D600 Dust & Shutter Count

[gqtuazon]

I've done the unspeakable....,

As mentioned, I've had one or two spots that would not move on the extreme edge. I took two cotton swabs and covered the tips with new untouched Zeiss micro-fiber cloth. I blew the sensor (filter) as normal. I very gently with almost no pressure ran the cloth covered swaps over the extreme edges. rotated the tools for each edge. I did not go into the middle as there was no dust, and blew it off one more time. It is 100% clean! All spots including the one that would not move are gone. It was not oil.

I think we get a little crazy over this stuff. The industry would love us to spend $50 on sensor cleaners and special swabs.

I am not recommending my procedure, just sharing.

I did something similar but without the lint free cloth which resulted in leaving more fiber strands from the cotton swabs. Not so smart on my part.

I ordered a kit about four years ago and I've been cleaning my camera sensors ever since.

Re: Oil spots on sensor. Eventually, the excessive oil will be expended in due time and life will be much better. Like what the others have mentioned already, always point your camera down when changing lenses. It is what the owner's manual suggest and it makes sense.

 

[Rick M]

Rick did yours have any oil issues or has it always been dust?

Just dust. Many people confuse dust and oil because dust often looks like a "spot" the way we would think oil would look (we expect dust to look "stringy", but it doesn't). When I first saw dust spots, I thought they had to be oil, but were not and just blew off. The one or two stubborn spots I did have were also dust. A lot of people post negative stuff and in reality, they do not know what they are talking about and often do not own the gear they are putting down. Not refering to anyone here, just the internet in general.

 

[stmv]

When I first got my DSLR, it was bad, but that was because film cameras always got a fresh roll of film, and was pretty tolerant of dust/dirt, but well, always the same virtual film in the Digitial camera.

after a few weeks, dust galore,, but over time, really got in the habit, of getting the new lens ready,, hold downwind, hold the camera downward, and mimimize te swap duration to a second.

I always cringe watching people keep the lens off for extended period, hold it upwards to the steady steam od dust, etc,,

Now I can go months and months without any dust spots, and I change my lens a lot.

 

[CajunJosh]

Well that's good to know. I'm assuming that one of my spots is oil because it is much larger and darker than the other spots and almost has a ring pattern to it. Hopefully I'm wrong and it ends up being a dust bunny that is easily blown away. My eclipse cleaning supplies, rocket blower, and sensor swabs came in today, hopefully an air cleaning will do the trick. Can't wait to shoot the cotton gin and renovated classic theater this weekend.

 

[VectorZ]

My first D600 had oil spots I noticed around 1,250 shots. I took it back to Costco and got a brand new one. So far I haven't noticed any, but I already ordered the wet cleaning kit and I'll give that a try before I take it back again.

 

[bigal1000]

It sucks that what it sounds like to me...shouldn't have to bleach clean your new 2 thousand dollar camera every time you use it...uggh I hate hearing this stuff and I don't even own such a camera.

I hope it clears up in good time...

WOW,why do you even care if you don't use or own the camera? I think you comment sucks,but thats only my opinion.Best of luck to you.

 

[hrphotography]

I had the oil spots on the left upper corner, along with dust as well. sent in, asked Nikon to send me shipping label. got it back after 10-12 days. the paper they sent along with it says they cleaned the low pass sensor/filter.
also "RPL Shutter mechanism". I think Nikon is changing shutter mechanism on returned cameras to get rid of the oil/lubricant problem. I have not used it enough since i got it back, but i am hopeful the oil problem will not recur with this new shutter mechanism...i may be wrong
any ideas?

 

[BackdoorArts]

Ideas? Use the camera a lot and make sure it stopped!!

I suspect that initial mechanisms suffered from overlubrication, so if they replaced it I can't imagine they would do it with one that was a problem. I am looking forward to putting mine through the paces when I get it back. Looks like it'll be end of next week if 10-12 days holds up.

 

[BackdoorArts]

FYI, I just got acknowledgement from Nikon today that they will be repairing the situation under warranty (they got it on Friday). No word on specifics of the repair, but I'm hopeful for a quick turnaround. Good news is that shipping is just one day - unless they do what Sigma did which was ship FedEx Express, which takes 3 days to go the same distance that FedEx Ground covers in 1.

 

[Cowboybillybob1]

FYI, I just got acknowledgement from Nikon today that they will be repairing the situation under warranty (they got it on Friday). No word on specifics of the repair, but I'm hopeful for a quick turnaround. Good news is that shipping is just one day - unless they do what Sigma did which was ship FedEx Express, which takes 3 days to go the same distance that FedEx Ground covers in 1.

Oh the drama! It's almost too much to bear.
I know you play guitar as I do. Perhaps we can do a long distance collaboration on a song. "The Oil and Dusty Blues" can be the working title.
.
The Oil and Dust just keeps me wide awake.
I take the perfect pic not a hint of camera shake
I know I'll be applauded by my talent at that moment
I'll make enough cash that month to fully pay the rent

But then I saw it appear so small and overlooked
The Oil and Dusty blues destroy that fateful day
I could have made a name for myself
But the Oil and Dusty Blues just will not go away.

I know it needs a lot of work but it's just a first draft.

