Nikon NOT repairing D600

[Metabolikku]

Hi,

I bought Nikon D600 in March 2013 while I still lived in Japan, and had the dust problem from the very beginning. Nikon Japan took the camera once back for "factory cleaning", and cleaned the sensor in total 5 times.

I moved to Switzerland, and sent the camera to Nikon Schweiz in July, when it got its shutter replacement. Nikon returned the camera back with a dirty sensor(!), so I sent it immediately back for cleaning again.

After one month of use, the old dust problem was back as bad as ever, so I sent the camera again to Nikon Switzerland. It took them a full month to service the camera, and all they did was another sensor cleaning. The note says that the dust came from "normal use" and it is not in relation with the phenomenon published on their page. I had used the camera just for one month! I don't understand that how so much dust can enter the camera so fast in normal use, and why it gathers in top left corner of the image.


Nikon quality

I'm at a complete loss about what to do. I have 5 Nikkors and a camera that I cannot trust at all. Nikon's stance is that it is all my fault.

Has anyone else experienced same kind of service? Is Nikon de-prioritizing me because I bought the camera while living in Japan, or is it because I am a foreigner in Switzerland? Or have they changed their policy?

I am allowed to send the camera back for dust cleanings until end of May, and after that they start charging.

This is hands down my worst customer experience ever. Help! :-(

 

[sandy b]

Refer to their own policys about shutter replacement and camera replacement. Document everything, ask to speak to supervisors.

 

[TheMeister]

I am no expert, but this really does look like normal use. My D610 has it, too and a rocket blower takes care of it.

 

[sandy b]

Looks like the same as I had, concentrated in the upper corner, diffused drop like, I think its oil. If its disut they will blow off.

 

[TheMeister]

I also had them like that and they do blow of.

 

[romfordbluenose]

Just a thought top left in the picture is bottom right on the camera. That's probably where the dust goes when it doesn't quite do a self clean properly.

Having said that I thought the D600 was now a recall problem so they should change it, perhaps.

 

[TheMeister]

There is no recall and they do not automatically exchange it. That's a myth.

 

[romfordbluenose]

There is no recall and they do not automatically exchange it. That's a myth.

You are right, my working is slightly wrong, they are providing a free inspection and service even outside the warranty. The outcome maybe just a clean, a replacement of the shutter, or even a replacement of the camera.

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Service-And-Support/Service-Advisories/hs309y82/Updated-Technical-Service-Advisory-for-Users-of-the-Nikon-D600-Digital-SLR-Camera.html

https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/60009

 

[sshoihet]

Looks like the same as I had, concentrated in the upper corner, diffused drop like, I think its oil. If its disut they will blow off.

It does not look like oil, oil usually has a dark ring around the edge with a light center. This looks like some kind of debris which may blow off. Not all dust will blow off eg pollen and becomes "welded" which may require some motivation from a brush, lens pen or wet cleaning.

 

[Metabolikku]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I am not able to tell the difference between regular dust and oil spots, but can the difference really be seen from the images? Or with a looking glass?

Anyway, these spots didn't go anywhere with a blower.

I newbie when it comes to sensor issues, and I have no experience in wet cleaning (yet), because Nikon Japan spooked me about it and strongly advised not trying anything silly at home. Then again, their lawyers are probably behind that recommendation.

The problem is that I don't trust Nikon at all any more. Since I bought the camera from a different country, I guess I don't have any local customer protection on my side. They can say whatever and too bad so sad. :-(

 

[lickity split]

I did a little test on my D600 after it was returned from service with a shutter replacement. Take a reference shot of the sky @ f22 ,now remove your memory card but the mode dial on CH and squeeze off a few hundred shots. Now put your memory card back in and take another F22 sky shot and compare the two.I would like to see what you find. On mine it was worse after the shutter replacement. After that I just packed the camera away in the closet and waited for a solution which came pretty quick (via a lawsuit). Gotta love the USA.

Good luck with your camera..

