D600 sensor dust problem

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clarnibass

Senior Member
It is a small issue with pretty much all DSLR cameras, but LensRentals seems to have experience with many of each model camera they rent and claim it is much more significant with D600 than other models.

Having to clean your camera every once in a while, let's say a few months, is not a big issue IMO. But I've seen at least a few people getting a D600 with spots, requiring a few cleanings, both wet and air, to get everything out, then getting significant spots again after approx 100 shots. I'm considering a D600, but if this happens to mine it means I'd have to clean it almost every times I shoot and the spots would almost certainly appear while I'm shooting... so I'm waiting for now.

I just checked my much cheaper APS-C DSLR. It's a couple of years since I bought it and I've never cleaned it. I constantly change lenses and never bother to be careful not to get dust inside when changing them. I see about three spots that are are visible at f/11 if you are looking for them, but barely visible at f/8 if you really look hard. I expect a $2,400 (cost of D600 here) to at least not be significantly worse, but realisitcally expect it to not be worse at all.
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
clarnibass said:
It is a small issue with pretty much all DSLR cameras, but LensRentals seems to have experience with many of each model camera they rent and claim it is much more significant with D600 than other models.

Having to clean your camera every once in a while, let's say a few months, is not a big issue IMO. But I've seen at least a few people getting a D600 with spots, requiring a few cleanings, both wet and air, to get everything out, then getting significant spots again after approx 100 shots. I'm considering a D600, but if this happens to mine it means I'd have to clean it almost every times I shoot and the spots would almost certainly appear while I'm shooting... so I'm waiting for now.

I just checked my much cheaper APS-C DSLR. It's a couple of years since I bought it and I've never cleaned it. I constantly change lenses and never bother to be careful not to get dust inside when changing them. I see about three spots that are are visible at f/11 if you are looking for them, but barely visible at f/8 if you really look hard. I expect a $2,400 (cost of D600 here) to at least not be significantly worse, but realisitcally expect it to not be worse at all.
Click to expand...

My D7000 had similar problem when it was released. Excessive use of lubricant will cause this to have oil spots on the sensor. I usually send my camera body to Nikon for other issues and they include the sensor cleaning prior to returning it to me. I have my own wet sensor cleaning kit so no worries if I need to clean my camera sensors.
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
It's no big deal unless it "IS" a big deal. It is common with almost all digital cameras, isn't it? I would say that Canon or Sony DSLR owners experience similar moments. Sure I was a little surprised to see the spots in photoshop in a new D600 camera but hey, it isn't abnormal. My ex D80, a handful of years ago, was heaps worse and I attributed this to taking photos from a moving vehicle all the time with the lens poking out of the window in all that wind. Because when I stopped doing this, the problem stopped with it. The D80 sensor/filter looked like a garbage tip on a Sunday afternoon in the midday sun. A simple cleaning with swabs got rid of 99 percent of the crap within minutes, each time...
 
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Phillydog1958

Senior Member
friedmud said:
Well... I took my camera into my dealer and they said that they would replace it... but I got their floor model and took a "dust shot" with it... and it was even _worse_ than my camera! So... no reason to replace (might just get one worse). They said they could send it in for cleaning... but it would be a month before I got it back. So, I told them I would use my Giottos Rocket Blower and see if it would do any good. I just got through cleaning the sensor with the rocket blower and thought I would share my results:

(all photos take using 24-70G at 70mm at f/22 focused near infinity on a piece of paper. Disregard the "yellowish splotch" it was some junk on the paper...)

First the "before" shot:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8129213989_31d0230b70_o.jpg

Next, the "after" shot:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8474/8129240630_be4e27ba8b_o.jpg

This is after repeated (10+) mirror up cleaning sessions with the rocket blower. When I first took at look at the sensor I could visibly see the dust (mostly in the bottom left corner when looking at the sensor). I could see it getting blown away with the rocket blower. As you can see, there are still a few small spots... but they won't be visible at anything other than f/22 (where I don't shoot much). I could keep blowing, but it's just as likely that I will continue to blow around the dust instead of really getting it off. To get that last bit off I would need to either send it in or do a wet cleaning (which I'm NOT doing on a brand new $2100 piece of equipment. I understand that many people do... it's just not for me).

