Dan writes that he was very happy with his Panasonic camera, a point-and-shoot with a nice zoom lens. He would have been happy to pay $100 to get it back in working order and avoid buying a new one. Alas, this was not to be. Since a special part needed to be ordered from Japan, Panasonic wanted $488 to repair a camera that originally cost $300. Dan is better off buying a new camera–which won’t be a Panasonic.
A few weeks ago my Panasonic Lumix FZ8 digital camera stopped working. It simply refused to power on. It had worked for me perfectly well since I bought it in July of 2007, and was still a quality piece of equipment, so I decided to send it off to the repair center, hoping to have it fixed for less than $100. This camera – along with a fast SD card, everything-proof Pelican case, and extra battery – cost me about $400 a few years ago. It was a great investment. I’m not a photography expert by any means, so this camera, basically a point-and-shoot with a great Leica zoom lens, was a perfect match for me. I’d grown into its more advanced features to the point that I was willing to pay almost half the cost of its replacement to have the exact same one back.
Anyway, I sent off my camera to Panasonic’s Illinois service center with a note along the lines of “Please don’t incur any costs until you’ve confirmed them with me!”. The service center followed this instruction appropriately. A few days after my camera was delivered I received a call from a woman explaining that there was a non-refundable $45 diagnostic fee to investigate the problem. She also explained that the average repair cost was $90, including the diagnostic fee. That was all fine with me, so I gave them the instruction to proceed. The woman said that she would call me back if the cost for the repair would exceed the $90 average.
Approximately a week later was this morning. I received a call from the same woman (kudos to Panasonic for keeping me with the same CSR) explaining that the total cost of repair would be $489, or an additional $444 over the $45 fee I’m already obligated to pay. $444 is over $150 more than I paid for this camera. If you add everything up (the repair cost, diagnostic fee, shipping) this repair was looking to cost me over $500, for a 3-year-old camera I paid less than $300 for. I understand completely that as product ages it becomes more expensive to repair, but this seems absurd. The CSR explained that the high cost for the repair was because the main PCB (printed circuit board) went bad, and the part has to be ordered from Japan.
I declined the repair cost. Panasonic will be returning the camera to me, unrepaired, and I’m out a camera and $50 in fees and shipping. I really, really liked this camera, but this single experience has taught me that it is simply too expensive for me to risk another Panasonic digital camera. Panasonic loses a customer, I lose some hard-earned money and now need to spend more on a new camera.
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Unfortunate but true, the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
Consider cars. Order all the parts and see if you can build it yourself.
When originally assembling the camera, it is all automated and takes a few minutes by robots at most and everything is precise. To fix something, you have to manually remove a dozen screws, do various disconnect, make sure nothing gets scratched…
When in warranty, it is cheaper to send a new one. That is one reason refurbished devices are cheaper (I tend to buy cheap – surprises will normally be to the upside), but they can do a batch-refurbish.
One other effect is the exchange rate. You hear about the dollar depreciating or appreciating.
When you bought your camera for $300, say it would be worth 30000 yen. Well now $300 may only buy 25000 yen. So you need more dollars to buy something priced in yen (I’m not sure the exact values, this is just an illustration).
You might want to do eBay or equivalent noting it is broken – there is probably someone with a camera with bad lens but good board that could combine the two Cameracasses into one working unit.
I’d like to reiterate the reason to buy a Canon: if it breaks out-of-warranty, call 800-OK-CANON. They will offer you a choice of 3 refurbished models similar to your broken one for 50% off current list. This is a better price than even the Hassids in Brooklyn will sell it to you for. Canon also sends you a prepaid UPS shipper to send the broken one back to them in exchange.
I returned three cameras this way. All of them lasted more than four years, and I still have an SD30 that won’t break for some reason
Another reason to buy a Canon is that they make the best small lenses…the weakest link in picture taking, other than yourself. Few, if any, industry experts dispute this.
Canon has the best cheap glass? Ha! Even the L lenses aren’t always the best.
This is a problem with the Japanese way of business (I’ve dealt with them a lot). They don’t usually make spare parts since they have near zero defects from the factory. Parts like this are scavenged from whole units. Often, there are places that buy volume of consumer goods from Japan and then part them out for part sales. I’d look for these kind of outfits and fix it myself or a decent third party repair joint.
BTW, the entire main board is not bad. They do not want to repair it to the component level. The total cost to make the board was probably between $10-20, if that, and the failed component is likely under a buck and easy to replace if you know what you are doing.
I googled “fz8 repair” and the first place listed “doesn’t turn on” repair for $95
https://www.teleplancamerarepair.com/quote/cart.asp?iProbID=28&mo=245
I’m not vouching for these guys and have no idea who they are but you can get your camera fixed for the price you want. Just not from a Japanese company.
Maybe the answer is to buy a used, identical camera. I see them for around $150 online.