Another vile trend with DSLRs

I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low and
behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05 worth of
rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon cost-cutting
effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!) "textured plastic" like a
grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have expected this of Canon, but
now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90 suffering with the same curse!
Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an otherwise good DSLR with some great
features, like the 900k LCD display only to find out there is no real rubber
(or even fake rubber) around the grip, it's just the same plastic the camera
body is made of. Word to the wise, be careful when holding it if your hands
sweat, it could end up on the pavement.

"RichA" wrote in message
...
I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low and
behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05 worth
of rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon cost-cutting
effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!) "textured plastic" like
a grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have expected this of Canon,
but now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90 suffering with the same
curse! Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an otherwise good DSLR with some
great features, like the 900k LCD display only to find out there is no real
rubber (or even fake rubber) around the grip, it's just the same plastic
the camera body is made of. Word to the wise, be careful when holding it
if your hands sweat, it could end up on the pavement.

I agree. DSLRs are heavy enough to warrant a no-slip grip. They just feel
better too. Another word to the wise: handle 'em fore ye buy 'em.

Charles wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message
...
I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low and
behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05 worth
of rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon cost-cutting
effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!) "textured plastic" like
a grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have expected this of Canon,
but now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90 suffering with the same
curse! Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an otherwise good DSLR with some
great features, like the 900k LCD display only to find out there is no real
rubber (or even fake rubber) around the grip, it's just the same plastic
the camera body is made of. Word to the wise, be careful when holding it
if your hands sweat, it could end up on the pavement.

I agree. DSLRs are heavy enough to warrant a no-slip grip. They just feel
better too. Another word to the wise: handle 'em fore ye buy 'em.


Is the moulding like the D70 though? In that case the front moulding,
including the grip has a textured, slightly soft and more grippy surface
than the rest of the body. Not as soft and grippy as my D300, but I
used the D70 with some heavy lenses for about 4 years and never dropped
it. The "D70" label wasn't sunscreen resistant though - it's now a blank.
The cost wouldn't be in the rubber, but in the extra steps in a
production line to fit it.

"Me" wrote in message
...
Charles wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message
...
I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low
and behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05
worth of rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon
cost-cutting effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!)
"textured plastic" like a grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have
expected this of Canon, but now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90
suffering with the same curse! Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an
otherwise good DSLR with some great features, like the 900k LCD display
only to find out there is no real rubber (or even fake rubber) around
the grip, it's just the same plastic the camera body is made of. Word
to the wise, be careful when holding it if your hands sweat, it could
end up on the pavement.

I agree. DSLRs are heavy enough to warrant a no-slip grip. They just
feel better too. Another word to the wise: handle 'em fore ye buy 'em.
Is the moulding like the D70 though? In that case the front moulding,
including the grip has a textured, slightly soft and more grippy surface
than the rest of the body. Not as soft and grippy as my D300, but I used
the D70 with some heavy lenses for about 4 years and never dropped it.
The "D70" label wasn't sunscreen resistant though - it's now a blank.
The cost wouldn't be in the rubber, but in the extra steps in a production
line to fit it.

....and I was praising Maxwell House for putting a rubberized top on their
jars of instant coffee. No slip, all grip, and much easier to open
(especially the first time). I thought that ranked as Innovation of the
Year.

Perhaps we could have Maxwell House's R&D people talk to the camera makers.

dwight

"RichA" wrote in message
...
I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low and
behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05 worth
of rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon cost-cutting
effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!) "textured plastic" like
a grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have expected this of Canon,
but now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90 suffering with the same
curse! Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an otherwise good DSLR with some
great features, like the 900k LCD display only to find out there is no real
rubber (or even fake rubber) around the grip, it's just the same plastic
the camera body is made of. Word to the wise, be careful when holding it
if your hands sweat, it could end up on the pavement.



And make sure the strap is around your neck!

I have been a photographer for over 50 years and I have never used a camera
without the strap around my neck or without having a hand strap attached. I
one uses a hand strap then there is no problem.
I do not understand why this is a topic for posting to a newsgroup and why
it is a vile trend with DSLR not to have rubber on the grip.
Its been this way for years with certain brands of cameras.
Enough said.


"R. Mark Clayton" wrote in message
...

"RichA" wrote in message
...
I never though the curse of plastic bodies would have a peer, but low and
behold, one appears. What is it? The trend of not providing $0.05 worth
of rubber for the camera grip. Canon's D1000 (a recent Canon cost-cutting
effort) has a grip, no rubber added, just (yeesh!) "textured plastic" like
a grip on a child's dimestore toy gun. I'd have expected this of Canon,
but now Nikon releases a $1000+ body, the D90 suffering with the same
curse! Imagine, you've paid $1000 for an otherwise good DSLR with some
great features, like the 900k LCD display only to find out there is no real
rubber (or even fake rubber) around the grip, it's just the same plastic
the camera body is made of. Word to the wise, be careful when holding it
if your hands sweat, it could end up on the pavement.



And make sure the strap is around your neck!

RichA wrote:

Which begs the question, why on Dpreview do some think it'll be a good
thing when every brick and mortar retailer is replaced by internet
purchases?

Unless something is done about the sales tax avoidance issue, we're
certainly heading that way. Now Arnie is proposing increasing the
California sales tax by 1.5% to help close the budget gap, so the sales
tax would be as high as 10%. A bad idea to increase the most regressive
type of tax.

SMS wrote:
RichA wrote:

Which begs the question, why on Dpreview do some think it'll be a good
thing when every brick and mortar retailer is replaced by internet
purchases?

Unless something is done about the sales tax avoidance issue, we're
certainly heading that way. Now Arnie is proposing increasing the
California sales tax by 1.5% to help close the budget gap, so the sales
tax would be as high as 10%. A bad idea to increase the most regressive
type of tax.

In purchasing my a900 out of province, I avoided $236 in Quebec VAT.

In paying by cheque, I got a small additional savings ($45).

I gave my local camera stores (4) a chance to match final price (or at
least put up a good fight) but they couldn't get there.

The above more that paid for an 8 GB Extr. III card... maybe should have
bought a 16 Mpix card...

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On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:41:38 -0000, R. Mark Clayton wrote:

Word to the wise, be careful when holding it if your hands sweat,
it could end up on the pavement.


And make sure the strap is around your neck!

That's not always the wisest decision.

http://gallery.me.com/felix.mayr/100031/lilly.jpg

And now for the rest of the story . . .


http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=30015853