Used nikon d600?

Hello,

So I've been surfing around and I've been looking for a good camera body to compliment the new 200-400 vrii lens that my grandfather gave me. It was too heavy for him as he's now in his mid 70's but we do a lot of birding together so now I'm the owner of this beautiful lens. Anyway, I own a d300s, a d200 and a d3200 (which I really don't care for) and now I'm looking at acquiring an fx body. I have friends who shoot the d600 and highly recommend it so I've been looking at used bodies as a new d610 or d750 is not in my price range.

B&H has a few in the range I'm looking for and all have around 25,000-55,000 shutter actuation's. Is that ok? I know nikon will replace the shutters free. I'm ok sending it in in a year or two.. so is it worth it?

I'd really appreciate ya'll's thoughts

Con

nikonbirds said:

Hello,

So I've been surfing around and I've been looking for a good camera body to compliment the new 200-400 vrii lens that my grandfather gave me. It was too heavy for him as he's now in his mid 70's but we do a lot of birding together so now I'm the owner of this beautiful lens. Anyway, I own a d300s, a d200 and a d3200 (which I really don't care for) and now I'm looking at acquiring an fx body. I have friends who shoot the d600 and highly recommend it so I've been looking at used bodies as a new d610 or d750 is not in my price range.

B&H has a few in the range I'm looking for and all have around 25,000-55,000 shutter actuation's. Is that ok? I know nikon will replace the shutters free. I'm ok sending it in in a year or two.. so is it worth it?

I'd really appreciate ya'll's thoughts

Con

Click to expand...

Why do you think, Nikon will replace the shutter for free, if there's no sign of oil splatter?

Then again - if there is no such sign, don't care about the shutter actuations, if price is okay.

You didn't say what price, so I'll respond disregarding that.

I just recently made the jump from a D7100 (DX) to D600 (FX). My DX kit consisted of mainly cheap lenses (18-140, 55-300, 35/1.8, 50/1.8), and my FX kit consists of slightly less cheap lenses (24-85, 50/1.8, 85/1.8). But with that being said, the jump in IQ has been significant. I love the look of the pictures from my D600. And the improved low-light performance has been staggering.

The D600 I bought had 153,000 clicks on it. So I wouldn't bat an eye at 20k-25k. The previous owner of my D600 said he had the shutter replaced due to the oil spot issue a couple years ago, so I have no idea how many clicks are on the shutter that I have, but I've put about 4k clicks on it since I got it and have been impressed. My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

oil splatter isn't really a big issue and by now.. they've all been singled out but nikon will replace shutters to "prevent" "dust particles" here is the advisory copied and pasted from nikon usa:

Some users of Nikon’s D600 D-SLR camera have reported the appearance of tiny spots on certain of their images. Not all users have experienced this issue. Nikon has thoroughly evaluated these reports and has determined that these spots are caused by dust particles which may become visible when the camera is used in certain circumstances and/or with certain settings. It is a well-known fact that the presence of dust particles cannot be completely avoided when using a D-SLR camera even after normal sensor cleaning procedures, because of a number of factors including components moving at high speeds when images are taken, the use of interchangeable lenses, and the different environments in which a D-SLR camera may be used. As part of its customer-service commitment, Nikon is providing a customer-service measure to reduce the potential impact of dust particles on images taken by its D600 D-SLR cameras.

The solution: Nikon is making available to all owners of D600 cameras (even if Nikon’s product warranty has expired) this customer-service measure, which includes the inspection, cleaning and replacement of the shutter assembly and related parts of your camera, FREE OF CHARGE as well as the cost of shipping D600 cameras to Nikon and their return to customers. In the event that after this customer service measure has been performed, dust particle spots are still visible in your images, please contact Nikon Customer Relations by phone at the number indicated below to discuss your concern. If appropriate, Nikon will either replace your camera with a new D600 camera or its equivalent model.

so you say not to worry about shutter actuations? Why is that?

patriot07 said:

You didn't say what price, so I'll respond disregarding that.

I just recently made the jump from a D7100 (DX) to D600 (FX). My DX kit consisted of mainly cheap lenses (18-140, 55-300, 35/1.8, 50/1.8), and my FX kit consists of slightly less cheap lenses (24-85, 50/1.8, 85/1.8). But with that being said, the jump in IQ has been significant. I love the look of the pictures from my D600. And the improved low-light performance has been staggering.

The D600 I bought had 153,000 clicks on it. So I wouldn't bat an eye at 20k-25k. The previous owner of my D600 said he had the shutter replaced due to the oil spot issue a couple years ago, so I have no idea how many clicks are on the shutter that I have, but I've put about 4k clicks on it since I got it and have been impressed. My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

Click to expand...

