Disappointing end to my XF 23

[redisred]

After 1+ year of weekly use, i sent in my 23 for an alignment fix. Turns out it's so full of "abrasive material" they won't even repair it, not worth while. So, I've got a paperweight 23 apparently. Can't say I'm blown away by fuji's new jersey center, but they were all very nice otherwise.

 

Be warned folks, when they say it's not weather sealed, they really mean it. I didn't do anything crazy with this thing. Disneyland, park with the kids, etc. Dad stuff. Always had a filter, always used the caps. Seriously reconsidering whether fuji is ready for prime time, which is sad because until this point it's been my favorite system in my 10 year career. But no canon or Sony ever came back unfixable due to dust getting in!

[milandro]

I'm intrigued by the fact that you’ve sent it for repair on account of alignment problems ( not the noise that the abrasive materials which they have found would have made by grinding inside the lens) while according to them you should have at least seen lots of dust in your lens?

 

I don’t doubt what you say, but how can abrasive material have found its way into your lens if it was only exposed to normal use? If that is the case then everyone’s lens should have that or even more. I don’t use filters in front to the lenses for example. Never did.

 

That sand has com inside your lens somehow. Going to Disneyland and occasional and normal use of the camera that you describe can’t have put it there.

[redisred]

Yeah, I was really surprised too! They didn't say sand, they said "abrasive material". I never noticed dust in my lens, never did anything that would have made me worry about dust getting in, but obviously I wasn't concerned enough! I'm still pretty puzzled by the whole thing honestly, so just keep your 23 away from dust or dusty wind or anything like that. 

[milandro]

well, abrasive material covers just about anything solid but how could “ abrasive material” in nature not be “ sand” of some sort.

 

I wouldn’t just let this go after all this is not a normal thing to happen to anyone who wasn’t in a sandstorm.

 

I would get in touch with the head office in Japan and demand explanations.

If you don’t ask you don’t get, other ones asked and got thing they didn’t expect to get.

 

https://contact.fuji...1477.1432290617

 

I have already applied for the position of Fuji ombudsman.

[redisred]

Hey that's a great idea, with the link and all! Thanks a bunch, I'll give it a try.

[milandro]

esplain that the camera has never been exposed to any strange materials and that you haven’t bought the cream of the crop of the Japanese production to be let down with the words, sorry we are not going to do anything for you.

 

Certainly appeal to their sense of Japanese professional honor and pride and the famous reputation of Japanese for always being of service to the honored customer.

[PatrickB]

After 1+ year of weekly use, i sent in my 23 for an alignment fix. Turns out it's so full of "abrasive material" they won't even repair it, not worth while. So, I've got a paperweight 23 apparently. Can't say I'm blown away by fuji's new jersey center, but they were all very nice otherwise.

 

Be warned folks, when they say it's not weather sealed, they really mean it. I didn't do anything crazy with this thing. Disneyland, park with the kids, etc. Dad stuff. Always had a filter, always used the caps. Seriously reconsidering whether fuji is ready for prime time, which is sad because until this point it's been my favorite system in my 10 year career. But no canon or Sony ever came back unfixable due to dust getting in!

 

I don't know where you're from but in Europe you have a longer warranty period than 1 year... I had older gear repaired or replaced than that...

[jlmphotos]

As I've written on my blog all that weather sealing is bull shit.  Back in the day, we used our lenses anywhere, anytime. I lived in Alaska for five years and went to photograph in some seriously extreme weather - rain, sleet, snow, ice, snow fog, etc and NEVER, EVER had a lens or camera go bad. To this day I still have my old Minolta X-E7, circa 1978, and it still works  Period.  Sorry Fuji, but all this WR BS is just that.  I can't believe a camera company, any camera company can't make a lens/camera that can take some weather?  Seriously now?

I have used my Fuji's and lenses under all conditions - rain, sleet, snow, ice.  Never had an issue.  Last summer my grandson squirted me while I was photographing with the X-T1 and the 18-55.  He hit me directly with a heavy dose of water under pressure from a water rifle; all that happened was a bit of water between the body and the lens, but that was it.  Lens still works as does the camera.  

[milandro]

The 23mm is not weather sealed anyway.

 

So all that weather sealing disquisition doesn’t apply to this case anyway.

 

 

 

The guarantee in most countries in the world is only one year. Even if you reside in Europe but you’ve bought this from an online vendor, the guarantee applicable would only be the Fuji own international guarantee, which is, also, 12 months.

 

In the EU you are correct to say so, the general criteria are that a camera or a lens has a minimum of 2 years guarantee, BUT, despite the European law saying they should’t , the UK vendors have taken the view that UK residents are only allowed a 1 year guarantee ( this has been fought successfully in the local courts) but the UK might soon leave the EU anyway so this could rapidly become academic.

 

However in most countries of the world the guarantee is only one of the many criteria which protect the consumer.

 

In the Netherlands, for example, the guarantee is 24 months but in actual fact it extends ( and the problem is that it is not ruled by a specific norm) to the foreseeable and expectable life of any product.

In the case of electronics one could successfully say it is 3 to 5 years.

 

There are however exceptional circumstances.

 

If the product shows (even past the guarantee) that the whole or a part fails because of a factory defect, no matter the fact that the guarantee has expired the product should be repaired or replaced.

 

This is the concept, enforcing it is a totally different matter.

 

So, what the abrasive matter in the lens is, we don’t know.

 

OP tells us he has never exposed the camera to unusual circumstances.

 

He sent the camera out for repair NOT based on the abrasive matter. He was given the camera back, no repair, because of this foreign abrasive stuff.

 

Several Fuji buyers have reported (I was one too) specs of material (often black appearing as plastic shavings) inside NEW lenses.

 

 

How can this happen?

 

 

Something is clearly not the way it should be.

 

 

The repair shop has all interest not to do anything but the Fuji head office might take a different view on the matter and expend their magnanimity to this case.