Nikon addresses major D5000 glitch

We've fondled Nikon's D5000 SLR, stacked it against the competition, and read no shortage of reviews. In general everyone seems to love the camera, but there's apparently one, big, nagging problem: the durned thing won't always turn on. That's obviously a no-nonsense sort of glitch and thankfully Nikon isn't beating around the bush when it comes to addressing it, posting a service advisory today and pledging to follow up next week with a full list of affected serial numbers. If you're unlucky enough to be mentioned you'll sadly need to part with your hot new body and let Nikon tear it open, but the company will at least cover shipping to and fro. That's something, right?

[dsteve303 @ Jul 16th 2009 10:46AM]

lol. it wont turn on? wow.

[TomServo @ Jul 16th 2009 10:48AM]

lol. That comment was the best you can do? wow.

I have a D5000 and have yet to have any issues, knock on wood. I'm quite interested in perusing the serial number list when it comes out, however.

[neofolklore @ Jul 16th 2009 1:31PM]

lol. engadget users always reply to other user's snark with an insult? wow

[TomServo @ Jul 16th 2009 6:53PM]

lol. Yes. And you're next. Wow.

[Doug @ Jul 16th 2009 10:50AM]

Good to see a company taking responsibility for their product.

[James @ Jul 16th 2009 11:06AM]

Yet when microsoft does the same exact thing with the 360 they are the devil.

[Chad @ Jul 16th 2009 11:22AM]

@James,

No, they were EVIL for coming out with MS ME and MS BOB and we will never forgive them for that. We were however delightfully shocked that they owned up to the 360 problems but that doesn't mean we forgive them for BOB.

[y3k.nik @ Jul 16th 2009 12:04PM]

better than saying its the weather

[nrb @ Jul 16th 2009 3:12PM]

Nikon cares about their (SLR) reputation and they've a good history of standing behind their product. If there's a real problem, they don't try and cover it up. They resolve it.

James, MS is evil, but it has nothing to do with flaws in their products.

[Sean @ Jul 16th 2009 10:51AM]

Hey, who took a picture of me?!?

[dsteve303 @ Jul 16th 2009 10:54AM]

lol go lick a frozen iron pole.

[Jonathan @ Jul 16th 2009 10:54AM]

that looks like a cousin of yours, as he is much greener than you.

Also why is that camera upside down in that picture?

[skyblaze @ Jul 16th 2009 10:54AM]

i remember that green sticker! saw it on the water heater thats been in the house since i started living there in the 90's... we only just recently got the heater replaced actually.

what an odd sticker that was... good times tho... good times

[anupdebnath @ Jul 16th 2009 2:20PM]

You bet.

[JrA 2I9 pSu @ Jul 16th 2009 10:58AM]

Mr. Yuck!! hahaha.

anyone else notice the picture is backwards? maybe its supposed to be and there's some joke I'm missing...?

[JrA 2I9 pSu @ Jul 16th 2009 10:59AM]

so the Nikon is correct, but the OK is backwards. ???

[PDubNYC @ Jul 16th 2009 11:05AM]

I have faith that you'll figure it out, but here's a big hint. The screen folds out and can rotate.

and it's Mr Yuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsONa3gKIQ

[shamowfski @ Jul 16th 2009 11:07AM]

The LCD flips and rotates.

[fistpittingnork @ Jul 16th 2009 11:03AM]

Photoshopped

[Willis @ Jul 16th 2009 11:08AM]

Nice. +1 for you.

[anupdebnath @ Jul 16th 2009 2:22PM]

Yeah, now that you mentioned, had to go back and see for myself... damn

[Bmills @ Jul 16th 2009 11:04AM]

Haha.....Mr. Yuk!

I saw that and busted up laughing.



I'm currently sitting in my office, working for the company that created the awesome little green guy.

He gets around.....It is something I honestly never expected to see on Engadget.

[fistpittingnork @ Jul 16th 2009 11:05AM]

The screen swings out and twists around, in this shot, the camera is just upside down, that's why Nikon is readable and "OK" is upside down.

[loocas @ Jul 16th 2009 12:38PM]

You are Mr. Obvious, aren't you?

[fistpittingnork @ Jul 16th 2009 2:28PM]

@ loocas,

That post was in reply to JrA 2I9 pSu's question on why is the image mirrored. Of course with our Go Go Engadget commenting system, it decided to call home some random place out in the open.