Ok. So what do you think about 50k? The prices is much better on that. I'm trying to stay below about $900 so take that for what it's worth. Thanks for the reply and I'm glad to hear you like the d600. Hope that's the case for me Keep in mind I'm a poor college student who loves to bird, so the better the price is the better I like it

Regards,

Con

nikonbirds said:

Hello,

So I've been surfing around and I've been looking for a good camera body to compliment the new 200-400 vrii lens that my grandfather gave me. It was too heavy for him as he's now in his mid 70's but we do a lot of birding together so now I'm the owner of this beautiful lens. Anyway, I own a d300s, a d200 and a d3200 (which I really don't care for) and now I'm looking at acquiring an fx body. I have friends who shoot the d600 and highly recommend it so I've been looking at used bodies as a new d610 or d750 is not in my price range.

B&H has a few in the range I'm looking for and all have around 25,000-55,000 shutter actuation's. Is that ok? I know nikon will replace the shutters free. I'm ok sending it in in a year or two.. so is it worth it?

I'd really appreciate ya'll's thoughts

Con

Click to expand...

I loved my D600. It worked well other than the oil splatter issue. The shutter is rated to 150,000 shots, I believe. As you said, Nikon will replace the shutter if it has a problem, so I wouldn't be terribly concerned. It just sucks to have to send it in and wait for it to get back.

I see that B&H also have used D610 bodies in stock. Is $1,199 within your budget? It has modest improvements over the D600, 9+ condition and it's been a very stable body in my experience.


B&H is a good store and I trust their used stuff. If their ratings state that the camera is in good condition, it probably is. I bought a used D500 from them this year and so far it's been working without any problems.

Here are some bird shots with the D600:











--
----------------------------------------------------------------------

nikonbirds said:

oil splatter isn't really a big issue and by now.. they've all been singled out but nikon will replace shutters to "prevent" "dust particles" here is the advisory copied and pasted from nikon usa:

Some users of Nikon’s D600 D-SLR camera have reported the appearance of tiny spots on certain of their images. Not all users have experienced this issue. Nikon has thoroughly evaluated these reports and has determined that these spots are caused by dust particles which may become visible when the camera is used in certain circumstances and/or with certain settings. It is a well-known fact that the presence of dust particles cannot be completely avoided when using a D-SLR camera even after normal sensor cleaning procedures, because of a number of factors including components moving at high speeds when images are taken, the use of interchangeable lenses, and the different environments in which a D-SLR camera may be used. As part of its customer-service commitment, Nikon is providing a customer-service measure to reduce the potential impact of dust particles on images taken by its D600 D-SLR cameras.

The solution: Nikon is making available to all owners of D600 cameras (even if Nikon’s product warranty has expired) this customer-service measure, which includes the inspection, cleaning and replacement of the shutter assembly and related parts of your camera, FREE OF CHARGE as well as the cost of shipping D600 cameras to Nikon and their return to customers. In the event that after this customer service measure has been performed, dust particle spots are still visible in your images, please contact Nikon Customer Relations by phone at the number indicated below to discuss your concern. If appropriate, Nikon will either replace your camera with a new D600 camera or its equivalent model.

so you say not to worry about shutter actuations? Why is that?

Click to expand...

"so you say not to worry about shutter actuations? Why is that"

Because a shutter can break tomorrow or never - the shutter actuations is just a number. The shutter breaks or it does not really independent of that number - that's why.

To the other part - I'm reading this as, that the shutter will be replaced for free only if it causes oil spots - not if it breaks by regular use. You might read it different.

It's the best deal out there. I use it as my go to camera with the 24-85mm lens .

I am the original owner of a D600 that had the Nikon recall service.

Apart from its heft I find the camera a real pleasure to use with rational and easily accessed menus and functions.

There are still occasional whatevers in clear blue sky but easy to fix--I only shoot raw so I have to process the images anyway. Otherwise the raw image quality the camera can produce is awesome for my needs. I may contact Nikon about a second "fix" but the problem is intermittent and I have no problems cleaning the sensor.

If video/live view is important to you the lack of a tilting LCD in sunlight is problematic so you may want to consider the 750.

Thank you so much for explaining this to me. Makes much more sense now

Thanks for the info. I'm still going to probably go with the d600 instead of the 750. I'm a college student and tuition and books/fees etc is spendy so I need to make sure I have a good amount set aside for next year as far as that's concerned, but a d600 isn't an issue

thanks,

Con

Dayun,

What an excellent series of shots!

The colors of the bokeh (especially on the tern) really are lovely!

Thank you,

You have just convinced me further that this is the one I should buy!

nikonbirds said:

Dayun,

What an excellent series of shots!

The colors of the bokeh (especially on the tern) really are lovely!