So the verdict? It is definitely _dust_. It is not oil (at least on my sensor) and it can be effectively dealt with in a "non-contact" way. I'm happy with the result and I'll just be diligent about blowing off my sensor every now and again. I hope that eventually it settles down a bit... but I can definitely live with this one "issue" for everything else that is awesome about this camera.

It is a huge relief to know that I can deal with this on my own and I don't need to send my camera anywhere....
Click to expand...


Well done. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Yeah,
It's definitely dust or other movable crud of it moves around on the sensor/filter. Oil or lube stains wouldn't move. If they were still wet at the "blow" time, thay might crawl or expand but they wouldn't move from one spot to another. That's how I know my spots are dust or crud.

I have to admit that my problem (if indeed it is a problem) is a lot less than friedmud's. Man, that was a lot of stuff there to begin with. I had done a couple of blows but maybe I might try some more. In the few times I blew it, I thought I too might just be hearding the stuff around like cattle but, ok, I might just give a few more blows...

One thing that does worry me just a little with blowing the stuff out, is that it may collect in and around the surrounding lined sensor cavity, only to return when the sensor charges up each time you use it... Maybe...!!!
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Further to this "dust problem" thread...

Just finished a few other cleaning runs. A couple using the blow method with the bulb (rocket type blower) and 4 passes with an Arctic Butterfly. The blow method didn't appear to do much really except what it had done before, shifted the stuff from point A to point B. I then pulled out and tried the Arctic Butterfly and that began to make a real good step in the right direction. First, I took a pic before the event which revealed in P'shop a certain level of crud spots. I did the mirror lock thing and gave 2 passes with the Arctic Butterfly (AB), then placed the lens back on and took the obligatory pic for contrast at F22. P'shop revealed a massive amount now gone. As a matter of fact there was very little left at all. I then did the same thing again and even less was left, just one or two spots, but a smudge mark appeared in the top right corner. That got me a little concerned so I did the operation again. This time the smudge looked smaller but still there. One more time and again still there, just a lot lighter. One last time only this time instead of going from left to right, I went from right to left. This took a fair amount of the smudgey bit away but it also left a small spot (dust) on one side of the frame...

At the end of the session, I am quite happy at how much crud has be lifted... At least I now know that it CAN be moved... I think it is just too dusty in this house, and to continue cleaning is more or less a futile exercise. I am no doubt chasing my own tail trying to get this thing absolutely clean so I will stop right here for now, at least until I get some swabs and fluid and find a less dusty atmosphere to complete the cleanup. At least I can take some more photos with confidence...

I hope any of you with similar dust meet with this sort of success...
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Today I cleaned up the rest...

I bought some VisibleDust swabs cleaning fluid the other day and put them into use this afternoon. It cleared most of the particles and also removed what might have been a streak that appeared the other day after I may have incorrectly used the Arctic Butterfly. Anyway, it's gone now and I'm happy. There are still a couple of particles @F22 but who really cares? I doubt if I will ever get rid of all of them. Even if I do, how long before they re-appear...???
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
I've blown of dust twice in the two months I've owned the D600. It is no longer a problem on mine. I'm sure if I went to f22 I would see some, but that is normal. Nothing visable now at f13 which is my upper limit. I think it was just too much dust in manufacturing process.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
clarnibass said:
It is a small issue with pretty much all DSLR cameras, but LensRentals seems to have experience with many of each model camera they rent and claim it is much more significant with D600 than other models.

Having to clean your camera every once in a while, let's say a few months, is not a big issue IMO. But I've seen at least a few people getting a D600 with spots, requiring a few cleanings, both wet and air, to get everything out, then getting significant spots again after approx 100 shots. I'm considering a D600, but if this happens to mine it means I'd have to clean it almost every times I shoot and the spots would almost certainly appear while I'm shooting... so I'm waiting for now.

I just checked my much cheaper APS-C DSLR. It's a couple of years since I bought it and I've never cleaned it. I constantly change lenses and never bother to be careful not to get dust inside when changing them. I see about three spots that are are visible at f/11 if you are looking for them, but barely visible at f/8 if you really look hard. I expect a $2,400 (cost of D600 here) to at least not be significantly worse, but realisitcally expect it to not be worse at all.
Click to expand...

