Why did the professional camera reviewers totally miss a serious flaw in the camera?

[Ron Hunter]

Most likely all three, but also because they just don't use the cameras long enough to notice such potential weak points.

[Dennis Pogson]

A rubber band is better. Duct tape will mark the camera body.

Dennis.

[Dennis Pogson]

Yeah! I think in future reviewers should use the camera extensively for around 3 years before writing a review. By that time the camera will have been replaced about 5 times with newer models, so it won't matter if the battery door fails. You can sell it on E-Bay with an elastic band round it, pointing out that this is a design feature.

Dennis.

[Charles]

I broke the one on my 990 by dropping it down the stairs. Maybe they should do that as well.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I've had a CoolPix for a couple of years now. Until you brought it up here, I've never noticed the latch and never thought of it being a defect. Just as the designer did not think it would have the faults that shoed up.

I really doubt that the reviews missed it, they just did not see it being a problem. Yes, sometimes companies take a chance a launch a product with a flaw, but most never see it until the unit is put to use for a period of time and in greater numbers than their test panels.

Mine has thousands of photos and thousands of miles on in and still works so I don't see it as a design flaw. If it does, I may change my mind.

[AZ Nomad]

You're behind the times. Use nylon cable ties instead. Maybe wash the thing out with some contact cleaner first.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Or hay wire!

[Janey]

1. Depending on the venue (magazine, not-for-profit web site, etc.), if Nikon or one of their distributors advertises in/on their venue editorial policy may dictate that reviewer must not bring out negative traits of the product (for fear of losing advert revenue).
2. Having the camera in hand for such a short period of time (hours? days?) it's simply not possible to "road test" it to the extent that the normal owner may eventually do so.

Good luck on the next one.

[Jeff Liebermann]

"HeyBub" hath wroth:

Duct tape is so very 20th century. In the 19th century, the universal repair solutions were baling wire (used for hay bales) and chewing gum. Victorian machinery was held together by farm tools. Duct tape was suitable for most 20th century repairs because the devices were large enough to handle the tape. It's still useful today on the Space Station:

"They also decided to rig a thermal barrier out of a surplus reference book and all-purpose gray tape." but not on small things.

This is the 21st century, where things are getting smaller and smaller, while Duct tape has remained unchanged since the invention of ummm... ducting. More important, many devices are being designed with little concern for repairs or even disassembly. About all one can do with duct tape today is embalm the device.

I don't know what will become the 21st century equivalent of Duct tape. My vote is for Superglue, epoxy, and urethane glue and goo. I had some hope for ty-wraps replacing baling wire, but even ty-wraps are being replaced by glue and goo. Much home construction and a growing number of products are already assembled with adhesives.

For the 21st century, it's adhesives, not Duct tape.

[Ron(UK)]

Polymorph (mouldable plastic resin) is a rather wonderful invention. Loads of uses in the workshop.

Ron(UK)

[Al Bundy]

"Ron(UK)" wrote in news:AoSdnaBZ4dt [e-mail]:

Google seems to say that it is called Friendly Plastic here in the states. Anybody ever get any? Where?

[SparkyGuy]

Duct tape is crap. It is actually not good for ducts (heating and cooling causes the adhesive to quickly fail):

- - - - - POPULAR SCIENCE (December 1998) Tape That Doesn't Live Up to its Name

DUCT TAPE is one of the most versatile materials ever invented. You can patch a tent, seal up a box, or even repair a leaky garden house with it. But according to the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, there's one thing duct tape doesn't do well: seal a duct.

In leak tests at the lab, researchers Max Sherman and Iain Walker forced alternating hot and cold air flows through finger-jointed metal ducts sealed with a variety of products --including duct tape, clear plastic tape, foil-backed tape, mastic, and injected aerosols. The researchers also baked the sample ducts at temperatures of 140 to 187 degrees F, simulating the conditions in many attics.

"Of all the things we tested," says Sherman, "only duct tape failed. It failed reliably and quite often catastrophically."

Duct tape consists of a cloth backing and a rubber adhesive. "We think that heat degrades the glue, and that's what's killing the duct tape," Walker says.

The researchers are recommending that duct tape manufacturers reformulate the glue to work better at higher temperatures, and that longevity standards be developed for all duct sealants. Whether that will happen remains to be seen; as of press time, manufacturers were studying the test results.

In the average house, 20 to 30 per cent of the energy used for heating and cooling is lost through ducts.

- - - - - There is a different type of duct tape that works. It's black and actually sold in better heating & cooling supply stores.

The original that I remember was available from drama supply stores called gaffer's tape. It is of a different constitution and doesn't leave a residue when you take it off after a week or 2.

[Arthur Shapiro]

I happen to be one of those who suffered this common problem.

Just to lend some seriousness, duct tape doesn't work. There's enough continuous upward pressure on the door from the spring-loaded pair of AA cells that the door gradually shifts the tape, opens slightly, and loses the electrical connection.

Rubber bands don't work because they happen to pass over various controls (such as the zoom) that need to be freely accessible.

I envy those who had enough of the surgeon's touch to mount a paperclip. I myself used the delightfully outside-the-box solution of the metal plate externally mounted via a bolt through the tripod mount. Brilliant!

I'd also opine that this (rec.home.repair; I see it's cross-posted within reason) is an appropriate newsgroup, or certainly not inappropriate, for the discussion of repairing a physical household item. Appliance repair discussion tends to go here, and this seems little different.

Art

[Al Bundy]

SparkyGuy wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Duct tape just a tradational ha-ha. Personally I like to stick

[Mr.Tony to you]

you are Linux user my heart goes out to you

[Michael A. Terrell]

Then you don't know the proper way to use duck (duct) tape. In a case like this, you use the tape to hold something against the door, so it CAN'T move.

[Michael A. Terrell]

It was named 'Duck Tape' by the military, long before it was availible as duct tape.

[John McWilliams]

Where in world did you come up with duck?? One doesn't tape ducks; one tapes ducts. except it isn't very good for that.....

[Neil Ellwood]

Peter Scott did it all the time.

[William Sommerwerck]

So why the latter?

It might originally have been called duck tape. See the Etymology section of the Wikipedia article.

The issue is confusing, because it wasn't used for ducts until long after it was invented.