Just how reliable are digital cameras? Ask the insurance company...

1 year 2 years Breakage 3.4 % 6.6 % Accident 2.4 % 4.1 % Total 5.9 % 10.7 % Problems encountered with digital cameras

According to a recent study, Panasonic makes the most reliable digital cameras, coming just slightly ahead of many of its competitors but a long way in front of others—notably Casio. The study was carried out by an insurance company, which analysed the faults and breakages reported by its customers on their 60,000 digital cameras.

A major problem with all camera tests, whether online or in magazines, is that there’s no real way of evaluating a camera’s reliability. We always test brand new products, and apart from our personal cameras, we have no way of saying how reliable a given model will be after one, two or three years of use.

However, reliability is incredibly important to you, the customer, as no-one wants to buy a camera that’s likely to develop a fault the very next day. The problem is that when we ask manufacturers about reliability, they skirt around the subject and avoid the question. So, although this study certainly has its limits, hat’s off to insurer Square Trade for publishing a few statistics about faults encountered with the 60,000 digital cameras on its books.

Overall reliability

The first thing to consider is the overall breakdown rate. In two years, 6.6% of digital cameras in the study broke at least once. Over time, the breakdown rate remains fairly static, with a slight peak in the first few months of ownership and then a noticeable slowdown, as is often the case for electronic equipment.

On the other hand, 4.1% broke or had problems caused directly by the user. That’s just 1 in 25 cameras over two years—doesn’t that seem a bit low? Well, the report’s authors are quick to refer us to their smartphone study, which showed that in two years, over 1 in 5 models had to be repaired after being dropped or involved some other kind of accident.

Last year at a press conference, I saw a fellow journalist accidentally drop a Panasonic ZX1 on to the pavement, and it’s true that the camera remained completely scot-free. Perhaps that was just a serious stroke of luck, but data shows Panasonic makes the most reliable cameras around. Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Battery Life and Video Sony Cyber-shot HX20V Quality Budget Snapper Canon Ixus 220 HS

Panasonic comes out on top (just)!

The table showing faults by brand is interesting, particularly for cameras costing under $300. Panasonic comes out on top, with a breakdown rate over two years of 5.3%. Just behind, around the 6% mark, come Fuji, Olympus, Sony and Canon. Then come Kodak, Nikon and Pentax, just in front of the two worst performers, Polaroid and Casio. In fact, Casio’s breakdown rate over two years was 13%!

You may have noticed the absence of Samsung in the list above. That’s probably because their market share in the US two years ago wasn’t high enough to give useable data over such a long period of time.

Reliability and price

It’s also interesting to consider the breakdown rate in relation to camera price. Don’t worry, our hopes were confirmed: more expensive cameras are more reliable. In fact, 4% of models costing over $500 were subject to an insurance claim in two years, compared with 7.4% of models costing under $150.

What’s more, Polaroid, the next-to-last manufacturer in terms of breakdowns per brand, only makes cameras in the latter category, some of which cost well under $100. So it really does look like you get what you pay for!

In conclusion, out of all digital cameras in the study, the most reliable category was Panasonic’s compacts costing between $300 and $500—in other words, the TZ and FZ ranges, as the FT range hasn’t been available long enough to be included in the study. In the same category, the runners up are Nikon, Sony then Olympus.

Someone missing? Well yes, a nasty surprise is that Canon's top-of-the-range compacts proved no more reliable than its entry-level models. So, although the manufacturer is pretty well placed for its low-priced compacts, it’s doesn’t do too well for high-end compacts with 6.2% of claims.

So what about the remaining category: SLRs? Square Trade didn’t have enough data on SLRs to give any conclusive results on brands other than Nikon and Canon. These manufacturers both saw 4 % of breakdowns over two years.

Interestingly, this figure is higher than for high-end compacts. However, it’s difficult to claim that SLRs are any less reliable than compacts, as experience shows that SLR users tend to put their equipment through the paces. It’s not out of the ordinary for a one-year-old SLR to have clocked up over 100 days of outdoor use and over 10,000 photos taken, and it’s rare to see a compact camera used that intensively.

Limitations

Both the Sony W170 (£180) and the Canon EOS-1D Mk III (£2,500) were recalled by manufacturers.

Obviously the study has its limits. The insurance company is primarily interested in the overall lifespan of the products it insures, not in what type or intensity of use the product has been exposed to before it breaks. The number of faults per 1,000 shots, for example, would be much more useful to know, but no-one other than manufacturers can possibly get their hands on such information.

There are other limits too. Cameras taken directly back to the original point of sale aren’t accounted for in these figures, nor are those not covered by an insurance policy. Plus, maybe users who insure their cameras take more risks when using them or don’t think twice about taking them out in adverse conditions.

What’s more, major problems and faults affecting digital cameras are usually dealt with directly by the manufacturer via product recall schemes. From a faulty batch of sensors, dodgy power sources and casing that’s falling apart, to poorly assembled parts, we’ve seen all this and more on cameras costing anything from £100 to £3,000. Although the problem is dealt with entirely by the manufacturer, no-one can say whether such recalls are really taken into account in the manufacturers announced reliability rates.

So in the absence of a definitive study on camera reliability, covering all cameras of all kinds, all brands, and used by all kinds of photographers, we’ll just have to assume that no matter what camera you buy, it has 9 in 10 chances of working just fine for at least two years, and that once you start spending upwards of £200, you should be just fine 19 out of 20 times.


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