On Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:12:33 -0500, Neil Ellwood wrote:

Wolfgang Don't be so gentle - tell him the truth.



Realistically, I 'have' told the kids to always use the Nikon camera
strap when they borrow my plastic Nikon SLR ... and I do like the idea of
the camera 'skin' that was proposed (although it omits protection of the
all-important plastic lens).

In hindsight, looking at all my broken plastic cameras, most of my point-
and-shoot cameras fail on the fragile battery doors (Nikon Coolpix
varieties) and on the pop-out lens (Olympus varieties).

So, the rule there is avoid at all cost any Nikon plastic point and shoot
unless/until they learn how to design a door hinge ... and basically
avoid 'any' point and shoot that has a motorized pop-out lens (Olympus or
otherwise).

Looking back at all the plastic SLRs, I'm astounded to realize it's
mostly the lenses that broke, almost all at the fragile plastic bayonet
mount, although one stopped working mysteriously just after snapping
photos in the pumice of Thera, probably because of the very fine dust
infusion.

One plastic camera broke from the sulfuric fumes of swimming in the
waters around a just-submerged volcano (which also claimed my otherwise
rugged Rolex watch, interestingly enough). Yet another failed to survive
its very first cross-country ski trip down Mount Washington on my New
Year's Eve vacation trip.

So, in summary, a rough visual autopsy shows that the plastic lens mounts
(on all the plastic Nikons I've owned) and plastic door hinges (only on
the plastic Nikon Coolpix variety I've owned) and motorized lenses are
what seem to break on these plastic (essentially throwaway) cameras.

Next time, I'll buy a sturdier camera for sure, as I realized, belatedly,
that it has cost me far more for the cheap plastic Nikons than if I had
bought a camera actually built to handle daily use in the real world.