Do I have a defective D600?

Hi ... I just purchased a new Nikon D600 camera, and I'm getting shots out of it with very underwhelming, non-lifelike color and with the highlights often blown out. This is true in both Automatic mode and in the Aperture Priority mode in which I normally shoot. Below are a few examples of jpegs straight out of the camera. (I can get slightly better results when shooting RAW and using Photoshop Camera RAW to adjust the photos, but the problems remain.)

The first photo (the house) was shot at f4, 1/25s, ISO 360, 24mm; the second at f4, 1/200s, ISO 100, 70 mm.

I am not using any special settings on the camera, and in fact, for fear it was one of the settings that was messing things up, I reset the camera to its factory state -- still the same results.

My normal lens is a Tamron 24-70 f2.8 Tamron SP VC USD Di, but I've tried taking pictures with a Nikon ED AF-S 28-70 f2.8 D with similar results. So the problem can't be the lens.

I have updated to the latest firmware.

My hypotheses so far are:

(1) Something is wrong with the camera, and I should return it.
(2) Something is wrong with how I'm taking photos with the camera.
(3) I'm being too critical and the photos are really just fine.

Which do you think is most likely, or do you think something else altogether is wrong?

Thanks.

Is it set to matrix metering? It could be a metering problem. 1/25 seems a bit slow for an outdoor picture. Was it sunny? Seems like maybe it should be a bit faster than that. Try taking pictures with a little less contrast, and see if you get any better results. Sometimes outside in bright sun, the camera's metering can be a bit off. And that's why lightroom was created.

Try your test shots indoor and use a tripod. Check your EV to make sure it is set at zero.

I'm not really seeing any problems. It appears that you're shooting on a cloudy day with a lot of indirect and soft light. As a result, your images will not be overly vibrant and colorful. Try re-shooting again on a sunny morning or evening and see if it doesn't help.

Also, keep in mind that you're looking at these photos on your monitor and so it's possible your monitor is also sapping some of the life from your images. I'd suggest adding a possible monitor problem to your list of possibilities.

A huge part of digital photography is the processing afterwards. Here is a quick bit of work using your low resolution jpeg file.

Original


Striped


Photoshop

It is not the camera and the settings suck...

​Hey I call them how I see 'em...

Focal length doesn't have much to do with exposure...and white balance is a b!tch sometimes...

ADL??? hahaha

It is likely your shutter speed...you CANNOT shoot in harsh light at noon at f4 without cranking up the shutter...ISO 100 and shutter speed 200 and f4 is not enough..

Remember sunny 16! ISO 100 shutter speed 100 f16 baseline...so f4 equates to 4 stops about...so shutter speed would be 2000! This is why you are blowing out...

I am not seeing anything wrong either.

Also what are your picture controls and white balance set at?
If you are shooting in say neutral in picture controls....that mode does not make colors pop. But is a more subdued setting. That may be something to look into.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

Eye-level said:

It is likely your shutter speed...you CANNOT shoot in harsh light at noon at f4 without cranking up the shutter...ISO 100 and shutter speed 200 and f4 is not enough..

Remember sunny 16! ISO 100 shutter speed 100 f16 baseline...so f4 equates to 4 stops about...so shutter speed would be 2000! This is why you are blowing out...

Click to expand...

Just what he said

I saw the other thread about shooting manual...

You want to shoot manual?

Learn Sunny 16 until you know it by heart, eye, ear, feel, taste...whatever works for you!



Most important concept in all of photography IMO...

Even a blind man get the proper exposure using sunny 16 and a braille equipped camera...how do you say? Because he can feel the heat and senses the position of the sun and he can smell the clouds... LOL

Next... haha

gqtuazon said:

Try your test shots indoor and use a tripod. Check your EV to make sure it is set at zero.

Click to expand...

This was my first thought, too.

On the top of the camera is a button labeled +/- Give it a press. It should register 0/0. If a different number with a + shows up (such as +1.7), then it is set to overexpose the photo and needs to be dialed back to 0/0.

As Jeff mentioned Active D Lighting, make sure it's off. This sometimes contributes to washed out pics if used in the wrong situation

PP, PP, PP! As Moab Man suggested, you need to process your pics. His example shows what post can do from what you think is an ordinary shot. Even if you get the settings slightly wrong, you can recover the shot is processing.

What the heck??? What is going on with photo #4? I am attaching a print screen image of my monitor--does wesaturn's original photo (#4) show up with the striped lines on anyone else's monitor? There are a total of 5 photos in the OP's post, but only 2 seem to be displayed. The fourth one looks strange. Or is it my computer? I know I am having computer problems so it might just be me...

The attached photo is a print screen image...not the original.

hark said:

What the heck??? What is going on with photo #4? I am attaching a print screen image of my monitor--does wesaturn's original photo (#4) show up with the striped lines on anyone else's monitor? There are a total of 5 photos in the OP's post, but only 2 seem to be displayed. The fourth one looks strange. Or is it my computer? I know I am having computer problems so it might just be me...

The attached photo is a print screen image...not the original.

Click to expand...

If you look under that photo it will say striped. Was done that way to show the difference in the original and the Post Processed shot.