I just have to whine

Keoki

Senior Member
I have to send in my d600 for sensor cleaning. I have over 100 visible spots and even though I know it's a common problem, I'm really pissed off about it. I also think my focus is off on LV. I was out shooting Mt Hood in Oregon at sunrise yesterday and when I zoomed in with the LV screen an sharpened focus using the LV screen all my downloaded images were fuzzy. I used it because the Mountain was so far away it was hard to get focus on it through the viewfinder. My friend uses it all the time and it's spot on. Also, white balance looks accurate on the LCD screen but is very pinky on my monitor and also my boyfriends monitor. I use 5000 K lights in my studio and custom WB for it. I also tried auto WB. Anyone having these problems?
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
Well, I am sorry for your troubles and am in no way being sarcastic; but I am so grateful that I have a D200 and D2X, and know how to clean my sensor which is very infrequent.

To make you feel better, some members of a photo club I belong to have sold their 600's and gone to different models for specifically those reasons.

​Good luck to you.
 

Billy Y.

Senior Member
Cleaning your sensor is not that hard, I do it all the time. I get sensor swabs from Photographic Solutions, and use I also use the Eclipse cleaner. It has always done the trick (even on Nikon's oil spots) - there are a lot of video's online showing you the proper way to do it. Here is one that LensRentals did showing an alternative dry method DSLR Sensor Cleaning (The LensRentals.com Method) - YouTube, He calls the wet method a pain in the a__, but I have never found it that difficult.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I've cleaned a few sensors myself and I agree it's not that hard to do. But lets be honest, it's the freaking SENSOR we're playing around with every time we do and that's kind of like saying "minor surgery". IMO, there's nothing "minor" about surgery. Ever. I too would be supremely pissed if my D600, or any camera for that matter, had that sort of issue because it simply shouldn't BE an issue. Period.

Nobody should be expected to put up with that kind of "maintenance" as a matter of routine.
 

Lscha

Senior Member
I just cleaned the sensor on my D7000 because of the countless pollen spots on it. I used the VisibleDust EZ Sensor Cleaning kit and haven't had a dust spot since. (2 months now).
 

FastGlass

Senior Member
When shooting a scene with a great distance and the auto focus doen't want to choose something to focus on. Then go manual and rotate to infinity.
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
I have air cleaned my D600 sensor many times (air rocket), and wet-cleaned it only once. It worked. If it makes you feel better, remember that you are not actually touching the electronic sensor, you are touching the filter that sits in front of the sensor. Nikon says the filter is made of "silicate." (Fancy glass?) My local camera shop offers to clean sensors for free, even if you didn't buy the camera there, but I haven't tried that. (They admit they hope to sell you something while you are waiting.)

As for the white balance and Live View issues, those have not happened to me. You're shooting a test pic of something white or neutral under your lights to set the custom white balance, but the images don't look right? Have you tried shooting in RAW and adjusting the WB in a RAW editor? You shouldn't have to do that, of course, for every shot, but I can see why AUTO might not work with strobes that fire during the shot. Custom WB should work. Also, you can set the temperature exactly in the WB menus. If you're confident your lights are 5k, set it to 5k and see what happens. Or see what looks right in a RAW editor, then set the camera to that temp and see what happens.

The Live View focusing issue seems strange. I assume you are using manual focus when zoomed in on that mountain? In Live View, aren't you seeing the image exactly the same as it is hitting the sensor? In that case, the photo should be the same as what you see on the screen. In any case, even in Live View mode, the camera still drops the mirror when you take a picture so the camera can check focus, then the mirror goes back up to take the photo. If you have AF still on, the body might be changing your focus, or VR on the lens might have changed something. Or the mirror flop may have created enough vibration (if you are at a low shutter speed) to induce blur.
 
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singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
About 5 years ago, I took my D100 to a local camera repair shop and paid $100 to have its sensor cleaned. During the week I waited for it, I researched sensor cleaning and decided that it was something I could do myself. Since then, I've cleaned the sensor on my D7000 (many times over the past 30 months) and once in the 2 months I've had the D600. If I had constant oil issues, I would send the body back to Nikon, but I feel that sensor muck is a fact of life (at least in my life of constant lens changing) and when I start to notice spots on sky shots at f/22, I know it's time to break out the swabs and cleaning solution along with the rocket blower.
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
That's an interesting kit, and I love the idea of the scope to examine the inside of your camera, but the Amazon reviews are all over the place. Several reviewers said the scope is great to see how much dirtier the sensor is after you tried to clean it.
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
That's an interesting kit, and I love the idea of the scope to examine the inside of your camera, but the Amazon reviews are all over the place. Several reviewers said the scope is great to see how much dirtier the sensor is after you tried to clean it.

LOL. I think that might be because they don't clean everything AROUND the sensor, like the chamber, before they clean the sensor (filter). I use all VisibleDust products, including their loupe, and have been very happy with the results. Visible Dust Quasar Sensor Loupe 7x 9183082 B&H Photo Video
 

Hassiman

Senior Member
The D600 dust/oil issue is real and serious. Nikon does not seem to know how to fix it. Pity. Best IQ out there other than the D800.
I seriously have to consider if I want to a company like Nikon that has set out tens of thousands of D600 KNOWING that they were faulty and yet said nothing.
Robles may get better.... May not.
Considering a D800 of Canon 6D
 
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