[News] Nikon D800 Has Confirmed Focus/Viewfinder Issues

I didn't believe my buddy when he told me that his brand new Nikon D800 viewfinder was always out of focus. I assumed that he had the diopter out of whack. It wasn't until I used the camera myself that I realized there was a serious problem. The camera was sent back to Nikon for repair and he received the camera back last week with the same issue. After sending it back a second time, Nikon has admitted that "a run" of D800s have an issue with viewfinder alignment.

Steven's camera (serial number 3003228) seemed to have 2 separate issues; focusing, and viewfinder alignment. Sometimes autofocus worked properly, other times it was way off. When the camera did focus properly the scene still looked slightly out of focus through the viewfinder. After doing some tests with live view and then comparing his D800 to another, Steven confirmed that there was something very wrong with his copy.

Steven ordered his camera the day that it became available for preorder and was one of the first to receive it in the US. He got his camera weeks before me and I'm an NPS member. He has now spent $250 shipping the camera back to Nikon twice for repair. Nikon claims that the autofocus issue has been fixed but to repair the viewfinder will require parts that will not be available until next month. They are willing to refund his money for the camera so he can buy another (not including the $250 in shipping he has spent) but he knows it could be months before he receives another camera because he will be in the back of the line.

If you have a D800 give your viewfinder a second look. With Steven's camera you could autofocus, and then lean in toward your subject and the scene would finally drop into focus. Does anyone else have this issue? Luckily my D800 is working fine.

Update: About an hour after this post went live Steven got a call from the head of Nikon Service and Steven will be receiving a new camera directly from Nikon tomorrow. Sadly, they will not be refunding the money he spent to insure and mail the lens back to Nikon twice.

Another interesting note is that one of the commentors below claims to be having this exact same issue with his D4. We will keep you posted as we learn more.