D600 customers taking frustations out on D610 reviews/ratiings

Once in awhile I check online for camera prices to see what everything is selling for. Invariably the reviews for all cameras are always 4 stars and up. Pretty much the same giddy banter about how great the camera performs, etc. When I came across the D610 I was shocked to see the ratings much lower than I expected. When I took a closer look, I saw all these D600 owners were venting about the dust issue and really driving down the rating of the D610. That's a shame but I know where they're coming from. I have to admit reading through some of them made me question Nikon's hold on the market. As optimistic as I try to be I really wonder if this is something that could adversely separate Nikon from the likes of Canon and Sony. C'est la vie.

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Nikon D610 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

For myself, I tend to be pretty brand loyal. Besides the fact that I can't just up and start over from scratch due to the extreme costs of this hobby. But I can see how it might loose Nikon some of the new customers they potentially could have had, and some of the current D600 owners. But I believe they could even now work some damage control by recalling the D600s offering to exchange them with the D610. I think that would help appease some of the hard feelings of the D600 owners. Though they should have done it sooner in my opinion.

I read them when the D610 came out and reported a couple at that time, but there are WAY more negative reviews now than there were when I last checked.

I was surprised at the negative reviews also, but Nikon has done a disservice to D600 owners and we have no way to vent (besides complaints on deaf ears). As much as the D610 does not deserve that, Nikon does. After only one year, I'd be lucky to 50% of what I paid. I almost upgraded to a D610, but I'm not going to do that for Nikon now. I will probably get the next Fx model in another year or two, denying Nikon an extra body upgrade from me. Luckily, mine is not really that bad, but the depreciation in value really pisses me off!

The DF is the first Nikon DSLR that has come along in years that got my interest. But- it's probably best to wait a year to let everyone else shake out the problems with it.
The D600 proves that it's best to wait and not buy a new product from Nikon.

I never had a problem with my d600. I have had problems with Nikon service. If I were to vent it would be about them and not the camera. I sent my d600 in for a cleaning and check up before the warranty ran out.. What I got from service was a big headache and had to send it back to them due to, and the only way I can describe it, when they cleaned the sensor they must have use a cotton ball because I have never seen a sensor as dusty and full of lent as I did when I received the camera back. Never. And to me, that just shows how much Nikon service has deteriorated over the years. And that has made me have to rethink what brand camera I get in the future. I plan to keep the d600 for years to come, service it myself if necessary, but when it comes to getting a replacement.. I may go for another brand excluding Canon.
I do think Nikon has thrown troubled D600 owners under the bus on this one... and they should make some kind of gesture to them to keep them loyal to the brand. But, like all huge corporations, they won't.
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Its funny you brought this up..Noticed this earlier today on amazon..

Bill16 said:

For myself, I tend to be pretty brand loyal. Besides the fact that I can't just up and start over from scratch due to the extreme costs of this hobby.

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I feel for the people who purchased the D600 earlier than I (I got mine in July 2013), the dust issue for me is no worse than my friend has with his Canon 5D MkII, and I learned earlier on with a 1DS Mk1 and 5D that dust was a fact of life. My short switch to Olympus proved it can be controlled, but probably much more difficult with a full frame sensor than 4/3rds(?)
Thankfully I've not had an oil issue, and I am blown away by the quality of the D600 matched with the Nikon 24-70 as well as the capability with a Nikon 80-200 ED when photographing sports (the D600 replaced my D300).

Thought I'd add my experience since sometimes people need to know there are people out there who are happy with their purchase (but certainly not taking away from those people who are having issues)

​regards

I don't blame them at all. I'm guessing most of us would lose 50% or more if we tried to sell our cameras now that the 610 has been released. In addition we have the constant frustration of sending our $2k cameras back and forth across the country to have them repaired yet again. The bottom line is that the 610 is 99% of what the 600 is. There is nothing new or revolutionary or even evolutionary about it. I do feel that a 600 owner can rightfully comment on the 610 and the overall piss poor customer service from Nikon as that applies to ANY new Nikon owner.

apologies to quote Bill16 without a reason, I also meant to say in reply I can really sympathise with brand loyalty and costs of digital equipment, I stuck with Olympus through their move from 4/3rds to micro 4/3rds, but when I saw what I was losing when photographing sports with an E-5/50-200 combo and then an Olympus E-M5 against even a D200, I surrendered and took a large financial hammering to switch to Nikon.

