D600 shutter replacement news

[BackdoorArts]

Re: All D600s can get free shutter service

I know UPS doesn't work on Saturdays (generally speaking), but I am surprised that the package didn't have a tracking number assigned to it by the end of Monday.

If they sent him a prepaid shipping label then the tracking number was on that. It was never mentioned specifically to me in any communication, I simply received an email from Nikon Service TSA that contained a link that said Retrieve Your Label. When I clicked on the link it brought up the label and a print dialog. After printing the label I had to copy down the tracking number off of that.

 

[hark]

Re: All D600s can get free shutter service

If they sent him a prepaid shipping label then the tracking number was on that. It was never mentioned specifically to me in any communication, I simply received an email from Nikon Service TSA that contained a link that said Retrieve Your Label. When I clicked on the link it brought up the label and a print dialog. After printing the label I had to copy down the tracking number off of that.

Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought I had to pay for shipping the very first time mine was serviced then Nikon paid for its return shipping and all the subsequent services it received?

 

[BackdoorArts]

Re: All D600s can get free shutter service

Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought I had to pay for shipping the very first time mine was serviced then Nikon paid for its return shipping and all the subsequent services it received?

You may have. I don't remember the first time, but the second time they did, and for this "service advisory" all I had to do was put my serial number in the system and it spit out the links for the label.

Speaking of my camera, I decided to call Nikon and speak to someone directly since this is my camera's 3rd trip there. It was rather enlightening.

Bad news is that I won't be getting a D610 shipped to me. I asked why, given that this is my 3rd time being without a camera. The rep's reply was that, "Your first two repairs were warranty repairs. This is your first repair under the service advisory. With this, your shutter has been replaced, along with 6 additional parts, a full cleaning done, as well as an autofocus adjust. There is more work that goes into these service advisory repairs than had been done on the warranty repairs, and we find that it is solving the issue more readily. Should you find that you are still experiencing the dirt on the sensor after you get it back please call us immediately and we will see if something else needs to be done."

I could complain that all these steps weren't taken on my initial repairs, but given that I was an early adopter it may be that Nikon spent a good 6+ months getting to the root of precisely what was wrong and once they did they issued the service advisory ... and the D610.

Good news is the repair is done and just waiting on packing and shipping. If they get it out tomorrow I'll have it for the weekend. No complaints here.

 

[Rick M]

Just checked and I went from no tracking number to delivered! Now for the Email from Nikon....,

 

[BackdoorArts]

FYI, I just got a UPS email this morning. Camera body to be delivered today. That's 7 days, 6 nights from me giving it to UPS to me getting it back. Sure as heck beats the 3.5 and 4 week waits I had for the warranty service. Obviously YMMV, but this is surely impressive. Helps to be <100 miles from the shop.

 

[Rick M]

Just got my Email that Nikon has received and tracking number for service

 

[BackdoorArts]

Camera showed up around 7:30 this evening. UPS guy says the new computer scheduling system has him working way too many hours - but he loves the paycheck. Too long a day to do more than unpack and inspect it. Packing slip mentions Shutter Replacement and 6 other line items listed as "RELATED PARTS". I'll check her out tomorrow.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Final post about this unless there's something horrible to report. In its previous two return trips to Nikon the D600's shutter count went up <100 clicks each time. I forgot to document the first trip, but the second was only 75 as documented in this thread. This time I remembered to grab one jpg shot before it went into the box and one after taking it out. Here are the counts...



The first two trips were in Feb-March and April of 2013, long before Nikon admitted to any issue with the camera, so I suspect the service order was simply, "Replace it, test it, and move on." I don't say that to short shrift the original work (which would have been perfectly acceptable for a typical shutter replacement), but to point out that whatever Nikon is doing with the current work it is apparently more methodical and far more completely tested - at least the evidence would point to that. Or it took them a hell of a long time to adjust my focus calibration. LOL

One interesting note is that the two photos used to generate these counts were numerically 1 apart, so it appears as if Nikon takes the time to return whatever image counter you're using back to the state it was in when the camera was shipped. IIRC, this was not the case with the other repairs.

 

[Rick M]

Am I correct to assume I won't know what the repair was until I see the packing slip on return? (aside from calling).

 

[hark]

@BackdoorHippie, I know you said your last post would be your final post unless you find something so please don't respond unless you feel the need to. Here is a post I wrote in my own thread when I was experiencing the shutter issue problem. My point is that the spots would show up in Photoshop Elements when I would adjust the shadows, but I had trouble replicating the same thing in LR.

All of my shots were sooc jpegs. Once the photo was in PSE10, I went to Enhance→Adjust Lighting→Shadows/Highlights. I set it to 21%. Doing this automatically changed the color to blue (I think I shot a piece of white paper), and all the spots popped and instantly became visible. I'm mentioning this in case you want to try a sooc jpeg and replicate what I did.

EDIT: As I did test shots after every Nikon servicing, I found that simply by raising the Shadows/Highlights to 5% or less still yielded the same results. When post processing jpegs, it is something I routinely do.

Okay...to be fair, I reshot the sky using both f/16 and f/22 and can use both of the uncropped images to submit to Nikon (one at f/16 and one at f/22).

Here is f/16. This is the upper right hand quarter of the photo so it is the same section that I posted earlier. The only editing I did was to increase the shadows by 21% to make the spots more visible, and I cropped the upper right quarter of the photo and resized for the forum. This is 25% of my sensor.