I think if you are seeing anything at f8 or f11, you will see a lot more at f22. I never looked when I had my Dx, I'm sure if I did, I would have seen a lot on that also
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
In my opinion, this is a very minor issue and should not sway anyone from buying the D600. I agree It should not be an issue, but it is far too minor to be a deal breaker. We all have to learn to deal with dust at some point.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
If any of you that have worked in a darkroom blowing up 35mm negatives to 16x20 remember correctly, dust has always been a problem. It's not a new one to me. But in these old days, we didn't have photoshop to remove the dust, we had to work at it.

So I find this dust issue not more than an inconvenience that we all should learn to deal with. The learning curve is not all that steep.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
I think it's just more of a suprise on a new unit. I inspected 3 unopened at my dealer and 2 had significant dust on them.
 
friedmud

friedmud

Senior Member
Update to my previous post ( http://nikonites.com/d600/8595-d600-sensor-dust-problem-2.html#post86356 )

I've shot quite a bit more with this camera since then and it is continuing to collect dust... although not at the rate it initially did. The dust is not showing up in any normal shots... it's only visible when doing an f/22 "dust shot".

I'm going to attempt to clean it again tomorrow and I have faith that I'll once again be able to blow off the dust (just as I was before).

I hope that overtime it slows down... but honestly I really don't care because the photos that come out of this camera are AMAZING. I don't mind blowing off the sensor every now and again if I get this kind of image quality...
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Phillydog1958 said:
Can you give me a few quick steps on how you clean your sensor? What tools, etc . . .? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Carefully,, in a word. Although, I have to say it's quite easy.

1. Get the correct swabs - Full Frame sized. Make sure they are applicable to the job you want to do - dust and possible lube.. Ask at the shop, if you decide to undertake.

2. Get things ready... Make sure the battery is fully charged. You'll really look stupid if the mirror comes down because the battery is flat, jamming your swab, so charge it up first...
a. Try to do the cleaning in a dust free environment. You may think there's no dust but the early morning sunlight revels heaps floating by everywhere so be on your guard
b. Make sure you have a well lit room with total "Peace and Quiet" - a MUST for concentration
c. Assemble all the cleaning gear and camera ready to "go" in the room,, swabs and fluid at the ready
d. Make sure you are in an easy state of mind. Empty your head and conentrate on the job in-hand

3. Switch camera ON, Go into menu and find the Mirror Lock Up option and select it. Lift that mirror. Take off the cover from the lens mount (presumably you took the lens off before all this)

4. Take the fluid and open. Pick up swab and apply 2 or 3 small drops across the face of the swab, enought to make it a little damp right across and NO MORE...

5. Camera laying on its back, slowly enter that swab lengthways so its ends DO NOT touch the sides of the port as it goes down.

6. Once you're at the filters face turn swab back so it is across the filters width. Press it onto the filters face at one end, equally so both sides of the swab are grounded on it.

7. With a bit of force - DON'T press down like you're try to wrench it - Easy Peasy, just a little force with finger and thumb. Pretend that filter is your babies hand,, nice n easy. Tilt the swab handle slightly forward into the direction you are going to drag it.

8. Now in ONE movement, drag the swab right across the filters face from end to end making sure you cover the entire face in that dragging movement. Make sure you go as far towards the end border as you can without actually touching the borders. Do this also with the sides as you drag the swab. Don't touch any borders. That could bring some of the lubes up onto the filters face and make your job messy. You only want to clean the filters face - ok. Towards the end of your drag, bring the swab handle vertical so the swab face gets right over towards the filters edge. It's almost like you are shaving (if you're a guy), getting into that bit under your nose, above the top lip.

9. After dragging the swab right over to the edge of the filter, lift it up a small distance and again turn it sideways so as not to touch the inside edges of the camera.

10. Now lift it out

Wait but a few seconds and you may want to look down at the filter to see the fluid totally evaporate off. Switch the camera OFF and hear the mirror come back down. Now go back to your photography - You're Done...!!!

That's the way I did mine. Hope I didn't miss anything out...
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
In the above, I can only say,, that is the way I did mine and I DID clean quite a bit off, although there was still a couple of spots after I did the F22 thing and auto contrast in Photoshop, but at least the majority of the crud was gone...

I can except no responsibility for anything that goes wrong as although I think it was quite easy to do, some people may be totally intimidated by this procedure once they look into the camera's innards and see that filter/sensor area...

Good Luck...
 
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