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Photographer creates time-lapse showing D600 'dust' accumulation

Nov 21, 2012 at 20:24:07 GMT

OTHER NEWS DUST NIKON-D600

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Canadian photographer Kyle Clemens just bought a Nikon D600, but rather than get straight out and start shooting with it, he decided to investigate the widely-reported claims of a 'dust problem'. Clements set his D600 up with a fixed 50mm F1.8 lens, pointed it at a white wall, and shot 1000 images. Then he created a timelapse video which shows the slow accumulation of debris on the camera's sensor. Although the exposure of the individual frames isn't uniform, Clements' video clearly shows a steady buildup of debris over the course of shooting the 1000 frames.

When we reviewed the D600 we expressed concern about the propensity of its sensor to gather specks of debris, and Clements reinforces the troubling possibility that whatever it is that's ending up on the D600's sensor could be coming from inside the camera.

During our own testing, we got our D600's sensor professionally cleaned by a local rental house, who had to resort to a full, 'wet' clean to remove all of the debris that had accumulated during less than a month of shooting. We have repeatedly asked Nikon for a statement on our findings and we will continue to report on this issue.

Click here to read Kyle Clements' blog 'A Review of the Nikon D600's Dust Problem'

Via PetaPixel

Nikon D600

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Comments

Total comments: 410

The guy should have cleaned it and then tested with MLU. My guess is that it's possibly coming from the mirror motion up and tdown, possibly oil.

1 upvote

Perhaps so, but since it's impossible to use the camera normally without the mirror going up and down, it's still a serious problem.

8 upvotes

wow....nykon is f....

0 upvotes

This also happens with the D800. Went on a long roadtrip and when I got back, many photos had oil spots. Here is what I used to clean it:

Lenspen LENSK1A Sensorklear Ii with Articulated Tip
Visible Dust BriteVue Sensor Loupe 7X
D-SLR Sensor Cleaning Brush for Full Frame Sensors
DustAid Platinum DSLR Sensor Cleaner
and 1+ hour of my time.

I am 100% sure it was not dust, you could spread it around and it was very hard to clean.

4 upvotes

>many photos had oil spots

This can't be tolerated. For now, I'll cross Nikon off the list until I hear better news.

3 upvotes

if the dust is building near any lubricated components, then it is the lubrication issues.. To much of it. Maybe, it will decrease over time.. As long as you keep cleaning it, great sensor.. But wet cleaning is a PAIN. that would drive me crazy, esp since it builds up over just a thousand shots. That would mean I would have to clean it in the middle of a event.

1 upvote

Leaking from mirror latch?

1 upvote

In the unaltered image you can barely see this. I'm not saying there is not an issue, but videos like this blow it WAY out of proportion. In most uses, you'd never even see that dust in your final image. I'd only be really concerned If it keeps doing this after a few cleanings.

0 upvotes

You're right to the extent that shooting mixed-content scenes at medium/wide apertures won't show the issue up (except in the case of a reallyreallybig lump of cr*p) but as soon as you stop down and shoot scenes with a lot of brightish plain tones (like sky) it can be a real annoyance.

7 upvotes

Agree - but what he shows in the video highlighted this with curves adjustments to make it far worse than it would ever be in real images. Again, not denying there is not an issue, but trying to keep it in perspective.

What would help most is to see if it's an initial "break-in" issue that can be cleaned and not come back or if it's persistent.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

and what also would be interesting, to clean the sensor and make the next 1000 shots...and again, maybe after 2000shots the problem is gone!?
manfred

0 upvotes

Exactly - I had a ton of spots on my D800E after the first thousand or so shots, but they did not come back after cleaning it.

0 upvotes

i'm not a nikon user, so forgive me if my assumptions are out of the realm of possibility. it seems as though there are a lot of factors that could contribute to this problem. weather and dust seals on the body and lens, dusty environment, faulty sensor cleaning function.. probably a few other things i'm not even considering.

so, were the test shots taken in succession? was the camera power cycled at all during the test? i ask because i have an air ionizer, and i have to clean it regularly.. it's fine for the first 100 hrs or so, but if i leave it on full power it will eventually collect enough dust to turn itself off.

i wonder if this dust collection issue is compounded by leaving the sensor charged for so long.

0 upvotes

I think the dust issue is from their new manufacturing process. The camera internal parts are all soldered together. This may also be an issue when they come up with a fix. Since the parts will have to be de-soldered then re-soldered.

I cleaned my fourth D600, yes forth before it's initial use. I have not (knock on wood) had a (major) dust issue so far. Oil is my issue, I have wet cleaned the sensor after 500 frames and at 1300 the oil is starting to reappear albeit fainter. I will clean the sensor again at 2000. and re-evaluate at 3000 shots with fingers crossed.

0 upvotes

I think that's what is showing in that video, it's oil, not dust, and it's coming from the mirror flapping up and dow. An interesting test would be to do it with MLU and see if anything shows up. D7k suffered from similar problem but after a couple of cleaning events, most were ok.

3 upvotes

If it's true that the D7000 had this problem (and someone else mentions the D800), it seems unbelievable that Nikon hasn't figured out the problem by now.

2 upvotes

the problem is cheap manufacturing standards... the only good in nikon camera these days is the sony sensor.

