Digital Camera LCD Screen Care

Digital Camera LCD Screen Care
Digital cameras are delicate items and it is important that you take good care of them. Warranties last for either one or two years, but it is very easy to damage a camera and then find it is no longer covered for repair under warranty. With the most basic of repairs costing over £100 it is very easy to write off a digital camera. The LCD screen remains one of the most vulnerable areas of a digital camera. With many digital cameras no longer having a viewfinder the role of the LCD screen has become even more significant. Recently a case where a screen had stopped working was reported to me. The camera was within warranty and was sent to a repair centre. There engineers discovered the camera had been squashed at some point causing a tiny chip to the corner of the screen. This was barely visible to the naked eye, but was the reason why the screen no longer worked. Although the damage was accidental it was considered that it had been caused by misuse and the camera had not simply broken down. Because of the way the damage had been caused the camera could not be repaired under warranty. To have the screen repaired outside of the warranty would have cost £130. This is almost exactly what the camera would cost to replace new. On top of this you also have the expense of sending the camera off to the repair centre in the first place. Therefore the camera was really a write off. Although in most cases like this you can lodge a claim on your home insurance this is not really a route you would like to go down unless you have to. When I asked the engineers about the problem I was told that although not a common problem it was one they had seen on a number of occasions. Although they could not be sure how the damage had been caused they said it was consistent with the camera being squeezed between other items in a packed suitcase or that someone had put the camera in a back pocket and sat on it. Therefore you can see just how easy it is to damage the screen. There is very little I can recommend to help you overcome this sort of problem. All you can really do is take as much care of your camera as possible. You could consider buying a camera case though. The downside of this is that it may make it difficult to fit a camera in a pocket. Cases are relatively inexpensive. For a pocket sized digital camera you can pick one up for around £7 - £8 or even cheaper. These will offer some extra protection. For me the best place to pick up a camera case is from your local camera shop. A decent size shop should have two or three to choose from. Although the addition of a case doesn’t mean you can be reckless with a camera it does offer a degree of protection and could save you from writing off your camera.

Article taken from Cameras.co.uk

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Today on Twitter: 2008-07-31

  • Good morning twitter! #
  • When bad things happen to good cameras - Popular Photography Magazine http://tinyurl.com/5latj6 #
  • Buyer’s Guide: Extended Camera Warranties - Popular Photography Magazine http://tinyurl.com/5bbvkc #
  • Dawntech di-GPS Pro - 1 Left In Stock - more on backorder #
  • Buying Service Contracts & Warranties (Best Buy, B&H, Circuit City, etc) - Older Blog Post http://tinyurl.com/6ywzzf #
  • Q: I just bought a camera at Best Buy. Can I purchase the Mack Camera Warranty? http://tinyurl.com/5mwrgk #
  • Testing reverse TwitterTools blog post via Twitter #
  • @aaronspence Have you tried the Dawntech Di-GPS Pro? It’s the perfect GPS for the Nikon system #
  • @epytwen It is a wonderful tool! #
  • @Marchdoe If you haven’t picked one up yet give us a call! #
  • @darrylw4 And the new Pro model has the passthrough for use of a 10 pin connection! #
  • @dealmac We have bundles available on our blog store to get discounts on PocketWizards! #
  • Retweet @BWJones: @jeremyhall Your best option is Pocket Wizard! http://www.pocketwizard.com/ #
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Mack Warranties by sportsphotoguy.com

A frequent question on message boards: are the ubiquitous Mack warranties worth it?  Do they really protect your equipment?

My experience says yes, but don’t count on the speediest service.  Still, Mack warranties are a real bargain for long-term equipment protection.

Mack warrantyI buy Mack warranties for every U.S. model camera and grey market lens that I buy.  For cameras, Mack’s warranties typically provide an additional 3-5 years of protection beyond the manufacturer’s one-year warranty at reasonable cost.  For example, Mack warranty #1015 will protect your D300 or other DSLR (with kit lens) under $2,000 in price for three (3) additional years for just $79.95.  For pros, Mack has a warranty for $189.95 that will protect a camera & kit lens valued at up to $6,000 for an additional three (3) years.

I find that U.S. lenses seldom need extended warranties, as most manufacturers automatically provide 4-6 years of additional coverage for such lenses already.  But for those of us who sometimes buy grey market lenses, the Mack warranty is a great deal.  For example, you could buy a Nikon 80-200/f2.8D ED lens for $915 with a 5-year U.S. warranty; or you could buy the grey market version for just $820 and add a 7-year Mack extended warranty for just $30 more  - giving you a total of 8 years of warranty protection.

How does Mack service measure up? I’ve had to send cameras in for repair on at least three occasions.  My D70 and D2H both were sent in and, after examination by Mack’s service personnel, were deemed to be covered by Nikon recalls then in effect.  Mack sent the cameras on to Nikon, Nikon repaired them under the recall, sent them back to Mack, who returned the cameras to me.  Granted, this added a few weeks’ delay to the process, but as I had no real way of knowing if the recalls applied in both of these cases, I found value in having Mack make this determination for me.

More recently, I blew out the shutter in my D2H.  This was clearly a case for Mack (the camera, at this point, was about three years old, with one year remaining on my extended warranty).  I sent the camera off to Mack, and they duly replaced the shutter.  Door-to-door round trip was about 3 weeks.  My only costs were $10 return shipping plus the cost to send the camera to Mack’s repair facility in New Jersey.

Some additional good aspects of Mack warranties: they are transferable and don’t have to be bought at the time or place of equipment purchase.  For a $20 fee, you can transfer your Mack warranty should you sell your camera or lens (something you can’t do with a manufacturer’s warranty).  Also, if you purchase & register your Mack warranty within 30 days of buying your equipment, you can shop around for the best deal.  The prices charged by retailers will vary, with some of the less scrupulous retailers jacking up prices of warranties and other accessories to offset too-good-to-be-true prices on the equipment itself.

http://sportsphotoguy.com/mack-warranties/

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Very Satisfied

2/12/08 10:05 PM

“My Sony A100 digital SLR camera developed an image stabilization bug. I got the 5 year Mack extended warranty and my camera’s mfg warranty just expired. Mack had to send the camera to Sony, but a month later I got it fixed, recalibrated, and working perfectly. Looks like my experience with Mack was positive.”

Posted by chych

on resellerratings

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