My Nikon D7000 camera, barely a year old, died suddenly last weekend. Ouch. Every image now contains the blurred black bar as pictured, along with a sick sounding shutter, complete with blinking Err message. Game over. After some Google searching, appears I'm not the only one to experience this.
I'm seriously bummed, since I really dig this camera and use it a lot. It was a 50th birthday present from my wife, and really kick started my interest back into photography. After checking the receipt, discovered it died nine days out of the one year warranty period. Double ouch. And I actually didn't unbox the camera for two weeks after receiving it, but I have no way to prove that, so purchase date it is.
Being without the camera bums me out more then potentially paying for the repair. Great camera, and I'd consider buying another D7000 body as a spare and/or to have an additional camera to shoot races, lessening the need to swap lenses. At $1200 per body, that's not gonna happen anytime soon.
I called Nikon on Monday and talked to a rep. He didn't promise it being covered under warranty, though gut tells me it'll be covered. I hope. Camera now shipped off to repair center in California, no idea how long it will be gone.
After whining about my plight to Facebook friends, old coworker pal offered to loan me his Nikon D60, since he also owns a D7000 - along with yet another photographer pal of mine sporting a D7000, who offered me his D80. Lots of spreading the camera love, pretty cool.
I picked up the D60 this week, curious to try out the lower end end of Nikon DSLR range and compare to my D7000 - which will hopefully return soon...