D600 - reduced dust thread

[ZinZun]

Guys,




Following so many threads about D600 dust issues I wanted to contribute from my experience with the issue, I have already mentioned few times in previous posts my situation (which is not bad) but this is to sum it up after 2,000 clicks I reached today.

So - as many others when I first bought my D600 I had many spots (dust and oil), I have decided to let it be as is for a while (it didn't bothered my images, only my mind). after 700 I wet cleaned it myself (using CopperHill sensor Swipe), once cleaned I confirmed with the loop and test shot it was completely cleaned.

600 clicks later (1300 in total) I rechecked and found more spots (although less), blower wasn't enough to clean it so I had to wet clean it again.

today I reached 2000 clicks so I have decided to celebrate with checking for spots again, took a shot and found around 7-8 spots only, went with the blower, test shot, 1 annoying spot left, blower again, same annoying spot - looking with the loop - can't find it - err...I was suspecting the camera so much that I forgot to look at the lens, than I decided just to look at the glass on the mount side and sure enough, a nice smear on the back of it, I cleaned it and (70-200 at the edge of the glass - not sure it's easier than cleaning the sensor ) took a test shot - spotless...so I had only like 6-7 pure dust spots which I think is normal, and in a reduce dust/oil spot trend...hope this help to some folks.

 

[ataylorthefish]

thanks - thats very useful info. I returned the first one to the shop before I knew of this issue and got a second. It had the same problem after just 100 shots and I've sent it to Nikon yesterday. I'm suspecting they will just clean it and send it back to me and I'll find the problem again very shortly.

Yes I can clean it myself (though I've never done this and don't yet have the kit to do so), but surely I'm invalidating the warranty and shouldn't have to!.. Trouble is Nikon probably are hoping everyone goes down this path and just lives with it.. shouldn't we all be complaining like hell?

 

[ZinZun]

ataylorthefish wrote:

thanks - thats very useful info. I returned the first one to the shop before I knew of this issue and got a second. It had the same problem after just 100 shots and I've sent it to Nikon yesterday. I'm suspecting they will just clean it and send it back to me and I'll find the problem again very shortly.

Yes I can clean it myself (though I've never done this and don't yet have the kit to do so), but surely I'm invalidating the warranty and shouldn't have to!.. Trouble is Nikon probably are hoping everyone goes down this path and just lives with it.. shouldn't we all be complaining like hell?

I have to be honest - this "problem" didn't bothered me at all before I actually starting to read about it, I could see only one spot in the sky area when shooting normally (f22 is no normal for my day to day shooting...), so all the talking around this issue got my attention and mind, during the 2000 photos Iv'e taken with the camera, I have used the clone stamp tool on 4 photos to remove one specific spot which is no longer there after cleaning so I think this issue is way over hyped.

anyway as I said originally, "problem" is getting under control in time when shooting...

if this is the worst problem people comes up with about the D600 than it's a very good camera, it's a "problem" that doesn't affect photos / technique or anything else in my daily shooting so I don't have to compensate or compromise, it is just spots (many at the beginning) that goes away in short time after few initial cleans, beside in normal shooting conditions one won't notice it anyway...

 

[Lift Off]

That's good to know. One of the worries I expressed on another thread was if this "problem" would get worst with time.




Thanks for sharing this and come back with more info when you get to 3000 shots.

 

[Nikonfan99]

Thank you for this info. I am still waiting to clean my d600.

I also bought the copper hill kit and went with the 18mm brush per the suggestion on the site. I was waiting on my visible dust loupe that finally showed up yesterday. I have one spot that shows up even around 4.5 but only in really light areas of a image. I figured I need practice with my other cameras first. How did you do your cleaning? I know some people use 2 drops some three and some go vertical some go horizontal. All sorts of ways of doing it. I may wait to get some more miles on the sensor before cleaning it.

 

[ataylorthefish]

yes I take that point.. and no I normally don't shoot at F22, but seeing this at F5.6 is annoying


Guess I'm just miffed really that I'm going to have to get the kit and clean it myself so early on or pay several times to get it cleaned in the first 2000 shots.

 

[ZinZun]

Nikonfan99 wrote:

Thank you for this info. I am still waiting to clean my d600.

I also bought the copper hill kit and went with the 18mm brush per the suggestion on the site. I was waiting on my visible dust loupe that finally showed up yesterday. I have one spot that shows up even around 4.5 but only in really light areas of a image. I figured I need practice with my other cameras first. How did you do your cleaning? I know some people use 2 drops some three and some go vertical some go horizontal. All sorts of ways of doing it. I may wait to get some more miles on the sensor before cleaning it.

I cleaned it exactly as advised in the instructions, 2 drops, waiting for 10-20 seconds and than horizontally, lifting the swab slightly and swiping the other half of the sensor to the other side, note that you son't have to be gentle with it (you can apply some mild pressure like you to when you writing with a pen), also, very important - DON'T try to use a brush on a sensor that never beenwet cleaned before, you have oil there and the brush will just smear it and will get dirty (happened to me), so go wet directly - people think of wet cleaning as if its a fragile/delicate operation - it is not really.

also note that on your first cleaning you'll probably need 4 or more swipes (replacing the cloth every time and 2 new drops every time), this is because some of the oil spots are there for a long time and got dried on the sensor - it's a good cleaning practice though,

last but not least, after applying the quick stripes onto the sensor swipe, (before the drops), use the blower on it (aggressively) to remove any loose thread, also do the blower after the wet clean to get rid of any tiny threads on the sensor that came off the stripes.