Thanks for the sarcasm!

[GingerFox @ Jul 16th 2009 11:30AM]

http://thighswideshut.org/music/mr_yuk_theme.mp3

Mr. Yuk theme song, what a lol

[Ross @ Jul 16th 2009 1:32PM]

Ahhh, I was wondering what the hell changed my FoxyTunes player :p

[kal326 @ Jul 16th 2009 11:37AM]

They are just going to cover shipping to and fro? That seems a little short on a problem with a camera that is not exactly cheap to start with and has a pretty glaring problem, the damn thing doesn't reliably turn on. I would think an extension of the warranty another year or something along those lines would be in order. I mean you already had to send it back once because it won't turn on, what other little gremlins could be affecting these things?

[Cycomachead @ Jul 16th 2009 11:47AM]

Wait, you mean that wasn't a feature?! All us Canon guys were clamoring about how we really wanted that in our cameras!

[Daniel Hess @ Jul 16th 2009 12:16PM]

I have a D5000, and know alot of other photographers that also do... Haven't heard of this, must be a small batch of cameras.

[Mr Yuk @ Jul 16th 2009 12:43PM]

Better be careful - the Pittsburgh Poison Control people take the Mr Yuk trademark quite seriously.

[Fubar @ Jul 17th 2009 8:37PM]

Pittsburgh?

Wasn't Baltimore using Mr. Yuk about 15 years ago?

[iKurt 7 @ Jul 16th 2009 2:29PM]

I don't feel sorry for those Nikon users. Should've bought a Canon T1i which is far superior.

[synn @ Jul 17th 2009 7:35AM]

Yeah, because Canon totally makes problem-free cameras, right?

http://photography.about.com/b/2009/05/15/canon-recalls-1d-and-1ds-mark-iiis.htm

These things happen and the manufacturers solve it to the best of their abilities. STFU and take your retarded fanboy crap elsewhere. Real photographers prefer to shoot. Not troll.

[paul @ Jul 16th 2009 3:19PM]

Don't mess with Mr. Yuk. He'll MESS you up! Do not touch, do not taste, DO NOT EAT!

[dey4gotaus @ Jul 16th 2009 6:15PM]

ahahahahah
thats what you get for buying nikon :P

[tekdroid @ Jul 16th 2009 10:58PM]

Pretty shoddy QC with Nikon lately. D90 oddities, D5000 issues.
Good to see this one has been publically acknowledged.

From the advisory it sounds like power not getting to the cam at all somehow, despite AC adaptor or fully-charged battery. Bad switch somewhere, it seems.

Pretty expensive for a company to be suffering with this (not only that, but the brand image suffers).

[hoodooguru @ Jul 19th 2009 10:21AM]

Upon landing in Spain for a 10-day vacation last month, the first photo to be taken on my new D5000 on Spanish soil didn't occur because the camera wouldn't turn on. I changed batteries, recharged batteries, and hit the hidden reset button, all to no avail. Talk about frustrating! With all the other Nikon gear I had purchased for the trip and my positive experience with the camera the prior 2-weeks in the US, I really liked the camera. We ended up driving to Gibraltar and buying another D5000 at a 50% mark-up compared to US prices (gotta love favored US-Japan trade when it comes to electronic goods!). Anyway, I returned the defective D5000 upon my return to the States along with paying for shipping and a 10% restocking fee. In the few weeks since, the newer D5000 from Gibraltar has been reliable and is taking wonderful photos. Lesson learned: don't rely solely on a newly released piece of gear when you're heading into a once-in-a-lifetime set of experiences!

[George @ Aug 10th 2009 8:17PM]

My D5000 was on the list of affected cameras. I filled out the required form on Nikon's website, they sent me a UPS mailing label, I packed it up and shipped it to them.

Several days later I called them to ask how long I can expect the repair to take and will they send me email with a tracking number when they ship it back.

Answer: they cannot give me any time estimate. No they will not send me a tracking number. And, they are not doing the repair--they send the cameras to an outside camera repair shop.

I'm less than encouraged.

[George @ Aug 10th 2009 8:23PM]

Followup to my comment about getting an estimate from Nikon. The company they send D5000 repairs for this service recall to is Precision Camera and Video Repair. When I contacted them to request status, they said I need to get that information from Nikon. As I said, I'm less than encouraged.