I can appreciate the frustration felt by burned '600 owners but lashing out by trying to tear down the replacement offering strikes me as childish and petulant.

......

I understand, and have experienced the frustration, and Nikon deserves the PR hit they get from D600 owners. But to lash out on Amazon under the replacement model is whiny BS, if you ask me. If Nikon offered me the option to trade up to the D610 I'd do so in a heartbeat, because the D600 is a freaking-amazing camera without the shutter issue. So to stick your virtual and anonymous finger up at them here is immature playground stuff.

I've never tried to get a company to put right something like this. So I can't recommend what D600 owners should do, and maybe attacking the D610 sales might work. But I couldn't see myself doing that if it were me. I would sure wait longer before buying any Nikon after that, until I was pretty darn sure I wouldn't get stuck with another lemon again. And I would likely warn people to do the same thing, and not jump into a new model before giving it plenty of time for any issues to appear.But that would likely be all I would do, other than continuing to send my camera in to be fixed as long as I could before they started charging me for it.

If anybody wants to write me a check for the $1000 I am eating in decreased value of my camera I'll send you my address.

VectorZ said:

If anybody wants to write me a check for the $1000 I am eating in decreased value of my camera I'll send you my address.

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If I had a check for all the depreciation of every camera and lens I've owned... I'd retire tomorrow comfortably.
It's not how much the cameras value went down due to the newer body release... It's how Nikon handled a problem camera with its owners.


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Mark F said:

If I had a check for all the depreciation of every camera and lens I've owned... I'd retire tomorrow comfortably.
It's not how much the cameras value went down due to the newer body release... It's how Nikon handled a problem camera with its owners.


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Depreciation implies a normal, small downward movement in value. Losing 50% value in 8 months is not normal depreciation. All Nikon had to do was admit an issue, and replace or refund the D600 owner's that had issues. I think that would have been cheaper for them in the long run than taking massive hits in the publicity market as well as alienating and pissing off some of their long time buyers.

VectorZ said:

Depreciation implies a normal, small downward movement in value. Losing 50% value in 8 months is not normal depreciation. All Nikon had to do was admit an issue, and replace or refund the D600 owner's that had issues. I think that would have been cheaper for them in the long run than taking massive hits in the publicity market as well as alienating and pissing off some of their long time buyers.

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The problem with that is that nearly every D600 owner would suddenly claim "an issue" and the nightmare of replacing all of them would be overwhelming. Even offering those who sent theirs in under warranty service would precipitate hundreds or thousands of additional calls to submit a claim in hopes of being offered a replacement, followed by rage and anger posted in online forums such as these when they have been shut down while others haven't. "Why, oh why?! Mine sucks as much as theirs!!"

I do believe that Nikon hoped to resolve the shutter issue, and when they couldn't they continued to simply replace one bad shutter with another, hoping against hope that this one will work, while rushing out a new model, knowing that they could do nothing but take a hit and hope that they hold on to most of the D600 owners, either out of loyalty, out of their investment in other Nikon equipment, or because despite their screw up they have managed to put a working D600 in the owner's hands and they are more than satisfied with its performance and original value with no concerns over resale.

Flat out, I've never purchased a camera with the idea of resale value. Same with a car, believe it or not. If it works as I expect then I drive it into the ground - use it until it's useless, and fix it when it needs fixing. So, while I'm not crazy about how the D600 worked out for me, and that I lost 7 weeks of use in its two trips to the shop, I'm completely happy with the camera as it sits now. Had it worked out as Hark's where it came back the second time with no improvement, well, I'd have been kicking, screaming, and pounding my fists like the devil to make them make things right. So I get the anger. But I also get that a company isn't going to go and offer replacements to everyone with a particular model of anything when the fault isn't life threatening.