 

[CajunJosh]

Since they are actually replacing parts it looks like I'll be sending mine in as well. I got less than 500 shots after my last wet clean before spots have shown back up that the rocket blower won't remove. If only this thing could be as dust free as my 7D.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Dust is just part of the gig when you're taking photos and changing lenses. Even with my D800 I noticed some spots yesterday after shooting in a dry and less than clean environment (old house, dry grassy field). The difference there is that a squeeze of the blower will send those particles off the sensor. With the D600, the issue is that excess lubricant splattered on the sensor, grabbing hold of the dust and forcing a wet clean. It's one thing to blow off your sensors before and after every shoot (I've gotten in that habit), but it's an entirely other thing to have to expect to wet clean ever couple hundred shots, which I had to do since I do a lot of HDR work where they just pop out (they can go largely unnoticed otherwise).

 

[CajunJosh]

If Nikon would send me a lifetime supply of sensor swabs I wouldn't be too annoyed but with the D600 that would probably amount to a crate of swabs. I wish I was keeping count but I only took around 200 photos since my last wet cleaning and yesterday while shooting some HDRs for work I had some glaring spots in the sky that were visible without any magnification.

In the D600's defense I will say that within the first 200 shots out of the box the sensor looked like it was used by a photojournalist in desert storm. This time I'm only seeing about four spots that won't come off after the rocket blower.

I think I might try running the camera on continuous high speed for 10-20 seconds to see if I can't get more of that dust and oil out before the wet cleaning.

 

[BackdoorArts]

With my other Nikons I believe I've done maybe 2 wet cleanings a year, so if the repaired D600 follows suit I will have no problem paying for swabs. I fully expect this will be the case with the D600 when I get it back.

Thankfully, even with the most glaring spots in highly structured HDR's, Photoshop can heal them invisibly in short order.

 

[Cowboybillybob1]

It's one thing to blow off your sensors before and after every shoot (I've gotten in that habit), but it's an entirely other thing to have to expect to wet clean ever couple hundred shots, which I had to do since.... they just pop out... .

After reading the attached post must I remind you that this is a family forum?

On a more serious note I took your suggestion from another post and shot a bunch in CL and CH release mode. I have a bit over 200 activations and clean as a whistle.
Perhaps when someone posts about having this issue themselves they should state when they purchased their D600 and how many shots till it first reared it's ugly head.

Still got my fingers crossed and will post back after another 200 shutter activations or if and when it happens to me (whichever comes first).

Hope all is well when you get your camera back.

 

[stmv]

I am approaching a year on my D800, almost time for its yearly wet clean, I change lens constantly, and as posted another forum, that by holding downwards and down wind, and always having the new lens ready, dust issues can be reduced. So, I find the built in dust removal does ok,, and rarely have to break out the Artic butterfly.

To bad it seems the D600 has a design flaw, I thought it was only an issue of an overzealous production line oiling up the mechanism.

 

[NVSteve]

Well, my first body would accumulate spots within less than 10 shots after a cleaning. My new body has proven to be insanely better. Before a ski outing last Sunday, I spent a few seconds & blew off the sensor. I shot primarily at f8, and not one single spec of anything in any of my shots, all of which contain deep blue skies. This isn't to say that I've uncrossed my fingers just yet, but it is certainly very encouraging.

 

[Cowboybillybob1]

Ok so I have my first dust spot on my D600. Does that make me a full fledged D600 owner now?

I realized that (after 275) activations I have not used an aperture larger than f8. So I did some shots at like f16 and f22. Voila!! there were two spots on the left side of the shot. You can't see it when your about f8 or less and I rarely go past f8 when taking photo's.

Just for kicks I did the same on my D7000 (2500 activations) and it is as clean as a whistle.
I really do not have a problem cleaning the sensor on a regular basis. The IQ on the D600 is just too good to give the dust issue too much weight. Especially since I keep the aperture low almost all the time.

Jake, or anyone else for that matter. I did an air cleaning with the lame blower I have and it's still there. I am going to get a bigger and better one but I'd like to know what brand/kind of wet swabs you use to do a wet cleaning?

I knew this was a real possibility when I bought the D600 and I still have no regrets. The other great stuff and IQ more than make up for this inconvience. I would buy it again if I had to do it over again.

So again..... what brand of swabs are good?

 

[NVSteve]

Ok so I have my first dust spot on my D600. Does that make me a full fledged D600 owner now?

I realized that (after 275) activations I have not used an aperture larger than f8. So I did some shots at like f16 and f22. Voila!! there were two spots on the left side of the shot. You can't see it when your about f8 or less and I rarely go past f8 when taking photo's.

I still personally think more people out there are affected with the spot problems but simply do not know about it, especially if they are taking pictures around the house or of things that won't make the spots stand out, like the sky. Feel fortunate that you haven't noticed anything at f8. I'd say that's a good sign, but it could still rear itself more profusely as you take more and more shots.

Jake, or anyone else for that matter. I did an air cleaning with the lame blower I have and it's still there. I am going to get a bigger and better one but I'd like to know what brand/kind of wet swabs you use to do a wet cleaning?

My vote is for the Copper Hills swabs & strips. By far the best bang for your buck: Copper Hill Images - D-SLR CCD/CMOS Cleaning Supplies & Camera Accessories

 

[Cowboybillybob1]

I cleaned the sensor with a brush and it is spotless now. Easy to do.
I used f16.

337 activations. I will check daily and see how many pics before it shows up again.