42 Reasons Why Nikon (and Canon) Suck

Warning: If you don't have a sense of humor or an open mind, then I would suggest not reading this post and leaving.

Hey! I recently purchased a new Nikon D300s, and I am not satisfied with it. In fact, I'm absolutely disgusted with it! I paid $1800 for this camera, and it can't do any of these basic functions, most of which are just software/firmware things that could be added without any hardware tweaking. Although this list specifically applies to the D300s (because I own it and know what it can/cannot do), a lot of the things apply to almost any digital SLR camera that are produced by Canon, Sony, Fuji.... whatever.

1. There is no sound detection shutter triggering.
2. There is no motion detection shutter triggering.
3. There is no headphone output.
4. There is no sound metering/VU/Volume/Peak meter in camera.
5. You can't record audio files.
6. The only image recording options available are JPG, TIFF, or NEF. The only video formats available are .AVI.
7. Nikon has limited the frames per second. The camera is capable taking 8fps without an external battery pack, but in order to enable 8fps properly, the camera has to detect that there is a battery grip attached. The only reason why they did this was to make you buy their $200 MD-D10 battery grip.
8. You can't write your own programs for the camera because the firmware is not open source. The majority of these problems (almost all of them) would be solvable if it was!
   
9. You cannot view non-Nikon content in camera on the LCD screen. All images and videos must be taken by a Nikon camera in order to be played back in camera.
10. It can't meter beyond 30 seconds.
11. It can't blend multiple exposures in certain, useful ways.
12. It only can do whole number fps integers (4fps, 5fps, etc) and is unable to use more flexible values, such as 4.2 fps or4.3fps, for example.
13. It can't do 2 fps and then 3 fps, and then loop that pattern.
14. You cannot bracket images with user customized integers/values.
15. The exposure bracketing only allows up to a maximum of 9 stops.
16. The self-timer only has 2, 5, 10, or 20 seconds available for customization. What if I wanted 8.5 seconds? What if I wanted 40 seconds, or 8.2 hours?
17. The exposure delay mode can only be set to 1 second.
18. You cannot properly set the white balance in camera for infrared photography. This feature was available in some older models. Why remove it for no reason?
19. The file naming system is very limited. It allows only three characters, an underscore, and then the numbers 0001-9999. What if I wanted the file name to have an unlimited amount of characters at the beginning, and then the file number (say 12095356342 (as you can see, it can go past 9999 without being reset to 0001 or no reason)) and then another set of characters, and then the date (a custom variable)? Nope, sorry.
20. The Active folder function is limited. Yet again, it only allows three numbers to be inserted into the folder name, and then a "D300S" is stuck at the end of the folder name. What if I wanted an unlimited amount of customizable numbers AND letters?
21. There is no live histogram.
22. The live horizon only meters the x axis, not the y axis.
23. The BULB mode is limited. It lets the photographer take an exposure while their finger is pressed on the shutter, but if they wanted to push the shutter once to activate the exposure, and then once again to stop the exposure, they wouldn't be able to do that without buying a cable release or remote.
24. EV, Exp, and ISO is adjustable only in 1/3 or 1/2 increments.
25. Accurate exposure times are limited. For example, you cannot set it to 23 seconds. It's either 20 or 25.
26. It only can write files to be in horizontal orientation. It can write in the EXIF data that it needs rotating, but if you wanted to write the actual file dimensions in vertical orientation, its is impossible.
27. It's incapable of auto-focus bracketing.
28. The AF Assist lamp doesn't always turn on when it's dark, and furthermore, there is no option to turn on the AF Assist lamp at your desire. It is a waste considering how bright and useful the lamp is. It would be nice, efficient, and convenient for the user to simply assign a button that turns on the AF Lamp so you can see in the dark.
29. The Interval Time Shooting mode is limited. The shortest interval time is one second.
30. There is no way to tell how large the file size is for any of the pictures in camera.
31. There is no option to view the pictures in whatever orientation your camera is in. It's either "ROTATE TALL" or a not.
32. You cannot install different sized crystals inside of the camera body that are in front of the sensor to bend light in certain artistic ways (this one is a joke)
33. You cannot auto-focus the lens from Focus Point A to Focus Point B while it is taking an exposure.
34. The exposure compensation only goes up or down to maximum of five stops.
35. You cannot easily select groups of images to be deleted simultaneously.
36. You cannot quickly create a playlist of certain images/videos you want to play while in sideshow mode.
37. You cannot resize images to smaller sizes. This feature was available in older models.
38. The repeating flash mode is limited to 1HZ to 50HZ. It's very possible to program the camera to be .5HZ.
39. There is an option that allows you to trim movie clips from the beginning, and another option to trim movie clips from the end, however if you wanted to do both at the same time, there is no option available. You have to trim the beginning, which makes a new copy of the file, then trim the end of that copy, which makes another copy. In the end you have 3 copies.
40. You cannot create a movie file of a long exposure being recorded in real time.
41. You cannot set the shutter speed or ISO for movies.
42. You cannot set custom values for each flash burst in the flash burst mode
43. You can't watch videos in slideshow mode.
44. The AGC (Audio Gain Control) is horrible. People have been complaining all over the internet about their frustration of it not being able to switch the AGC to manual. If the firmware was just open source, engineers wouldn't have to go out of their way to build pre-amp adapters to make up for the camera manufacture's failure of a job.

A lot of the things listed above are already capable of being enabled in the camera, however Nikon decided to just disable them for the hell of it. This leaves all the photographers who want more control over there camera in the dark, with no other option but to suffer.

There is only one solution at this point, and that is  The Frankencamera.  The Frankencamera will allow users to write their own programs for the camera and use it as they please, however it is currently difficult to get one of these, because it is still in development and being prepared for public use... Plus it is extremely bulky.

The Nikon D300s' competitor, the Canon 7D, fixes some of the problems... but I don't own one so I can't tell you which problems it fixes and which ones it doesn't. I'm assuming that it only can fix a few. Based on a video review I saw of it, the only things better than the Nikon is that it can take longer video footage, it's 18 megapixels compared to 12, and it can meter the y axis horizon (ohhhh. big deal)

People seem to make jokes about this post and say things like "well this camera can't make me toast in the morning, so therefore it is useless!".  That is because the camera wasn't designed to make toast and it would need new hardware in order to do that and would be ridiculous to begin with. Most of the items that I have listed above do not require any new hardware to be installed into the camera. I am simply trying to point out the un-met potential DSLR cameras have.

There are so many creative (and very practical/useful ) features that could be implemented into cameras that are not being taken advantage of.   Take a look at this theoretical open source DSLR that implements some of the features listed above, and hopefully you will come to some conclusion on why I hate camera companies for not progressing their technology beyond the point of just adding more megapixels and a faster frame-rate each year to their cameras. If they would just make the camera open source, the technology could progress so much faster. They are ruining it for everyone.

Is there anything you would like me to add to the list? If there is, write a comment below, please

11/16/2010 UPDATE: Yes, I researched the camera before buying it, and beileve it or not, I felt that it was the best one on the market for me. However, that does not mean that I like it or am even the happy with it. At most, I am truly disappointed with the camera's available on the market today. If you gave me the most high-end, top-notch flagship camera from Nikon or Canon, I still would not be impressed because of how impractical it is. If the firmware was open source, however.... then that would be completely different story, and paying 3+ grand for a camera WOULD be worth it. I'm surprised Nikon and Canon even give us the option to change the  shutter speed and ISO, considering all the other hundreds of other features they are holding back.

Please write a comment below and tell me what you think about this