Good luck!

 

[ZinZun]

Lift Off wrote:

That's good to know. One of the worries I expressed on another thread was if this "problem" would get worst with time.

Thanks for sharing this and come back with more info when you get to 3000 shots.

--

2,300 shots and checking again - so, shooting sky at f22 becomes like a habit now, I was shooting a private event on Friday, 680 shots, no real life dust problem that affect normal photos but sky at f22 showed me dust again, let's say around 15-20 in total with top left around 8 spots, the rest scattered across the sensot, used the blower twice and only 2 spots left (oil?), anyway, since these do not bother me, I just left them there to enjoy the nice big sensor all for themselves, I'll check again when reaching 3000 shots and maybe wet clean it again.

p.s. still awesome photos at very difficult light condition...

 

[Nikonfan99]

Thank you for the update. I just did my 1200 shutter count cleaning using a blower only and a sensor loupe. Got rid of my three spots. My next event is this friday. I have all the copper hill stuff including the brush. Just cleaned my d7000 also and my d70. I am glad you posted this because I keep making the argument that most people would have never noticed an issue was it not for the drama queens that try to make somthing out of nothing. In areal world situation (not shooting for sky and walls), this is a non issue. Also for our people that claim to be landscape photographers, are you a pro? if so PP is normal and part of it is touching up issues or as a pro you should be comfortable with sensor cleaning process. For non pros or people that shoot for fun, I am sure you could still share your 100 landscape shots and not make a thing of the blue sky parts. It really is out of control. Again I ask where these so called issues are in non sky and wall shots. Where are the photos that are beyond a few clicks in photoshop to correct?

 

[S_Leeper]

I did a cleaning after only 1000+ shots. At that time had a small number of what I assumed were oil spots, in the top left corner of the photo. Cleaned with sensor pad & fluid -- as with other cameras.

Checked again today (at approx 7500 clicks( & tons of little spots, which I have NOT noticed in the interim shots--I suspect becuase I rarely shoot over f5.6. While I had spots over much of the sensor by far the heaviest concentration was on the top left.

In that my last primary camera did not have a self cleaning sensor, was looiking forward to not having to do much cleaning :-( Hopefully the oil issue will moderate soon.

 

[Nikonfan99]

S_Leeper wrote:

I did a cleaning after only 1000+ shots. At that time had a small number of what I assumed were oil spots, in the top left corner of the photo. Cleaned with sensor pad & fluid -- as with other cameras.

Checked again today (at approx 7500 clicks( & tons of little spots, which I have NOT noticed in the interim shots--I suspect becuase I rarely shoot over f5.6. While I had spots over much of the sensor by far the heaviest concentration was on the top left.

In that my last primary camera did not have a self cleaning sensor, was looiking forward to not having to do much cleaning :-( Hopefully the oil issue will moderate soon.

 

[57even]

Had 30+ spots after 1200 images including some really visible ones, had it cleaned by Nikon (just to make sure). Hoping it settles down a bit now. Has to run out of oil eventually

Not had much of a chance to use it for last day or so will report back on the issue.

Best advice seems to indicate it will settle down somewhere between 1000 and 2000 frames so either get it cleaned by Nikon, your dealer or do it yourself at 1500 or so and you should be OK.

ZinZun wrote:

Guys,

Following so many threads about D600 dust issues I wanted to contribute from my experience with the issue, I have already mentioned few times in previous posts my situation (which is not bad) but this is to sum it up after 2,000 clicks I reached today.

So - as many others when I first bought my D600 I had many spots (dust and oil), I have decided to let it be as is for a while (it didn't bothered my images, only my mind). after 700 I wet cleaned it myself (using CopperHill sensor Swipe), once cleaned I confirmed with the loop and test shot it was completely cleaned.

600 clicks later (1300 in total) I rechecked and found more spots (although less), blower wasn't enough to clean it so I had to wet clean it again.

today I reached 2000 clicks so I have decided to celebrate with checking for spots again, took a shot and found around 7-8 spots only, went with the blower, test shot, 1 annoying spot left, blower again, same annoying spot - looking with the loop - can't find it - err...I was suspecting the camera so much that I forgot to look at the lens, than I decided just to look at the glass on the mount side and sure enough, a nice smear on the back of it, I cleaned it and (70-200 at the edge of the glass - not sure it's easier than cleaning the sensor ) took a test shot - spotless...so I had only like 6-7 pure dust spots which I think is normal, and in a reduce dust/oil spot trend...hope this help to some folks.

 

[gwexou]

Good point here...it seems you don't have to be too gentle !

I tried wet-cleaning my sensor the other day for the first time, and i was reeaally careful not to apply too much pressure...Result : not much difference, the spots are still there. I probably need more practice. Or, more probably, i'll just leave it as it is and have it cleaned later by Nikon, knowing that in most situations this the spots don't even appear (in my case, i would say spots start appearing at f8, maybe f6.3).

Cheers

Gwen

 

[K10D]

Had my D600 cleaned by Nikon, Perth about 2 weeks ago, apparently the spots were dust and not oil. A couple of hundred shots later and the sensor still seems clean.