4 upvotes

MLU = Mid-Life Upgrade

1 upvote

Has anyone analyzed the dirt itself? Is it the same stuff in each camera? Is it part of the camera? Seems as if knowing what it is, not just if it's there, is key.

4 upvotes

Users has to report, may be Nikon has to analyze?

1 upvote

I'm happy with Canon. Always.
Even my old 350D has no dust!

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

thanks for sharing!

0 upvotes

yeah well i have no dust problems eithr.... but then im not a poor nikon user... lol

0 upvotes

No way, me too but I'm a happy Olympus user!! Anyone else here a happy user also?

0 upvotes

Will the Nikon D600 be disqualificated and loose it Gold Medal Award here, on Dpreview? Let's follow this investigation!

12 upvotes

no it won't because nikon fans will quit dp

0 upvotes

>nikon fans will quit dp

So? Nu?

0 upvotes

Brutal, very brutal. But is this dust and not a lubricant spatter problem as has been seen in some other cameras? It looks like the 'dust' is clustering to me... not good.

3 upvotes

There's no point in D600, considering the price difference and what you're (not) getting in return, 500-600€ difference for the D800 is well worth it.

Only good thing about D600 is it's sensor, it's otherwise outclassed by cameras half it's price in terms of build quality, autofocus and specifications.

0 upvotes

Remember all those photos showing scratches and shavings in the mirror box? I wonder if it might have something to do with that, or perhaps there is another place that is getting scratched during mirror and shutter cycling.

And now, Nikon apologists coming through... wait for it... 3... 2... 1...

7 upvotes

wow, that is really mad, my 7D with 9k shots was never cleaned, changed lens numerous times and doesn't have nay dust on it, same with my 5D III now, about 3-4k shots.

5 upvotes

Ditto. Why these cameras are still on shelves is unfathomable. I guess Nikon is hoping that most buyers are perusing forums or youtube and don't know they're buying junk. Let's be brutally honest here. It doesn't matter how good the camera or how well it performs. With this junk accumulating in front of your sensor, the camera is pretty useless. I'm not a Nikon user but I don't like to see anyone abused and right now it looks like Nikon is sticking it pretty good to their "customers". Just in time for the Christmas rush too.

3 upvotes

Again I wonder if after 3 or4,000 shots and lets just say 3 or 4 wet cleanings the problem will go away? The issue then becomes will Nikon fix the issue on cameras under Warrantee?

3 upvotes

Who cares if the issue will go away?!
People who bought it should return crap directly, why would consumer need to worry about Nikons issues?
And why are you willing to pay for camera that has clear technical issues stemming from bad design?
Are you really that desperate or maybe you don't know that are other brands of cameras out there?

3 upvotes

I don't think there's much more than too much oil on the mirror system, similar to D7k. It's not anything related to the design, just poor lubrication procedure.

1 upvote

rhlpetrus: I own a D7000 but luckily I dont have any issues with it. But still even if it is "only" oil issue why would I or anybody else with a brain give perfectly fine money (with no defects nor "oil" on it) for a camera that has issues?
That is my point that todays morons...sorry "consumers" will gladly pay for stuff that does not work propperly and companys pick up on that moronic behavior and we get more and more unfinished products just becouse idiots out there have more money then brains.

0 upvotes

That really is nasty and will probably make many choosing between Nikon and Canon think hard.

3 upvotes

I thought the trick which Canon at least have is something like a strip of sticky tape on the bottom of the sensor to collect internal dust.
presumably this strip is replaced when the camera is serviced.
I dimly recall sometimes emulsion and particles of film would collect inside the camera. Again cleaned out as part of a maintenance plan.

0 upvotes

Wow, not good.

1 upvote

This is most likely an issue with the lubrication used on the shutter assembly. If to much grease or a changed lubricant specification was used,during the manufacture of the camera, there is a risk of excess grease in the mirror box, landing on the sensor. This would require wet cleaning to remove and would likely become less of an issue with an increased number of shutter actuations.

3 upvotes

That speculation verges on comical.

1 upvote

That 'speculation' sounds logical to me.

5 upvotes

Not 'speculation', unfortunately I have had this experience with a previous camera (Sony A580). For the first 3 months I had to carry out multiple wet cleans to remove oil / grease. After around 4000 shutter actuations, there has been no signs of any oil.

3 upvotes

Sounds like to me the D600 body isn't properly sealed.

0 upvotes

I remember how many people were angry about Canon, that 6D release date so late compare to D600, but when you realizing better to wait little bit more and get quality. Nikon wanted to kick Canon ass releasing earlier, but now you see what happened...

8 upvotes

Please make a few more uninformed assumptions and state them as fact so that I have someone new to look up to.

4 upvotes

facts or assumptions, all i know that my 7D (9k shots), 5DIII (3-4k shots) and my previous 40D (had about 30k) never had that problem.

7D, 5DIII was never cleaned so far and no dust, 40D from what I remember I used air on it once, never was wet cleaned.

3 upvotes

Yea this is going to spark up a little discussion.

1 upvote

Thank you, DPR. Let's see how much negative publicity will force Nikon to change their tight-lipped ways. Even Apple have openly acknowledged issues with their products recently. Why can't Nikon?

25 upvotes

Oops.

0 upvotes

This is getting a little tiring. It would be nice if Nikon could release a new high-end model with no quality control issues.

13 upvotes

then it would be a leica and not a nikon....

1 upvote

Total comments: 410


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