On 7/9/2012 4:39 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2012-07-09 12:52:24 -0700, willshak said:

Arklin K. wrote the following on 7/6/2012 4:13 PM (ET):
On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:40:50 -0700, nospam wrote:

nonsense. they may not be as rugged as a d3 class camera, but they do
*not* break the moment you drop or jostle them.

While that's probably true, it's undeniable that this teeny tiny
piece of plastic that holds the bayonet mount of my Nikon lens onto
my Nikon camera broke from being dropped a very short distance onto a
hard concrete floor.

Also, looking at the pictures I posted, I can't imagine anyone
denying that this is a weak link in the lens mount.

If that weak link were engineered out of better materials, what would
have happened?

I don't know: a) What I hope would have happened is ... nothing.
b) But, maybe dropping the camera would have broken something else.

But if (b) is the answer, how the heck do 'war photographers' get
their job done? What I do in daily life can't even be 1 millionth of
what they do with their equipment.

Q: Given I use the camera every day for personal use (I'm an old guy
who isn't jumping out of airplanes anymore so it's pretty tame
stuff), what would you recommend is a sturdy SLR that won't break
like this Nikon did?


1. How about one of these for any of your Nikons?
http://tinyurl.com/87e7ea5
2. Take your other 3 cameras to a camera repair shop to get fixed.
Then you can sell them on Craigs list and possibly get enough money to
buy your next camera.

I think perhaps one of these might be a fair starting point.

http://delkin.com/i-6916325-snug-it-...kon-d5100.html



There are some other protective armors, but the Delkin offering is
inexpensive enough.

OP still needs to avoid dropping the camera or dinging any part of the
lens. A serious blow near the front edge of the lens tube puts
tremendous force on both the lens mount and camera body aperature that
receives the lens. The g forces can shatter a lens element, disrupt the
glue that cements lens elements together, warp or strip finely machined
focusing linkages, etc. The skin may help protect against some hazards,
but it will not protect against careless or abusive treatment. High
quality cameras are precision instruments and can never be fully
hardened unless mounted on a shock absorbing mount inside a titanium box
with fully automated remote controls and a lens window made of
bulletproof plastic or glass.