abby Loc: Tampa, Florida

I have read several places now about dust on the sensors of the new D600 - UHH site, B & H and even Nikon site. An article today showed up on the Popular Photography web site, popphoto.com about this also.

The most comprehensive review I have seen is from the tech guys at lensrentals.com. Almost every D600 they rented had significant sensor dust problems. There article is below:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/10/d600-sensor-dust-issues

This is a great full frame camera and those that already bought this, hopefully you got a good one but apparently there is a design flaw according to the lensrentals.com article:

" The D600′s shutter curtain opening seems a bit larger than the other Nikon cameras with a bit of a gap around the shutter curtain. It may well be the shutter movement is pulling dust onto the sensor. When our techs started complaining that D600s were all coming back from their first rental with a lot more dust (despite being freshly cleaned before leaving) we didn’t pay much attention to that either. We all remember the oil / dust issues the D3x and D3s had. Those mostly cleared up after a few cleanings.
The dust kept reappearing with every rental, and more impressively – it was generally in the same location (upper left 1/3 of the image). That did get our attention, so we started looking into the matter a bit. We kept dust pictures for 20 consecutive D600s returning from rental and saw the problem was very real.
In general, about 1 out of 4 cameras requires sensor cleaning after a rental. All 20 of the D600s did."

I have the D600 sitting here in my office in an un-opened box and am sending it back to B & H in the morning. ( brings a tear to my eye!!) I'll wait a few months and let Nikon address the problem ( and they will ) then buy it later. Too expensive of a camera to worry about this kind of thing.

In the mean time, I will use my faithful D90 with my 1976 Nikon 20mm,f/4 wide angle - still one of the sharpest lenses ever made from Nikon - hard to find and only produced from 1974-1978. Below are a couple of photos I took with this lens a couple of nights ago:

Abby

Colored Bridge Lights in Tampa


Colored Railroasd Tressel in Tampa

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I got my 20mm F4 for $35...Had a tiny scratch on the front element that has no effect on the resulting images...Used it on a D70s & now on a D300...Have lots of older Ai & Ais spec MF lenses...As for the D600 issue, that camera never interested me from the moment it was introduced, so it looks like it's a non issue for me...Hope Nikon mans up to the problems though.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Solid response - sounds like the logical move at this point. Jerry and others are in the process; Nikon's problem for certain. Wish you good luck - and you're right, too expensive a camera to have to have this problem so widespread.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Slightly off subject but in the ballpark, the Canon 5D2 is notorious for sensor dust and my serial number is 49 so it's got distance behind it. I tried to clean my sensor but eventually I sent it back to Canon because it had an oily substance on it that I couldn't get off but before all this materialized I had taken many, many hours of video, unaware the dust was present until I got it all processed, burned it to blu ray and put it on a 70" hdtv. Not much way to clean 19 spots off of many hours of video one frame at a time and reassemble it which was the only way to fix it two years ago and may still be. Talk about a sick surprise. I no sooner got the 5D2 back than it had more spots on it but fortunately, without the oily substance, suddenly I could blow it mostly clean with a Rocket blaster.

I do most of my shooting outdoors and I've come to view this as a curse and yet a blessing in disguise, of sorts, and the ideas/technique can be utilized with all other digital cameras. If I don't stop down beyond to around f8 or below, most dust spots will not show up in the end except perhaps faintly in a solid sky or light colored wall. In a 'still' it can be fixed but not in video. The possibility of the presence of dust has forced me to be more aware of where I aim the lens and what I shoot. I clean often and try to do all the right things to avoid dust entering the chamber, you know, limit outdoor changes, camera face down during a change, etc., but it's impossible to avoid everything and further impossible to predict when dust will enter so I do resort to excessive measures to avoid the downside of dust. If, for instance, it's a really important shot and I have time, and if I'm shooting a distant subject, rather than stopping down beyond about f8, usually a sweet spot anyway, I resort to taking shots that I can "focus stack." That avoids not only the prospect of spots but also lens distortion as well as clarity of focus across the range of the scene. It simply makes for a better image all the way around even though it does require some additional processing. I figure since I've driven a few miles, done a little walking, spent the money on some good equipment, and whatever other effort is involved, stacking a few images is the least of the effort to come away with what I want. It's like film used to be - the cheapest thing in the equation.

abby Loc: Tampa, Florida

Sounds like you have it figured out. Dust and dirt are things photographers need to be aware of - after a few shots and lens changes, etc. - but not right out of the box as, as is the case with the new d600. I feel certain Nikon will address the problem - if they continue to deny there is a problem with the d600 ( which has been the case with my 4 phone calls to Nikon ) , there might be some issues.

Thanks for the thorough response.

Abby

gessman Loc: Colorado

Sounds like you have the right answer for the d600. Send it back. I would have done so with the 5D2 also had I known but I jumped the gun to get a full frame and paid the price. I could dump it but I don't think that would solve my issues. We have a very dry climate here and dust has been a problem for photographers going way back due to the amount of static electricity and how it attracts particles, not always so small. Guess I'll tough it out for now until the manufacturers can figure out a total solution for the problem. As a hobbyist, I cannot justify a different body for each lens to keep from having to change so I guess I'll keep figuring it out on the fly. Good luck with your issue. It would be interesting to see if there were any geographic relationship pattern to all the complaints about the D600.

abby Loc: Tampa, Florida

Good point. I'll post on UHH if I hear anything more.