Refurb D800s for $2500 at Adorma

[robin623]

Such a deal!
I guess this offer can make the choice for a new D600 a little more difficult!
(Keep in mind that the refurbished Nikon bodies only carry a 90 day warranty.)

[photopros]

i would go to George Ury.com for the best deals

[Skipper]

A brand new D800 is $3,000 so I don't think $2,500 for a used D800 is a really great deal. You could argue that $500 is a lot of money but once you get up into a certain level suddenly a few hundred dollars isn't worth the potential drawbacks of a used camera.

[BobF]

A brand new D800 is $3,000 so I don't think $2,500 for a used D800 is a really great deal. You could argue that $500 is a lot of money but once you get up into a certain level suddenly a few hundred dollars isn't worth the potential drawbacks of a used camera.

Drawbacks? All but three of the cameras I've ever owned have been used. That includes an EOS 620, 2 Mamiya TLRs, a Mamiya RZ, a Crown Graphic 4x5, an EOS 5D and a Nikon D700 (which I still have and is still going strong). Never had a problem with any of them. Actually that's not quite true. The mirror did fall off on my 5D but that had nothing to do with the camera being bought second hand. There's a whack of used gear bought and sold all the time.

[Skipper]

Glad you've had good luck BobF. I am not advising against used cameras. Not in a blanket way. I'm saying that as long as you're spending a whopping $2,500 you might as well spend $3,000 and get full warranty, all the accessories and, more important, a camera without a 'history'. A used D800? Why? They've only been out a short time. Was there something wrong with it? On the positive side, I would imagine a Nikon-refurbished camera has been given an extra level of scrutiny and any flaws it may (or may not) have had were fixed. I hear that some of the D800s (and maybe D800Es) had a focusing problem and a lot of buyers have been sending theirs in for repair of this known problem. (Early on I heard buyers were right away sent new cameras).

[BobF]

A factory refurb could be better than new. On the assembly line, typically only a sampling of cameras gets pulled off for quality testing before going out the door. With a factory refurb, you know it's been looked at by an actual person and passed the quality testing.

There was a focusing issue with some early D800 bodies. I'd expect that's what a number of these are. Nikon haven't been overly forthcoming with the problem. Initially it wouldn't even acknowledge there was a problem. It now has and says that the problem is resolved for current production but haven't given any indication of the serial number range in which it was a problem. I'm just hoping that as mine was just bought a few weeks ago it won't have the problem. I haven't had a chance to truly test it out yet.

[Skipper]

BobF you might want to check out a few threads on the Nikonians.org forum regarding the focus issue. If yours is affected, you might consider returning it rather than sending to Nikon as those who have done this have had mixed success with the repair. If you aren't familiar with Nikonians, you do not have to pay to join at the basic level. It looks like you do but you do not. It's free.

Also, I guess there is a learning curve for this camera but those who've mastered it seem to love it.

[BobF]

I'm banned from Nikonians.

[Skipper]

What did you do?

I think you can still read the forums.