Is the D600 a good used camera?

CaMeRaQuEsT

Used D600 bodies are coming to market for about what a new/refurbished D7000 currently costs. After the whole "shutter-oil-gate" dust has settled, this still seems to me to be a heck of a FF camera, especially for a RAW (NEF) shooter like me. I don't see many posts about it nowadays, so I was wondering if this is still a good buy today, at least for one that had its original shutter already replaced by Nikon. All my DSLRs to date have been 24Mp DX and I've grown accustomed to what I can do with such a high resolution in post, but now I really want to use the full FOV of my old Ai and Ai-S lenses but I don't have the luxury to spend more than what I've paid for my previous DX bodies. Any thoughts from past and current D600 users and owners will be highly appreciated.

NSXTypeR

I would say yes if they were taken in to the factory for the oil issues. But it's hard to say if the original owner is honest or not. If you don't want to think, get the D610, it's not worth figuring out if it has any issues or not.

Either that or get it refurbished straight from Nikon.

Ironheart

If you have the paperwork, or implicitly trust the seller, the D600 is a great camera. Given the unfortunate problems, you can get it for quite a bargain these days. Go for it.

Coastalconn

Funny, I just purchased a used D600 from a member at FM yesterday. I wanted a backup for my D500. I've shot with the D600 before and the IQ is very good. I tossed around a D700 and a D3 but decided the d600 offered the most versatility for the price. All were under $800..

heartyfisher

My friend had one.. I have the D610. The image quality from that sensor is superb!
It really is.. I would rate it as at least equal best with any Nikon sensor.

In most situations it handles very well. The only times I find it lacking a bit is in very low light with smaller aperture zooms. I have have had a chance to re-shoot in similar poor light situations but using Fast primes instead and it worked beautifully. However, with the same Zooms my D7200 had no issues that the D610 had trouble with. So there is that.... Tech advancements marches on..

Still D600/D610 are really underrated .. generally.

PS: the D750 prices are coming down too.. and the AF on that is very good. In many ways it has the best possible enhancements you would want to put into a D600/d610.

Pistnbroke

If you send it off to Nikon and get the shutter changed fo free then its a good buy

CaMeRaQuEsT

The one I'm looking at was bought refurbished from Nikon, has got a 215K shutter actuation count, the seller says that the shutter was replaced by Nikon around the 100K mark and has the telling black paint dot inside the tripod mount. It was always used tethered inside a studio and is being sold because its USB port has failed from the constant tethering, with the power adapter rubber tongue permanently sticking out, unable to close the way it should. Every function checked Ok in my hands, except for the hot shoe and the headphone jack because I didn't have the correct flash or a headphone available to try them. Took a black frame in NEF (ISO 100, 1/4000, f/16, lens cap on) and viewed it in LR with all the exposure related sliders to the right, image looked funny, the whole frame in magenta noise, with the lower 1/6 clearly more "exposed" and whiter. No banding, just random noise, and nothing similar shows with a correctly exposed shot with all LR sliders to the right. A similar black frame from my Fuji X-E1 only shows random white dots on a black background, but then maybe it's how LR is calibrated for each type of RAW files.

proudgeek

I may be in the minority on this one, but given how many issues you CAN see in the camera, I'd be worried about the ones you can't see or are just waiting to rear their ugly head. As for the appearance of the files in LR, I wouldn't worry about that unless you shoot those kinds of shots and edit them that way.

Pistnbroke

way too high a shutter count ..get one that has not had the shutter changed ...and change it

HipShot

I bought my first Nikon, a D600, in late 2012. I've never had a problem with the shutter/sensor issue. I took Nikon up on its offer to replace the shutter mechanism anyway. They've also cleaned the sensor once, for free. There's a rumor that I haven't been able to verify, that I can send it in for free cleanings. My only disappointment in the D600 is its steep depreciation.

Coastalconn

215k! Run away unless it's $300. Mine is arriving tomorrow and has around 10k clicks for $760 shipped.. I don't care much about shutter count it is reasonable, but 215k on a d600 is a lot of use and abuse..

CaMeRaQuEsT

Coastalconn said:

215k! Run away unless it's $300. Mine is arriving tomorrow and has around 10k clicks for $760 shipped.. I don't care much about shutter count it is reasonable, but 215k on a d600 is a lot of use and abuse..

The seller is asking $600 OBO. but I'm waiting to see how much the local Nikon serviceman charges for a shutter assembly and mirror mechanism replacement to figure out how much I can offer. Might as well as wait until I see a better deal like yours come up or for the next gray market D610 sale at bellow 1K. A $300 gamble sounds about right, if the camera does indeed lasts me 50K actuations more, but depending on how much the repair bill might be, and given the prices that brand new D610 can be bought at, this high miller might not be worth it after all. And then for $300 above the price of a brand new D610 there's the D750.

spraynpray

I'd have a D600 if it was under 10k clicks and cheap enough, but I have been surprised HOW WELL they have held their value considering the furore that surrounded them.

CaMeRaQuEsT

spraynpray said:

I'd have a D600 if it was under 10k clicks and cheap enough, but I have been surprised HOW WELL they have held their value considering the furore that surrounded them.

Actually, it's borderline stupid: somebody just bought a D600 with a broken lens mount for $425 at ebay without knowing if it even clicks, never mind how many it has on its odo. I mean, these are 3-4 years old cameras, brand new gray market D610 have been sold for as low as $980. Good condition D600s should be going for about $500, but they are still hovering around the $800 level, it really doesn't make any sense. But then again there is no cheaper way of getting the level of IQ that this camera offers.