[pete schofield]

The on/off switch on our 4500 has become stiff and awkward to use. Whilst it does still work I can only think this will become worse over time. Has anyone had a similar problem.

My first thoughts were to give it a squirt of something like wd40 but with it being an electrical contact not sure that would be a good idea.

I dread sending it for repair as the cost could be horrendous and sometimes it could be cheaper just to buy a new one.

Any help or thoughts appreciated.

Peter

[christineredgate]

Peter,how long have you had the camera for,is it not still under warranty?.I have a 4500 but have not experienced that problem.Only prob I had was with the electronic cable release.Managed to dig out the receipt,and returned to Ace optics,not Nikon,and it was replaced free of charge within 3 weeks.Even if it has only just exceeded the 12 mth warranty,if you contact your dealer/Nikon and try pointing out that for a product bearing the name Nikon etc etc,and the price you paid for the camera you should not really be experiencing such problems,also there is a thing called statutory rights,and I do believe,that products do have a longer warranty than the basic 12 mths.I actually heard this from a trading standards official.
Christine.

[stevo]

Hi Peter

I certainly wouldn`t spray your camera with any sort of spray because it will probably invalidate any warranty.The problem your experiencing could be a minor repair job, if the camera is still under warranty I would send it back to Nikon.
Regards Steve.

[pete schofield]

UPDATE
Thought some people would like to know the outcome of this problem.

We are lucky in that I only an hours drive away from a nikon authorised repair specialist.

The repair took a week and they replaced the on/off switch, routine check and clean.

Total cost £70 not bad I think, just hope nothing else goes wrong in the near future.

This camera belongs to my wife, has not been dropped or otherwise misused. It is 18 months old and has had about 80 hours use. I cannot guess as to how many times the on/off switch was used bearing in mind that the camera has auto switch off when not in use, but I still think it was a bit early for this kind of failure.

Pete

[Ruby]

Yes - There does seem to be quite a few reliability problems reported for the CP4500, but it is a widely used camera by people on this forum, so maybe the problems are statistically small in number.

I'm hoping so anyway - I've got one!!

[Elizabeth Bigg]

So have we - I have just Googled for this, at least we don't have to go far if we have any problems:

http://www.nikon.co.uk/customer_serv...allcentres.asp

[RonClark28]

Only 18 months old Golfnut? Mine is only 6 months old and has been in for repair after something to do with the zoom decided it didn't want to play anymore. What with the reports of a number of 995 cameras failing in another thread, I'm beginning to wonder what sort of effect this will have on name of Nikon cameras.

[Penguin]

I'm rather surprised about that... 18 months.. .Golfnut, it should still be under warranty :S... I thought Nikon had 2 years warranty on their products :S...
And considering that you're in the EU... there sould be 2 years warranty, unless specified otherwise.

Boy oh boy, I hope mine doesn't run into any problems of this sort:S.

[GR Triever]

Originally Posted by RonClark28

Only 18 months old Golfnut? Mine is only 6 months old and has been in for repair after something to do with the zoom decided it didn't want to play anymore. What with the reports of a number of 995 cameras failing in another thread, I'm beginning to wonder what sort of effect this will have on name of Nikon cameras.

Both, yes both, of the local camera shops in my home town have dropped the Nikon line due to ongoing problems. That didn't stop me from buying a 4500 for digiscoping use, but it will probably influence my decision should I decide to purchase a DSLR at a later date.

GR

[Adey Baker]

Gaurantees and warranties are often offered by the manufacturers and they usually contain somewhere the statement that 'this does not affect your statutary rights' or some such.

In the UK at least, the contract is with the shop from where you bought the goods which should be of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose that they are intended - thus providing you haven't 'mis-used' the equipment a camera costing several hundred pounds shouldn't break down after 18 months of normal use.

The customer for his/her part, of course, should ensure that the goods are well looked after - chucking your camera into a bag full of photographic kit that then rattles around as you heave it about the countryside would not be considered 'normal use,' for instance!!

[mickporter]

Originally Posted by Adey Baker

Gaurantees and warranties are often offered by the manufacturers and they usually contain somewhere the statement that 'this does not affect your statutary rights' or some such.

In the UK at least, the contract is with the shop from where you bought the goods which should be of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose that they are intended - thus providing you haven't 'mis-used' the equipment a camera costing several hundred pounds shouldn't break down after 18 months of normal use.

The customer for his/her part, of course, should ensure that the goods are well looked after - chucking your camera into a bag full of photographic kit that then rattles around as you heave it about the countryside would not be considered 'normal use,' for instance!!

I have worked in retail for most of my life, and can confirm Adey is quite right. In the UK the store or shop in which the goods are bought are responsible for the guarentees and warrenties under normal circumstances. They will or should in most circumstances just replace goods immediatly if faults or workmanship is found unsatisfactory within a reasonable period of time. However the grey area comes if that 'normal' warrenty period has expired, or if the fault may be suspected to be though mishandling or inappropriate use. In these cases they are quite in their rights to return the goods to the manufacturer for examination, and who may insist on having the goods repaired (normally FOC). Most quality manufacturers will repair or replace goods FOC well after their 12mths guarentee has run out. In most cases you should always return the item to the shop where it was bought.

One word of warning is with the extended warrenties that most large stores appear to want to sell you nowadays. Most if not all are not worth the paper they are printed on. Most only cover the normal guarentee periods anyway. Lots of items now including most computer equipment will have two or three year no quibble guarentees with them anyway. Also the insurance cover they give you is much more expensive than covering them via your own home insurance policy. I recently had a computer monitor go faulty on me. I had a three year extended warrenty from a large well known computer store. I took it back to them only to be told that I shouldn't have done that, I should have rung up the manufacturer direct and let them sort it out. I did this and was told that their was no problem, the monitor carried a 3year replacement warrenty as standard. They arranged a carrier to collect mine and replace it with an updated brand new model the very next day.... When I complained to PC World about their warrenty they told me that it covered being damaged by dropping or having coffee spilled into it!!!!! How many people tip coffee into a computer monitor I don't know. I kicked up a stink and received a full refund in store vouchers!!!!! Don't buy warenties.