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Comment by aruggirello | Hacker News Reader

One of the things that worry me, as I still enjoy shooting and am perfectly satisfied with my 6 megapixel DSLR camera, is programmed obsolescence. My camera, bought in 2006, is perfectly fine, the shutter still has a long way to go before hitting the 100 thousand actuations (it's just about halfway - and it may be repaired in the event it breaks), and I don't see the point why it may just stop functioning in a couple years. I also have a fancy new 24mp D5200, but I still find the old one useful - this thing is irritating.

I noticed the infamous symbol (two arrows surrounding a friendly "10") on the bottom of most of the DSLR camera models currently on sale from major manufacturers (Nikon, Canon, Sony) - with the possible exception of Pentax.

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I hadn't known about this symbol before. It turns out to be the "China RoHS" (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) required by Chinese law. It estimates the shortest EFUP (Environmentally Friendly Use Period) of any component within the item. The reason that it's not on your 2006 camera is that the law came into effect in 2007.

From what I can tell, it's an estimate of the time after manufacture that the item can be safely recycled, and is independent of the useful lifespan of the item. And it seems that for legal compliance the manufacturers usually use a standard number suggested for the product category rather than actually calculating the specifics for the item: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/china-roh...

If Pentax doesn't have the symbol, it's probably because they are not manufacturing or selling in China, rather than a difference in the construction. If the construction was different (and if they were adhering to the protocol) they'd have an 'e' inside the arrows rather than a number.

Thank you for the information. From your link: "the EFUP is the period of time before any of the RoHS substances are likely to leak out, causing possible harm to health and the environment - See more at: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/china-roh... "

I am not sure if I follow. What makes you think that your camera will stop working? And what is the symbol you mention about?

The reason is the 10 years - somewhere in the electronics of the camera, some components (like capacitors, etc.) employ some different materials/process so that it is more environment-friendly once disposed. This is good, except that it means they will quietly fail in about 10 years (of course, from manufacturing date, not from when I bought the camera). The net result is, the camera will soon stop working despite being in excellent condition and, after 10 years, will at least require servicing. A currently 25 years old SLR will still be perfectly working!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

I am not 100% sure you can classified this as planned obsolescence. It is the nature of the product. ie, the capacitors used only have a relative short life and will fail within 10 years. Just like the SLR will stop working, just much more later in time. It is just the way it is.

Planned obsolescence would be if the camera manufacturer specifically design to product to stop working in a specific time frame. They might do this for commercial, legal or safety reasons.

This is why people are willing to spend so much more on glass than camera bodies. The glass will continue to work forever, and depreciate very little relative to the camera which, like every gadget, will be "worthless" in 4 years.

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