Alert Korean digital camera users discover flaws

Picky digital camera users in Korea are proving to be a real headache for Japanese digital camera makers. Local users have discovered a series of technical flaws in some Japanese-brand digital cameras that had not been found elsewhere. Buyers of a single lens reflex digital camera from Nikon, the D-70 model, found several defects in the advanced camera since it was released worldwide March 19. Korean consumers have been flocking to camera stores to return their new acquisitions after discovering that taking shots of very bright objects such as the sun leaves a tail of blurred green lights and blotches of red or green in the captured digital image. When purchasers of the product raised the technical issues, the importer of Nikon cameras, Anam Optics Inc., suspended the sale of the camera in Korea and asked the Nikon headquarters in Japan to look into the problem. Digital camera users also complained about purple residual images in shots taken with Sony’s digital camera, DSC-F828, a model for professionals. Meanwhile, users of Canon digital cameras learned that they could download software from an advanced model to a less-advanced one, but LG International Corp., the importer of Canon cameras, warned that downloading and installing software to another model could trigger technical glitches. The users of Canon digital cameras complained that the company was trying to prevent the software download and installation in a bid to promote the sale of advanced models. Separately, Canon’s leading scientists and engineers visited Korea for the first time last year to give explanations to local users on alleged auto-focus problems in its digital camera. Digital camera users form groups and post messages on the Internet to exchange opinions, and digital camera producers and distributors are monitoring the online boards and meeting the users to listen to their complaints. Some companies are using Korea as a test market in the belief that Koreans are early adaptors of new technologies. Olympus Korea launched a new camera here last month and Canon tested a new model by allowing local photographers to use the digital camera for one month, delaying the date of its release by one month compared with those of other countries. by Yoon Chang-hee