Thank you,

You have just convinced me further that this is the one I should buy!

Click to expand...

No problem! Just FYI, I process my RAW files in Nikon's free software, Capture NX-D and/or View NX-i, which is what's responsible for the colors. 3rd party software like Adobe will give you slightly different results, but which result you prefer is up to your own personal aesthetics.

The D600 is an excellent camera, and getting one used is probably the most cost-effective way to get into FX photography. The only reason I'd perhaps recommend stepping up to a D610 (either new or used) is for higher resale value potential. But if you plan to keep the D600 for some time, then it's really hard to beat, price wise.

And of course its sensor is wonderful, and the camera is capable of delivering outstanding images. As for the oil spot thing, I dunno: I feel like it was overblown a bit by people who were shooting blue skies at f/16, something that most folks don't typically do under normal shooting circumstances.

nikonbirds said:

patriot07 said:

You didn't say what price, so I'll respond disregarding that.

I just recently made the jump from a D7100 (DX) to D600 (FX). My DX kit consisted of mainly cheap lenses (18-140, 55-300, 35/1.8, 50/1.8), and my FX kit consists of slightly less cheap lenses (24-85, 50/1.8, 85/1.8). But with that being said, the jump in IQ has been significant. I love the look of the pictures from my D600. And the improved low-light performance has been staggering.

The D600 I bought had 153,000 clicks on it. So I wouldn't bat an eye at 20k-25k. The previous owner of my D600 said he had the shutter replaced due to the oil spot issue a couple years ago, so I have no idea how many clicks are on the shutter that I have, but I've put about 4k clicks on it since I got it and have been impressed. My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

Click to expand...

Ok. So what do you think about 50k? The prices is much better on that. I'm trying to stay below about $900 so take that for what it's worth. Thanks for the reply and I'm glad to hear you like the d600. Hope that's the case for me Keep in mind I'm a poor college student who loves to bird, so the better the price is the better I like it

Regards,

Con

Click to expand...

What is the price difference between 25k and 50k? Neither would bother me, but I would take the bat value. If the difference was over $100, I'd probably take the 50k and save the money. If the difference was less than that, I'd take the lower mileage option. They will take the same quality pictures and work just the same. Shutter mileage is totally overblown by the same people who shoot charts and obsess about pixel-level clarity. I can be a pixel peeper at times for sure, but the Internet forum crowd has a tendency to make these issues into bigger deals than they are.

*best* value

stinking autocorrect

I think ya'll are right about the oil spot issue. And even if it does become an issue, well nikon will fix it at no charge.

Thank ya'll for your wonderful reponses, my mind is now made up. Looks like I'll have a d600 here in a week or so! Does anybody have anything negative to say about the d600?

Best regards,

Con

Toatally! I use photoshop cc myself!

nikonbirds said:

I think ya'll are right about the oil spot issue. And even if it does become an issue, well nikon will fix it at no charge.

Thank ya'll for your wonderful reponses, my mind is now made up. Looks like I'll have a d600 here in a week or so! Does anybody have anything negative to say about the d600?

Best regards,

Con

Click to expand...

Things I don't like:

- AF area is somewhat small, and the modes with reduced points don't include the edge points

- It won't one-button zoom with the OK button like my D7100 did

The list of stuff I do like is long, but here are a few. Controls layout is good. It has an onboard flash (unlike the D500, 6D, and 5D MK IV). Dynamic range is excellent. High-ISO noise is low. SOOC jpgs are quite good. I have to do way less PP than I did with my D7100 - most pictures come out of the camera looking fantastic with only small tweaks.

I came to the D600 from a D300 when they came out. I love the sensor. It renders wonderful colors and dynamic range. It is amazing the amount of detail that can be pulled from dark areas. That said I recently purchased a D500 for sports, wildlife and anything that moves quickly. I actually found the shutter a little slow on the 600, but that could have been in the settings I am using. For wild life and sports the autofocus the camera is equipped with is inferior to the one found in the D300.

That is not saying that great sports and wildlife pictures can't be taken with the camera, a look at Dyun27's pictures clearly show that it can be done. I have shots that I am happy with too (but they are nothing as good as his). With the 600 it is more like shooting back in the film days where you get setup for the shot and know when the subject is going to be there.

I have taken advantage of NIKON USA's sensor cleaning twice now. I found the service very quick. I am one of those that like doing landscapes so will shoot at f16 and have sky in the picture. I have no problem cleaning dust from the camera but the oil spots are much more difficult to get off the sensor. Rather than rub harder I'll let Nikon do the work. If they break something it is their dime.

John









and a bird in flight... (kinda) from the VE flyover Washington DC. The pictured acft had a inflight emergency and had to land at DCA.