... or,
"Your camera failed? ... A 'LIGHT BULB' MOMENT"
Every now and then, a new member joins our forums to report that their shiny new or well-cared-for Ricoh or Pentax camera has developed a fault, or died completely. As part of the catharsis in expressing their understandable disappointment, a few will then state they're very disillusioned with, or have lost faith in, the brand. Indeed, a small few join these forums (or post for the first time) simply to tell everyone their camera died, and they're never buying another Ricoh or Pentax product again (I call these more extreme cases "
drive by" posts
).
At the time of writing, we've had a few such posts (relating to different camera models) in the last week or two. Since I usually reply to them with similar views and advice, I thought it best to start this thread for the benefit of anyone experiencing problems and perhaps losing faith or contemplating switching in future.
....
"My Ricoh / Pentax camera (or lens, or flash, or something else) has failed, and I'm bitterly disappointed / disillusioned with the brand / going to switch" Fact: There is no economically-viable manufacturing or quality assurance process that guarantees every component and mechanism in every instance of every new product will make it out of the factory working, and keep on working until (or beyond) that product's expected service life. If such manufacturing and quality assurance processes were put in place, the cost of production would be so high that most folks wouldn't be able to afford the products, or - at the very least - wouldn't be prepared to pay so much for them.
This is true even for the simplest of products... such as the humble domestic light bulb (here comes our "
LIGHT BULB MOMENT"
)...
Any member here of adult age will have bought light bulbs for their home and - at one time or another - found that one of them doesn't work out of the box, or blows the first time it's switched on, or perhaps after just a few days or weeks of use. What went wrong?
That light bulb is assembled from a number of components. Each component is individually designed, and specific materials are chosen and sourced to make them. A range of machines are used to manufacture these components, and others to assemble them, quality check them (so far as is realistically possible on a fast production line), and pack them.
The most likely cause of the light bulb's failure - at least, when it's new - is that one or more components failed, or there was an assembly problem. For the components, perhaps a slight quality issue in a batch of materials was to blame - or maybe a misalignment or one-time glitch in machinery resulted in a tiny flaw. For assembly, perhaps the components weren't lined up or joined correctly, due to a misalignment or one-time glitch in the machinery. Or maybe the bulb was assembled just fine, but suffered some minor damage during the automated packing process, due to (you guessed it) a misalignment or one-time glitch in the machinery. All of these machines, like any other electro-mechanical devices, require regular checking, adjustment and servicing. Even then, just like motor cars, when everything seems to be working properly, occasionally there's a hiccup that can't be easily diagnosed or explained.
Of course, it could be that the design of the light bulb is itself flawed. In which case, even if the materials and manufacturing processes are up to par, a significant number of the bulbs will be dead on arrival, or will fail early on. If someone buys several boxes of those same brand light bulbs over a period of time, and finds that half or third of them either don't work out of the box or fail pretty quickly, they'll reasonably conclude that they're not great quality and switch to a different brand of bulb ("
My OSRAM bulb died! How can OSRAM build such a terrible bulb? I've never heard of this with other bulbs. I've lost confidence in the brand. I'm never buying another OSRAM product. I'm switching to ....").
This is just a
very simple light bulb we're talking about, here. A product with no moving parts, assembled from a handful of relatively large components with fairly big tolerances.
Now, consider - if you will - a digital SLR or mirrorless camera. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of components, fashioned from a huge range of appropriate materials sourced from different suppliers. Many of the electronic components themselves made up of hundreds of miniaturised discrete components many, many times smaller than a grain of sand. Mechanical assemblies made up of many parts manufactured and adjusted to ridiculously narrow tolerances. Optical assemblies. Mechanical and electro-mechanical switches. Body components. Seals. Coverings. And no camera manufacturer is capable of making every one of these components. Many - especially the electronic and electrical ones - are bought from other companies.
How does Ricoh / Pentax design, manufacture, assemble and test products such that every instance of them is perfect, fully operational at the time of delivery, and reliable for their entire intended service life?
It
can't. And nor can any other brand. It's simply impossible for any camera manufacturer to test and quality assure every discrete and integrated component (whether manufactured by them or a 3rd party supplier), and every assembly, for every instance of every product. When you think about it, given the complexity, it's testament to Ricoh (and the suppliers of all the components they use in their cameras) that so few instances of products fail.
Of course, this is cold comfort to those of us who receive a faulty product, or one that fails shortly after purchase or after a short time of careful use...
....
"My Ricoh / Pentax camera (or lens, or flash, or something else) has failed, and I'm bitterly disappointed / disillusioned with the brand / going to switch"
I sympathise, I really do. I've bought products that didn't work, or failed shortly after purchase or careful use. It's disappointing. Disappointing, and frustrating enough that we sometimes lose our cool over it. But it happens... WITH EVERY BRAND. Don't believe me? Search the web and you will find reports of failure with every camera model from every manufacturer - Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Leica etc. - and, yes, Ricoh / Pentax. As such, it's quite possible that with any given brand, we might be unfortunate enough to experience failure with one or more products (two or three in a row can really dent our faith, but that happens too). That isn't, IMHO, enough evidence upon which to lose faith in
any brand... it's not enough evidence to demonstrate there's a widespread problem with the brand or a specific model. For that, we need to collect much more data, from many more similarly-affected owners (if they exist). And it's very rare that happens - because there are remarkably few large volume problems with cameras from any of the brands - Ricoh / Pentax included.
The next time you buy a box of 20 simple light bulbs from your preferred manufacturer, and one of them is dead out of the box, or blows when you install it, will you lose all faith in the manufacturer?