Just found this
http://www.diyphotography.net/nikon-issues-pre-emptive-recalls-d5-d500-please-return-service-advance/#more-42907
http://www.diyphotography.net/nikon-issues-pre-emptive-recalls-d5-d500-please-return-service-advance/#more-42907
Eldar said:Just found this
http://www.diyphotography.net/nikon-issues-pre-emptive-recalls-d5-d500-please-return-service-advance/#more-42907
GuyF said:"...While our engineers have found no flaws in either design or manufacturing of the newest products we are certain that our customers will spend every waking minute of every day until they find some sort of minor flaw as regards our latest cameras. We fully intend to actually test and use these new cameras ourselves before unleashing them on the public...."
So does that suggest the public are normally looked upon by Nikon as unsuspecting beta testers?
rfdesigner said:GuyF said:"...While our engineers have found no flaws in either design or manufacturing of the newest products we are certain that our customers will spend every waking minute of every day until they find some sort of minor flaw as regards our latest cameras. We fully intend to actually test and use these new cameras ourselves before unleashing them on the public...."
So does that suggest the public are normally looked upon by Nikon as unsuspecting beta testers?
I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
It's cheaper than testing.
J.R. said:rfdesigner said:GuyF said:"...While our engineers have found no flaws in either design or manufacturing of the newest products we are certain that our customers will spend every waking minute of every day until they find some sort of minor flaw as regards our latest cameras. We fully intend to actually test and use these new cameras ourselves before unleashing them on the public...."
So does that suggest the public are normally looked upon by Nikon as unsuspecting beta testers?
I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
It's cheaper than testing.
While the actual beta testers will iron our some of the kinks, they won't be able to identify all of the potential problems in a product. The first adopters of any product do act as beta testers without their knowing it. If the same problem surfaces sufficient number of times, a firmware update or a product recall will be done.
rfdesigner said:I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
rfdesigner said:the point is some companies (i.e. Canon) seem to get away with very few recalls/patches, whilst others (M$) have a never ending stream of fixes (I don't seem to get anything like that for Ubuntu).
Point is canon products, on the whole, "just" work. (I know sometimes there's a problem, but IME across their product range problems are relatively rare (50f1.4 being a possible exception), which on the whole suggests reasonably thorough testing and high level product decisions that usually favour reliability over functionality, which is probably why their stuff costs a more, the 35LII being a prime example ;D
He he, I thought it was a good jokeJ.R. said:Eldar said:Just found this
http://www.diyphotography.net/nikon-issues-pre-emptive-recalls-d5-d500-please-return-service-advance/#more-42907
Really Eldar ... ;D ;D
On a serious note though, I do hope for my Nikon shooting friends who have ordered the D5/D500 that their cameras turn out fine. The way Nikon handled the D600 fiasco was beyond belief.
GuyF said:rfdesigner said:I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
Yeah, you're right but if I were an engineer for Nikon (or anyone), I'd insist I test "my" product to destruction before signing it off. I know companies will have a finite budget for testing etc. but surely the engineers must have some professional pride in what they've created and will make some noise if they feel their managers are releasing substandard goods.
Alas bean counters rule the world....
rfdesigner said:GuyF said:rfdesigner said:I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
Yeah, you're right but if I were an engineer for Nikon (or anyone), I'd insist I test "my" product to destruction before signing it off. I know companies will have a finite budget for testing etc. but surely the engineers must have some professional pride in what they've created and will make some noise if they feel their managers are releasing substandard goods.
Alas bean counters rule the world....
it isn't the engineers.. they generally want to sit on the products for another 6 months to iron out as many wrinkles as possible, it's the sales/finance guys who want to ship the prototype then blame everyone except themselves when it blows up in the customers face.
CanonFanBoy said:Nobody ships prototypes out to sell to customers. Prototypes aren't manufactured in large numbers. Never.
J.R. said:rfdesigner said:GuyF said:"...While our engineers have found no flaws in either design or manufacturing of the newest products we are certain that our customers will spend every waking minute of every day until they find some sort of minor flaw as regards our latest cameras. We fully intend to actually test and use these new cameras ourselves before unleashing them on the public...."
So does that suggest the public are normally looked upon by Nikon as unsuspecting beta testers?
I thought most big companies treat their customers like this.
It's cheaper than testing.
While the actual beta testers will iron our some of the kinks, they won't be able to identify all of the potential problems in a product. The first adopters of any product do act as beta testers without their knowing it. If the same problem surfaces sufficient number of times, a firmware update or a product recall will be done.
kaihp said:CanonFanBoy said:Nobody ships prototypes out to sell to customers. Prototypes aren't manufactured in large numbers. Never.
I agree with a lot of your points, even though I'm from the R&D corner rather than manufacturing.
However, I wonder what you define as 'large numbers'. I come from a regulated business (medical devices) and we've had thousands of prototypes manufactured for validation purposes.
Novo Nordisk produces in excess of 1 billion (1E9) prefilled insulin pens every year. When they do prototypes, they don't manufacture just one or two units
Djaaf said:You're pretty much right that finance or sales don't decide alone on the release date of a product. It's a lot more messy than that.
What generally happens, in my experience, is that engineering gives the date it thinks the product will be ready for. Then Production says when they'll have sufficient number of the product ready to ship. Then marketing gives the date all the marketing materials, ad services, tv spot reservation, etc... will be ready. Then you got the sales department giving a date for the education of the sellers on the new product, etc...
what happens next is that the dates get moved around a bit (engineering getting unexpected trouble with a component, Production gets a fire or a flood in one of the factories, etc...). And sometimes... you can't move the release date because of external factors (big show already planned with celebrities or politics, etc...). So... you get something out, hoping for the best and you continue to update the product in the backrooms to get a fix on what you see on the first batch...
Djaaf.