Reliabilty of DSLRs

I read so much on people having problems with their DSLRs, is this just a internet thing or if we had the internet back when we got started in Photography, we would have heard about the F1, AE1, AT1 having all sorts of problems?

My AE1 and AT1 works just as good now as when I bought them in the late 70s...............

Heya,

You're looking at a congregation of people who are either praising or whining, about the equipment.

Naturally you'll see more people in such a place having issues, since they generally come to find out what the issue is, or if it's fixable, etc.

I have 6 SLR's and they're all going strong, some 8 years old, still using them near daily. Same with lenses. Some are 30+ years old and still kicking the way they did the first decade.

Very best,

A modern SLR is a far cry from the old AE1s. Today they are stuffed full of very complex electronics as well as mechanical systems.With each system the opportunity for failure increases. I've been lucky so far in that i have never had a failure but I have sent several bodies back to Canon for adjustments and such. But then again, I have never kept my DSLRs for a very long time. Usually 18 months or so and I sold them.

Your old shutter likely maxed out at 1/1000, had a max synch speed of 1/90 or perhaps 1/125. You took images in groups of 24 or 36 so chances are your shutter count remained lower than the modern dslr in the hands of a digiral snap shooter. Just look at how many files taken at a wedding vor a comparison. A film wedding shot on 35mm might have ben 10 rolls of 36. Now there are wedding with 1500 files delivered to the client. A portrait session might top 200 shots digital when 2 rolls of film would likly have covered. So the combination of higher precision components anc a massive change in the way they are used is telling. Plus its the nature of the Internet that users go online to complain rather than to express satisfaction that their camera worked as it should.

The manuals for the cameras you mentioned about ten pages or so. Today a Rebel manual one
hundred fifty pages plus. (ballpark figures) That in its self should answer your question.

gjl711 wrote in post #17295040
A modern SLR is a far cry from the old AE1s. Today they are stuffed full of very complex electronics as well as mechanical systems.With each system the opportunity for failure increases. I've been lucky so far in that i have never had a failure but I have sent several bodies back to Canon for adjustments and such. But then again, I have never kept my DSLRs for a very long time. Usually 18 months or so and I sold them.

This is true but the complexity of features also drive up the potential for operator error. Yes, we see equipment failures here, that is the nature of the forum, but we also see a great number of issues simply caused by people not understanding their gear.

Chief_10Beers wrote in post #17295021
I read so much on people having problems with their DSLRs, is this just a internet thing or if we had the internet back when we got started in Photography, we would have heard about the F1, AE1, AT1 having all sorts of problems?

My AE1 and AT1 works just as good now as when I bought them in the late 70s...............

10D, 20D, 40D, 7D, 5DII....never any problems at all with any of them.

I miss my AT-1. That was my first SLR. Loved that camera. Wish I had one now to play around with film again.

T3i (600D), 7D and 7DII. No problems save for the loose nut behind the view screen.

2n10 wrote in post #17295118
T3i (600D), 7D and 7DII. No problems save for the loose nut behind the view screen.

Common problem with all cameras.

MalVeauX wrote in post #17295026
Heya,

You're looking at a congregation of people who are either praising or whining, about the equipment.

Cutting a single tree make a lot more noise than a forest growing up.

i do agree with MalVeauX, when people have issues, you ear only them, and ... usually they didn't read the manual

The internet and forums offer a venue in which people can come together and discuss virtually everything. When it comes to issues regarding performance of a piece of equipment, you will always have both sides. It's the best or it's the worst. What I've generally found is that the "it's the best" crowd far exceeds the numbers of the "it's the worst" crowd, although there are times when the "it's the worst crowd" gets the most attention. Perfection does not exist when a product is mass produced. Quality Control is, at best, a crap shoot when you're producing hundreds of thousands of any given item. There is always a +/- ratio which companies feel are acceptable by industry standards, given that when an item is discovered to be faulty, it will most often be replaced rather than repaired. The term "a bad batch" also circulates, suggesting that for whatever reason, lets say 1000 items received faulty components which resulted in a group of owners experiencing the same issue. They try to narrow it down to a certain serial number, place of purchase, date code, etc. in an effort to identify which batch was bad.

I grew up in Detroit, the motor city. It was a common saying that you should never buy a car built on a Friday or a Monday. Friday because the worker is tired after a long week and his attention to detail is focused on the weekend rather than the task at hand, which might mean a door handle will not be tightened to specs or a window will not be seated properly, and Monday because the worker is recovering from all he/she did on the weekend, and again, their focus is not on the task at hand, but rather how they really could have used a few more hours of sleep. I think there is truth to both. Whether it's a camera, a car or a computer, there are going to be issues with a small portion which will be brought to light on the internet since it's access is a click away and it allows the person an arena to make their case.

I suppose my answer to the question is yes, if the internet were around when people were shooting A-1's, AE-1's and F-1's, there would have been complaints about QC issues. To support this, one need only look at the Monday/Friday car scenario. Those cars were being produced long before the internet.

My impression is that modern DSLRs and other high-end cameras (or just high-ish ones) are pretty reliable. My data points are:

1. I've yet to have a problem with cameras I've owned and used: 300D, 30D, 50D, 5Dc, 7D2; K200D; X Pro-1; M type 240, nor with any interchangeable lenses for those cameras (except my Summilux 75, which I knew needed adjusting and now works fine). My father has not had a problem with his 300D, 40D, 60D or 5D3, nor with any of his lenses. (Aside from ripping off the hot-shoe of his 300D, which was his fault and which Canon repaired swiftly and inexpensively.) I've also never had problems with my G1X nor with a series of Canon P&S cameras (aside from a problem with screws working loose from an IXUS 40, which Canon fixed over the counter for free well outside the warranty).
   
   
   
2. Canon in Sydney has recently closed it's walk-in service desk (a bit of a bummer, really) due to lack of customers (so it's mail-in only now; except in Melbourne). If there were more problems I expect they'd have more customers (Sydney is a big city).
   
   
   
3. A Sydney-based outfit (d-d Photographics) does parallel imports of Canon, Nikon and other gear and offers their own warranty (taking advantage of Australia's Trade Practices Act which says that a manufacturer has to offer repairs of their own equipment on a strictly commercial basis even if it was not acquired through an authorised dealer. Because, under their warranty, d-d Photographics has to pay for the manufacturer to repair equipment, they've told me they couldn't afford to do this if QC wasn't good and the equiment reliable.
   

mfunnell wrote in post #17295274

1. Canon in Sydney has recently closed it's walk-in service desk (a bit of a bummer, really) due to lack of customers (so it's mail-in only now; except in Melbourne). If there were more problems I expect they'd have more customers (Sydney is a big city).

...Mike

This one make me laugh (in a good way )
I went few times in Canon walk-in-service in the town where i live, i always was the only customer inside, never felt in line nor wait even one minute
I hope they will stay open for long ... it's so easy, i get in, give my camera (to clean the sensor for example) and 3 minutes later i'm out

Back when we used film, we had a lot less dust on the sensor.