View attachment 51957


And below is the upper left hand quarter of the photo shot at f/22. Besides cropping to isolate the upper left quarter of the photo and resizing for the forum, I lightened the shadows by 21% so the spots would be more visible. This is a different 25% of my sensor.


View attachment 51958

 

[BackdoorArts]

Am I correct to assume I won't know what the repair was until I see the packing slip on return? (aside from calling).

Correct. And even there it's cryptic on precisely what else was replaced along with the shutter mechanism. Mine looks like...

*
RPL SHUTTER MECHANISM
RELATED PARTS
RELATED PARTS
RELATED PARTS
RELATED PARTS
RELATED PARTS
RELATED PARTS
GENERAL CHECK & CLEAN
CKD AF SYSTEM


It then goes on to list my serial number and the accessories that accompanied my body, which includes a note stating that the sensor may not currently exhibit issues given a recent cleaning. I would guess that they're not even checking for the presence of an issue if a D600 comes in under the Service Advisory, they just do the work, test it and ship it out. Given the amount of time required under the warranty treatments this was even better than I could hope for - out Friday, back Thursday.
@hark, I should have said that it's the last proactive post concerning my return. As for checking for spots, believe me, I have plenty of experience. I find LR to be the best. Proper exposure of a brightly lit piece of white paper with the AF off, lens set to minimum focus distance and smallest aperture. Pull it into LR, slide the black slider to the left, click on the spot removal tool, turn on the Visualize Spots function and slide that lever to about 2/3 (beyond that can give you extraneous, non-sensor related flecks). I'm happy to provide Nikon with that video along with any JPEG if they want to argue about another issue should it pop up. For the record, I had zero issue getting them to accept the two warranty repairs with similarly taken photos, and I have the name and number of a CS rep who has told me to contact them directly if a problem arises (always good to make a phone call).

 

[hark]

@hark, I should have said that it's the last proactive post concerning my return. As for checking for spots, believe me, I have plenty of experience. I find LR to be the best. Proper exposure of a brightly lit piece of white paper with the AF off, lens set to minimum focus distance and smallest aperture. Pull it into LR, slide the black slider to the left, click on the spot removal tool, turn on the Visualize Spots function and slide that lever to about 2/3 (beyond that can give you extraneous, non-sensor related flecks). I'm happy to provide Nikon with that video along with any JPEG if they want to argue about another issue should it pop up. For the record, I had zero issue getting them to accept the two warranty repairs with similarly taken photos, and I have the name and number of a CS rep who has told me to contact them directly if a problem arises (always good to make a phone call).

Good info to know! At the time, I wasn't familiar with how to use LR so I wasn't able to figure out how to do it there--I wasn't aware of LR's Visualize Spots function. Now I am. Thanks!!!

 

[Rick M]

I'm sure as soon as I get it back I'll do a white paper test. From there I'll shoot a few bracketed shots with lots of sky, nothing like HDR to really bring those spots to life!

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

I have to admit....I have a lot to learn about LR. I could spend a month just getting to know how to use it properly. I'm not even close to being ready for Photoshop. Here's to studying and watching more Julianne Kost with Jake's supplemental videos.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Only a month?!

 

[Marcel]

That's almost one THOUSAND Jake, not 100. Maybe they do take the time to test the thing properly now.

Final post about this unless there's something horrible to report. In its previous two return trips to Nikon the D600's shutter count went up <100 clicks each time. I forgot to document the first trip, but the second was only 75 as documented in this thread. This time I remembered to grab one jpg shot before it went into the box and one after taking it out. Here are the counts...

View attachment 102979

The first two trips were in Feb-March and April of 2013, long before Nikon admitted to any issue with the camera, so I suspect the service order was simply, "Replace it, test it, and move on." I don't say that to short shrift the original work (which would have been perfectly acceptable for a typical shutter replacement), but to point out that whatever Nikon is doing with the current work it is apparently more methodical and far more completely tested - at least the evidence would point to that. Or it took them a hell of a long time to adjust my focus calibration. LOL

One interesting note is that the two photos used to generate these counts were numerically 1 apart, so it appears as if Nikon takes the time to return whatever image counter you're using back to the state it was in when the camera was shipped. IIRC, this was not the case with the other repairs.

 

[BackdoorArts]

That's almost one THOUSAND Jake, not 100. Maybe they do take the time to test the thing properly now.

My point exactly, Marcel. I knew I couldn't slip that by you.

 

[NVSteve]

You guys are sending the bodies in with the body cap attached, right?

 

[BackdoorArts]

You guys are sending the bodies in with the body cap attached, right?

Absolutely. I forget if they mention that specifically in the packing instructions or not, but body cap, hot-shoe cap and eyepiece are the only "accessories" on the camera. BTW, they list them on the work slip so that they make sure you get everything back.

 

[NVSteve]

Absolutely. I forget if they mention that specifically in the packing instructions or not, but body cap, hot-shoe cap and eyepiece are the only "accessories" on the camera. BTW, they list them on the work slip so that they make sure you get everything back.

Thanks, I'll be dropping mine off to UPS tomorrow. If I only shot indoors, it would be a different story because you just don't see the spots. I'm still getting between 3-4 showing up in everything outdoors, and I've only been shooting between f2.8-7.1. Mind you, this is with a wet clean before I leave (and verification that the sensor is spot-free), and lots of air blasts when changing a lens. Fingers are crossed for a quick turnaround.