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Is this oil on my sensor?

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Cowboyarcher

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Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.



0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
 
It is, at least, a very dirty sensor, but whether it's oil I can't say. My first step would be to do a wet cleaning. Dust will clean off (might take 2 runs of cleaning for that much on the sensor), but it's my understanding that oil is more difficult.

I suggest you can contact Nikon, give them the serial number from the D600, and they can tell you if that camera had its shutter replaced under Nikon's recall. If it has not been replaced yet, I believe they will still replace it for free. Doesn't cost anything to ask.
 
bflood said:
It is, at least, a very dirty sensor, but whether it's oil I can't say. My first step would be to do a wet cleaning. Dust will clean off (might take 2 runs of cleaning for that much on the sensor), but it's my understanding that oil is more difficult.

I suggest you can contact Nikon, give them the serial number from the D600, and they can tell you if that camera had its shutter replaced under Nikon's recall. If it has not been replaced yet, I believe they will still replace it for free. Doesn't cost anything to ask.
Click to expand...
This camera is super clean and there are only something like 6000 trips on the sensor. . . Good thought on contacting Nikon! Thank you!
 
Cowboyarcher said:
This camera is super clean and there are only something like 6000 trips on the sensor. . . Good thought on contacting Nikon! Thank you!
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter whether the camera is clean on the outside with just 6,000 clicks. The shutter mechanism is throwing debris onto the internal components every time you click the shutter button. This looks mostly like flecks of dirt. Oil would be perfectly round specs.

Even if you clean it, in about 200 to 1,000 shots you're going to see the debris show up again. Mine only stopped when I finally got to just under 30,000 clicks. Up to that point I was cleaning the sensor every 5,000 clicks. I became quite proficient at wet-cleaning sensors thanks to that.

If you plan to keep the camera, either send it in to Nikon, or buy yourself a pack of sensor cleaning swabs, some Eclipse sensor cleaning liquid and start watching some videos to show you how it's done properly. That, or pay $50 for someone to do it for you.
 
What about blasting it with air to begin with? This removed a good number of the spots on my d610 sensor. I ordered a brush to try to remove the remaining spots. Wet cleaning will be my last resort.
 
Cowboyarcher said:
Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.

0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
Click to expand...
That's dust I should know I cleaned a bucket out of it outa my D600 :-), oil looks different its not a black spot there usually bigger and almost clear but its a spot.

Send it in to Nikon and they'll replace the shutter then when it happens with the replacement shutter send it in again usually the third time repeating this they'll replace it with a D610

Here's four oil spots look too the left of the higher hook on the crane on the left.

585a3ebf05854fccb93629f89196c61f.jpg

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickitysplit11111/
 
Last edited:
lickity split said:
Cowboyarcher said:
Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.

0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
Click to expand...
That's dust I should know I cleaned a bucket out of it outa my D600 :-), oil looks different its not a black spot there usually bigger and almost clear but its a spot.

Send it in to Nikon and they'll replace the shutter then when it happens with the replacement shutter send it in again usually the third time repeating this they'll replace it with a D610

Here's four oil spots look too the left of the higher hook on the crane on the left.

585a3ebf05854fccb93629f89196c61f.jpg

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickitysplit11111/
Click to expand...
This is super helpful, thank you!
 
Nice oil spot illustration. And quite a nice photo too.
 
Cowboyarcher said:
Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.

0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
Click to expand...
My D600 at f22 look even worst after scrubbing the sensor with a toothbrush (not). The way I see it, I never shoot at the sky at f22, so I never see spots, and if I do, PP easily take care of them. :)
 
lickity split said:
Cowboyarcher said:
Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.

0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
Click to expand...
That's dust I should know I cleaned a bucket out of it outa my D600 :-), oil looks different its not a black spot there usually bigger and almost clear but its a spot.

Send it in to Nikon and they'll replace the shutter then when it happens with the replacement shutter send it in again usually the third time repeating this they'll replace it with a D610

Here's four oil spots look too the left of the higher hook on the crane on the left.

585a3ebf05854fccb93629f89196c61f.jpg

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickitysplit11111/
Click to expand...
IMO - On the spots on the cranes picture: just out of focus dust bunnies. Oil has some refraction and is often donut shaped.
 
somegeek said:
What about blasting it with air to begin with? This removed a good number of the spots on my d610 sensor. I ordered a brush to try to remove the remaining spots. Wet cleaning will be my last resort.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can try to blast it with air (not compressed air though!), but I bet it will still leave some dirt behind. What's worse, you could blow some of that stuff deeper into the camera where you can't get to it. You could even blow some outside debris in if the blower doesn't have an air filter that prevents dust from entering it when you squeeze the bottom and push air out.

A wet clean is going to get most of that stuff off, just gotta do it right and it will probably take three or four swabs to do it.
 
1st step always should be air, brush and then air. Examine the sensor again.

If persists with round (o) shaped spots, wet cleaning is required.
 
Last edited:
This is also no oil but dust. Probably taken at about F8.

6bdef8e9b4774954a52824b38fc765ab.jpg
 
Last edited:
goosel said:
lickity split said:
Cowboyarcher said:
Hi All,

I recently picked up a D600 knowing about the sensor/oil issues, so I took a photo of the blue sky stopped all the way down.

0a67b7d06bd14b33b82db8d8ee132c3d.jpg

Are those spots oil on the sensor?

Thanks for any insights!

Adam
Click to expand...
That's dust I should know I cleaned a bucket out of it outa my D600 :-), oil looks different its not a black spot there usually bigger and almost clear but its a spot.

Send it in to Nikon and they'll replace the shutter then when it happens with the replacement shutter send it in again usually the third time repeating this they'll replace it with a D610

Here's four oil spots look too the left of the higher hook on the crane on the left.

585a3ebf05854fccb93629f89196c61f.jpg

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickitysplit11111/
Click to expand...
IMO - On the spots on the cranes picture: just out of focus dust bunnies. Oil has some refraction and is often donut shaped.
Click to expand...
I don't think so cause if it was just dust I wouldn't get smears that were visible with a loupe when inspecting after I passed a Arctic butterfly over them , I became pretty good at wet cleaning early on and after a few months the oil stopped but the dust ( black internal grinding flakes) just kept on coming till the bitter end . :-)

--

Lickity Split | Flickr

www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
 
Looks like particulates of some type. My first step would be to lock up your mirror and hit it with the rocket air blaster. A simple free fix.
 
Looks exactly like what my sensor looked like after 4000-5000 shots. Had it cleaned twice, shutter replaced, 4000 shots later, same thing. I only had 1 lens at the time so not much chance of dust coming in.
Went to the store I got it from with a printout of the D600 service advisory (Australia).
Nikon replaced it with a D610.
 
The perfectly round spots are oil and the dense irregular ones are dust.
 
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