 

[sshoihet]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I am not able to tell the difference between regular dust and oil spots, but can the difference really be seen from the images? Or with a looking glass?

Anyway, these spots didn't go anywhere with a blower.

I newbie when it comes to sensor issues, and I have no experience in wet cleaning (yet), because Nikon Japan spooked me about it and strongly advised not trying anything silly at home. Then again, their lawyers are probably behind that recommendation.

The problem is that I don't trust Nikon at all any more. Since I bought the camera from a different country, I guess I don't have any local customer protection on my side. They can say whatever and too bad so sad. :-(

It's difficult to find actual photos of oils spots... if you search, most of the images you'll find are actually dust. Here's a link to a Canon product advisory which shows an oil spot http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248013d2ea

Dust oil spot are small enough that they're usually too small to see, even with a sensor loupe. They're most visible at small apertures because the direct light causes more of a defined shadow on the sensor and you can make them more visible by playing with the levels/curves or contrast adjustment.

Dust is just a way of life with cameras, even if you don't remove the lens often, a zoom may suck dust in and the big mirror flapping around can disturb dust that has settled elsewhere in the mirror box and that may end up on the sensor. It's more noticeable on FX cameras because you're going to be shooting one stop smaller to get the same depth of field; dust that might not have been visible on DX at f/8 may become apparent on FX at f/11. If you shoot a lot of landscapes, you're going to see it.

Cleaning a sensor is fairly easy and sensors are not that easy to damage, if you're going to use your camera fairly often then I suggest that you learn how to clean your own sensor. Sensor dust can be a bit of a pain but it's less of a pain than dust and scratches were on negatives

 

[VisuallyOriented]

I am no expert, but this really does look like normal use. My D610 has it, too and a rocket blower takes care of it.

That is classic D600 spotting..... The spotting is mostly in the upper left hand corner; the distribution is not random.

Nikon has already replaced my D600 once and I expect they will replace its replacement with a D610 shortly.

From what i've seen, Nikon never did solve this issue:

They replaced the shutter in my original twice.

They replaced the shutter in the replacement...

They have never corrected the issue.

That being said it's a relatively minor issue and still a great camera

 

[leorimkus]

One month of usage is a lot - I sometimes manage to get a lot of dust during one day. But I do a lot of lens changing.

 

[TheMeister]

I am no expert, but this really does look like normal use. My D610 has it, too and a rocket blower takes care of it.

That is classic D600 spotting..... The spotting is mostly in the upper left hand corner; the distribution is not random.

My D610 has that exact pattern. I and a Nikon service person looked together with a loupe and it was clearly dust, dirt and even a hair. We were able to blow it of with a rocket blower. From my experience dust also tends to agglomerate in the corners.

I change lenses a lot and in dirty environments.

 

[sthlm]

The problem is that I don't trust Nikon at all any more. Since I bought the camera from a different country, I guess I don't have any local customer protection on my side. They can say whatever and too bad so sad. :-(

I bought mine in the US and had it serviced in Sweden. Mine went very smoothly.

You need to actually determine whether this is normal dust or not. Cameras do get dust. The problem that I had was like 56 spots that would not come off. That has been resolved. If you can use a blower to clean yours then just do that. With that said I do get no dust now.

 

[vbuhay]

Nikon 600 Owner,

I had the same experience as you did. Mine was sent to Nikon USA 3 times, twice they replaced the shutter Mechanism. The third time Nikon USA gave me a choice - a new camera replacement or a refund. I took the refund and bought the D800E, problem solved. (That process took about 11 months). I believe that you could either ask for a new 610 or a refund....Good Luck!

Vbuhay

 

[chuxter]

Hi,

I bought Nikon D600 in March 2013 while I still lived in Japan, and had the dust problem from the very beginning. Nikon Japan took the camera once back for "factory cleaning", and cleaned the sensor in total 5 times.

I moved to Switzerland, and sent the camera to Nikon Schweiz in July, when it got its shutter replacement. Nikon returned the camera back with a dirty sensor(!), so I sent it immediately back for cleaning again.

