does happen. So far my D90 is flawless and I expect it to live a very long time. Another longevity technique is to avoid changing lenses a lot. The internals are exposed less often.

 

[Overread]

Unless your working in a highly dusty or grainy environment (eg the middle of a sandstorm or the beach with wind) changing lenses won't cause many problems that can't be solved with a simple clean of the cameras sensor. So never be afraid to change lenses - if you are in such an environment you could always use a film changing bag (or indeed any sealed back) to change the lenses over under cover.

The lack of warranty however does mean that the cameras are grey import - which simply means any inherent defect in the camera itself that would be covered for a free warranty repair won't be covered in your country. If you can ship back to the camera's country of origin you can however get it warranty repaired - however many ebay shops won't be helping you with that (some will and some won't).
Essentially you are taking a gamble between having warranty cover and a slightly higher price and not having warranty cover and having a lower price on the unit (ps most savings from grey import are going to be less than what it will cost for most repair work).

 

[IanMoone]

I thought so. Just wanted to make sure. Thanks very much.

 

[IgsEMT]

My luck:
Repaired Canon D20 at 2k frames - hot shoe went.
Repaired Canon 1Dm2 @ 50k frames - shutter was replaced.
Above gear was use when shot for studios who shot Canon.

D70, D200 - both went to 100k frames, never had to repair,
D300, repaired at 200k frames - replaced the shutter.
D90 repaired at 5k frames - shutter mechanism went.
D300s repaired when it had 2,5k frames - replaced hot shoe.

point is, but maybe it is much luck, it can go later in life or soon in life.