Is Nikon D90 junk? (ERR message thing)

[hoboahoy]

Hi folks, yeah for example this is where you can read the error message related complaints by the owners of the D90 with error messages.

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

Many of you at this thread here said you have no experience with the error message, which is a good news for me if I want to reconsider the D90 purchase.

 

[Joves]

Well considering there are 166 reviews and 12 people out of that number had the complaint, the satisfied owners greatly out weigh the dissatisfied ones.

 

[robb01]

Well considering there are 166 reviews and 12 people out of that number had the complaint, the satisfied owners greatly out weigh the dissatisfied ones.

I'd take those odds anyday

 

[IgsEMT]

I got ERR on mine at F16 and above. nikon replaced the aperture mechanism and so far, thank G-D, its been great!

 

[IgsEMT]

by the way, the 18-105 lens is a bit soft, so i boosted the sharpness b/n 5-7 and LOVE the results.

 

[Photos4You]

I have a D80 and when I dropped it, yes, my bag was not zippered, and had to send it for repair, I got a D90 for last year's holidays. It worked just fine for three months and then started hesitating when I tried to take a picture and then the inevitable ERR message. I had to take out the battery to get it started again. It worked for a couple of days and then ERR stop, remove battery, take a few pictures. There is a lot of information about this complaint on the net. Since I was visiting my daughter in Venice, CA preparing to write a story, I had to finish with my Canon point and shoot. The new Nikon repair center is not far from where I was staying so I dropped it off and got the call one day after I flew home to NC that it was ready. After 10 faxes and 10 calls, yes 20 times plus emails, I finally got someone to send my camera back. This week I got the ERR message again, just before leaving for an Alaskan cruise. I am beginning to think one has to take a couple of cameras on a trip in order to make sure that it will be possible to be sure that one can have an SLR available. Question: Based on what I have read, IS THERE ANY TRULY RELIABLE SLR? THANKS.

 

[IgsEMT]

I had ERR on my D90 at F/16 and above. They replaced the aperture mechanism and camera works great.
Love this toy!

 

[Meizy]

I also get ERROR messages from my D90. sometimes with CHR, sometimes with F--, sometimes nothing - it just lock up. it won't work until I get the battery out AND re-attach the lens. sometimes it happens once a day, sometimes once every 5 minutes.

I cleaned the lens contacts, and my memory card is top notch.

all those people on this thread saying they have a D90 and not seen any problem - this proves nothing. if there is a 5% failure rate on a model - then it's certainly junk. even at 1% it's completely unacceptable. I don't know what is the real percentage, but
it seems like too many people are reporting similar problems on the net, and the D90 model is relatively young, so this could certainly be a reason to worry.

I had other SLR models for years without having to play with the contacts and grease it with anything. I expect this to work as well as other models.

Meizy

 

[PhotoXopher]

Think about what you just said.

"Too many people are reporting similar problems on the net."

Most of the time that's all you'll see, the problems. That's the thing that brought them on the net in the first place, troubleshooting a problem.

What you see as a 'common problem' may not be as common as you think, it just appears so. And why are people with no problems proving nothing while people with a problem are? Don't both sides work into the equation?

Where are you getting your percentages from?

Top notch memory cards don't necessarily mean no problems, I've had crappy cards do very well and I've had SanDisk cards fail.

You should have a warranty, sounds like it may be time to use it.

 

[JamesMason]

Go canon, Canon is top, Nikon suckzz i would buy a Pentax before i bought a nikon, damn just open your eyes go canon

Nah jokes, Ill leave this to the Nikonites to try figure out
But for the record, never experienced a problem with my canon yet.

you should be locked in a room with ken rockwell until you repent your sins

 

[reng2009]

You could be getting the err for a number of reasons. If you use a lens that allows you to change the F/stop manually, you will get the error if it is not set to its widest setting.

Forgive my ignorance but why would it be an error to not use the widest setting in manual mode??

 

[Plato]

I'm not saying the D90 is a bad camera - it works 99.999 percent of the time and the problems are minor niggles, but if the D90 and the D40x were both parachutes, it would be the D40x strapped to my back when jumping out of a plane.

We put men on the moon with five nines reliability.

 

[Plato]

You could be getting the err for a number of reasons. If you use a lens that allows you to change the F/stop manually, you will get the error if it is not set to its widest setting.

Forgive my ignorance but why would it be an error to not use the widest setting in manual mode??

Because that's the wrong way to use the camera. R.T.F.M. When you use manual mode, the settings, including aperture, are made on the camera, NOT on the lens.

 

[p51mstg]

I've seen this problem, or similar, with 2 different D90's. Overall, I absolutely love this camera. But, it's a royal pain to keep popping the battery every time I see an error. It seems like that's the only thing which will clear the "err" message (removing the battery). I've shot maybe 500 photos so far, and can see this problem maybe once every 50 or so. I'm going to try a new memory card, and will be contacting Nikon if that doesn't make a difference.

For those of you who are still convinced this is a user issue, I completely disagree. Please stop bashing those of us who appear to be whining about a very real problem that only superficially looks like it's being caused by the user.

I also get ERROR messages from my D90. sometimes with CHR, sometimes with F--, sometimes nothing - it just lock up. it won't work until I get the battery out AND re-attach the lens. sometimes it happens once a day, sometimes once every 5 minutes.

I cleaned the lens contacts, and my memory card is top notch.

all those people on this thread saying they have a D90 and not seen any problem - this proves nothing. if there is a 5% failure rate on a model - then it's certainly junk. even at 1% it's completely unacceptable. I don't know what is the real percentage, but
it seems like too many people are reporting similar problems on the net, and the D90 model is relatively young, so this could certainly be a reason to worry.

I had other SLR models for years without having to play with the contacts and grease it with anything. I expect this to work as well as other models.

Meizy

 

[p51mstg]

Could those that don't seem to have the problem share which memory card you have? I'm looking for brand, size and SDHC "class". I think that either I have a bad card or it's a class that's not quite compatible with the camera.

What does everyone else think?