After one month of use, the old dust problem was back as bad as ever, so I sent the camera again to Nikon Switzerland. It took them a full month to service the camera, and all they did was another sensor cleaning. The note says that the dust came from "normal use" and it is not in relation with the phenomenon published on their page. I had used the camera just for one month! I don't understand that how so much dust can enter the camera so fast in normal use, and why it gathers in top left corner of the image.


Nikon quality

I'm at a complete loss about what to do. I have 5 Nikkors and a camera that I cannot trust at all. Nikon's stance is that it is all my fault.

That's silly. Of course it's not your fault. I doubt that Nikon said that, but you probably believe they think it?

On the other hand, I could take your camera, stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon exactly where you did, and take another picture that would not show any [or many] dust spots. How would I do that?

I would set the exposure parameters differently! A 28mm lens has a very large Dof, so it is not necessary to use a small aperture, like f/16. I would set it to f/5.6 and focus at about 100 feet; that would give a DoF from 13' to infinity. Using f/5.6 would also allow me to either use a lower sensitivity setting and or a shorter exposure time; both are good. But mostly, the dust spots will go away.

Has anyone else experienced same kind of service? Is Nikon de-prioritizing me because I bought the camera while living in Japan, or is it because I am a foreigner in Switzerland? Or have they changed their policy?

I am allowed to send the camera back for dust cleanings until end of May, and after that they start charging.

This is hands down my worst customer experience ever. Help! :-(

You badly need to learn how to clean the LPF in front of the sensor. It is terrifying the first time, but after you have successfully done it a dozen times, it's actually easy. All cameras get dust on the filter! The D600 seems to be especially prone to collecting dust for some reason? It also has a well documented tendency to splatter oil around! But oil spots look different than dust spots. The ones you have are dust. If a Rocket Blower doesn't dislodge them, they are probably pollen, which is sticky. Pollen has to be removed via wet cleaning.

 

[Metabolikku]

Epilogue:

after a couple of angry emails, Nikon finally agreed to replace the D600 with D610. I sent my camera once more to the service, and after a month's wait, I got it back. The same old D600 with the same old "dust from normal use" excuse.

I'm surprised that they found dust, because I hadn't even used the camera.

I'm so flipping mad with this company that I don't know the appropriate English words to express my anger

Nikon employees have a very interesting sense of humour :-x

 

[primeshooter]

Hi,

I bought Nikon D600 in March 2013 while I still lived in Japan, and had the dust problem from the very beginning. Nikon Japan took the camera once back for "factory cleaning", and cleaned the sensor in total 5 times.

I moved to Switzerland, and sent the camera to Nikon Schweiz in July, when it got its shutter replacement. Nikon returned the camera back with a dirty sensor(!), so I sent it immediately back for cleaning again.

After one month of use, the old dust problem was back as bad as ever, so I sent the camera again to Nikon Switzerland. It took them a full month to service the camera, and all they did was another sensor cleaning. The note says that the dust came from "normal use" and it is not in relation with the phenomenon published on their page. I had used the camera just for one month! I don't understand that how so much dust can enter the camera so fast in normal use, and why it gathers in top left corner of the image.


Nikon quality

I'm at a complete loss about what to do. I have 5 Nikkors and a camera that I cannot trust at all. Nikon's stance is that it is all my fault.

Has anyone else experienced same kind of service? Is Nikon de-prioritizing me because I bought the camera while living in Japan, or is it because I am a foreigner in Switzerland? Or have they changed their policy?

I am allowed to send the camera back for dust cleanings until end of May, and after that they start charging.

This is hands down my worst customer experience ever. Help! :-(

They are lying to you and don't want to fix their mistake. Of course it's not normal when it gather's there and it's a known issue. Demand your money back.

--
facebook https://www.facebook.com/steverphotographer
google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/+StevenRobinsonPhotographer/
flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/steverphotographer/