I was looking for a new ultra-wide angle lens camera for my real estate business. The Ultra Wide Angle is important because they capture so much more of the room. Have you ever looked at real estate pictures of bedrooms and all you can see is the bed? A good wide angle lens will capture the room the way your eyes do.
I've been using the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX-37 which is a great camera and has a wide angle lens of 25mm. I like the camera but wanted one that gets wider without distortion (curved walls etc...) I used to have a great Kodak v570 that was a 22mm ultra wide angled lens camera, but sometimes you had to correct the distortion and ended up losing some of the benefits.
I started shopping around and was looking at another Panasonic, a Pentax (great reviews) a Fuji (known for good low light pictures) and the Nikon L810. I settled on the Nikon because it was a good bang for the buck camera and offers a 22.5mm lens, the Nikon is not known for great low light pictures but I thought the trade offs would be worth it. I shopped around and ending up buying a new one on Ebay. The camera showed up, sealed in the original packaging, Sams Club sticker on the back and looking great! I've had a lot of luck buying things on Ebay, including expensive electronics.
Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black)
Took the lens cap off, turned it on and got this error message
"Turn camera off remove the lens cap and turn camera on"
when I turned it on... tried several times and was able to get a few pictures taken... then, nothing. Unable to get the camera to work at all.
Called Nikon USA and they had me send the camera in. So, I did. I just received notice from them that it will cost me $109.50 to get it fixed (paid 175.00 for it a few days before).
Nikon acknowledges that there is nothing that can be done when this happens, the camera is dead.
I called them and they said that there is no warranty because I bought this from a third party. I explained that the camera is brand new, the warranty was only registered to me, and besides.. this is a known and acknowledged problem by Nikon. The camera is a brick when this happens, completely useless. How is this different than if I had received it as a gift?
I am not going to invest more money in this camera, particularly without any backing from the factory. I've read accounts of this happening on the replacement cameras too. Mea Culpa ... I'm out the initial $175.00 and I learned that Nikon is not a company that I want to do business with. This is my second and last Nikon Camera.
I'm still in the market for a good camera, I think it's going to be the Panasonic Lumix LX5, or the Pentax X-5... Much as I love my Panasonic.. I'm leaning towards the Pentax. They both get good reviews.
Moo
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