BackdoorHippie said:

The problem with that is that nearly every D600 owner would suddenly claim "an issue" and the nightmare of replacing all of them would be overwhelming. Even offering those who sent theirs in under warranty service would precipitate hundreds or thousands of additional calls to submit a claim in hopes of being offered a replacement, followed by rage and anger posted in online forums such as these when they have been shut down while others haven't. "Why, oh why?! Mine sucks as much as theirs!!"

I do believe that Nikon hoped to resolve the shutter issue, and when they couldn't they continued to simply replace one bad shutter with another, hoping against hope that this one will work, while rushing out a new model, knowing that they could do nothing but take a hit and hope that they hold on to most of the D600 owners, either out of loyalty, out of their investment in other Nikon equipment, or because despite their screw up they have managed to put a working D600 in the owner's hands and they are more than satisfied with its performance and original value with no concerns over resale.

Flat out, I've never purchased a camera with the idea of resale value. Same with a car, believe it or not. If it works as I expect then I drive it into the ground - use it until it's useless, and fix it when it needs fixing. So, while I'm not crazy about how the D600 worked out for me, and that I lost 7 weeks of use in its two trips to the shop, I'm completely happy with the camera as it sits now. Had it worked out as Hark's where it came back the second time with no improvement, well, I'd have been kicking, screaming, and pounding my fists like the devil to make them make things right. So I get the anger. But I also get that a company isn't going to go and offer replacements to everyone with a particular model of anything when the fault isn't life threatening.

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Nice post, and I pretty much agree with you. Since we're using cars as an example though...First if I bought a $30k car, and 8 months later is was worth $15k I'd be pretty pissed. Second when an issue with a car is identified and there is a recall, EVERY car is repaired, regardless of whether or not the owner complains about a problem. Certainly there'd be a number of people that would take advantage, but that's just the cost of doing business.

My camera is being serviced again as we speak and I should have it back by the end of the week. Unlike the last time I got it back I plan on shooting 500+ shots immediately and evaluating it. If the issue is still there I'm going to insist on a refund. They did replace the shutter, again.

RPL Shutter Mechanism
CLN Lens Signal Pin
CKD Focusing Mechanism
CKD Image Test
CLN Low Pass Filter
General Check & Clean

Some cars are notorious for their depreciation straight off the lot, so don't fool yourself. There was a time when you could knock 25% off the price the minute you signed the paperwork. And as I pointed out, when talking about automobile recalls it's often a matter of owner/operator safety, which this certainly is not. I went through a series of Dewalt drills, all of which had the drive mechanism strip within 3 months. At the end I was able to ask for a full refund and went elsewhere, but only after making a stink with the company and the retailer.

Here's the thing, no one has ever said what percentage of D600's were effected. Here's a piece from the folks at The Camera Store comparing the D600 and D610, and according to him not one of the multiple D600's they sold ever had a reported oil issue.


Yes there were problem cameras, I had one, but as is pointed out the internet makes things always seem worse than they truly are. I know for a fact that there are people here who returned theirs out of fear and not out of any real problem, reading about the issue while the camera was in transit and immediately seeing what had to be oil and dust on the sensor. The sky is falling, apparently.

Again, I'm not denying the problem, and I do believe that while it's a PR nightmare for Nikon I find no issue with the way they've handled it so far. It sucks that cameras like yours and mine had to go back multiple times, but to hear that for folks like Hark they made good after the 3rd trip and offered credit of the initial purchase price towards a D610. It's not a great way to do business, but it's a normal way to do it. If your problem persists then I wouldn't blame you for seeking a replacement.

I would love to see numbers regarding total number of D600's sold vs. the number of cameras returned with problems. I suspect the percentage was very low - far less than 1 in 10 - and the real impetus for the D610 came from big retailers like B&H and Amazon who had to deal with a rash of returns and cancelled orders from folks running scared. Regardless, it's water under the bridge. Camera companies don't do recalls - they just don't. The logistics of collecting and evaluating every single one of them is staggering. There is no dealer network like you have with automobiles, and a huge percentage of owners never left their house to buy the camera and e-retailers aren't about to act as collection points for servicing. You can want it to be be any way you'd like, but the reality is, as Mick sang, you can't always get what you want.

Brian said:

The D600 proves that it's best to wait and not buy a new product from Nikon.

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Nor anyone else for that matter.