04-14-2011, 09:21 AM
Not an easy topic.
It depends on were you come from.
When you have spend some time with a D700 and 28-70/2.8 and then go back to a D40 with 18-55 - well...build quality sucks.
But when you compare the price and what you can do with the cheap one in every day situations it does not look that bad.
Same with the 55-300VR. Feels horrible plastic, but good optical quality.
I recently had an old Zenit SLR in my hands. Solid as a rock.
But you should not compare to those old metal parts.
Plastic is everywhere and it gets better every year.
Cars are made of plastic more and more as you already mentioned.
Plastic is not just Plastic. There are huge differences. Think of Playmobil for kids - rock solid and long lasting plastic, even when mistreated.
The new problem is the surface structure. With new nano structure techniques even a bad plastic can look and feel good.
So I really don't know how to judge, except by a longterm test.
It depends on were you come from.
When you have spend some time with a D700 and 28-70/2.8 and then go back to a D40 with 18-55 - well...build quality sucks.
But when you compare the price and what you can do with the cheap one in every day situations it does not look that bad.
Same with the 55-300VR. Feels horrible plastic, but good optical quality.
I recently had an old Zenit SLR in my hands. Solid as a rock.
But you should not compare to those old metal parts.
Plastic is everywhere and it gets better every year.
Cars are made of plastic more and more as you already mentioned.
Plastic is not just Plastic. There are huge differences. Think of Playmobil for kids - rock solid and long lasting plastic, even when mistreated.
The new problem is the surface structure. With new nano structure techniques even a bad plastic can look and feel good.
So I really don't know how to judge, except by a longterm test.