Nikon's repair policy clause permitting them to refuse to repair a lens is unethical

Last week, Nikon announced the elimination of their international warranties for their interchangeable lenses and accessories. This includes both their F-mount and Z-mount lenses, plus all Speedlights, etc. In the future, Nikon will only provide local warranties specific to countries or regions of sale under their marketing system or by shipping destinations.

Nikon states that this change was necessitated due to regional and national laws and safety standards. They have found it impossible to craft an international warranty that is effective and falls in line with regulations and laws around the world. That's understandable.

For Nikon users with existing international warranties, the warranties will remain in force for the full term of their warranty. Nikon warns users with lenses and accessories with international warranties, however, that

“If any repairs are performed on that product in a country or region not covered by the warranty, the user is responsible for all repair fees, even if the warranty is still valid.”

That statement has always been true for Nikon lenses and accessories.

The new warranty policy changes are going into effect this month.

Nikon XQD based cameras have a future

Of the world's major Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) and Mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) manufacturers, only Nikon DSLRs have utilized XQD memory cards to store images and videos. Some Sony video cameras also use XQD cards.

XQD cards were manufactured by Lexar and Sony, until June, 2017, when Lexar announced that they were discontinuing their retail memory card business, including XQD memory cards. Since then, only Sony has been manufacturing XQD cards.

The XQD card was created for high-definition camcorders and high resolution digital cameras, as it offered considerably better performance than Compact Flash memory cards, even CFast cards.

While Nikon bet on XQD cards, their competitors bet on CFast memory cards. Today it's clear that Nikon won their bet. Frankly, based on the different cards' specifications, I don't understand how CFast supporters thought they'd win their bet.