Nikon d600 with issues

mhedges

daveznspace said:

waloshin said:

F22 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FSSk

F1.8 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FRXK

Mine look like that every two weeks or so and I just clean the sensors and they are good to go. It doesn't look like sand to me, sand would be bigger and probably a few clumps and would be seen way before f22.

Cleaning the sensor is stupidly simple, buy a few supplies for the cost of sending it in once and it will last you for years. I'm about 1/2 way through my first batch of supplies and its been almost 6 years and 5 cameras, cleaned at least once a month.

What supplies do you use?

daveznspace

mhedges said:

daveznspace said:

waloshin said:

F22 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FSSk

F1.8 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FRXK

Mine look like that every two weeks or so and I just clean the sensors and they are good to go. It doesn't look like sand to me, sand would be bigger and probably a few clumps and would be seen way before f22.

Cleaning the sensor is stupidly simple, buy a few supplies for the cost of sending it in once and it will last you for years. I'm about 1/2 way through my first batch of supplies and its been almost 6 years and 5 cameras, cleaned at least once a month.

What supplies do you use?

First I bought some of the sensor swabs from photosol.com(lots of info there as well) but that gets expensive as some really dirty cleanings might take 5-10 swabs, which unfortunately I learn the morning of a wedding and it left a big mess on the sensor. However, you can use the plastic swabs for future cleanings. Personally, I think 1 swab is too flexible and took 2 and shrink wrapped them together.

After that, I learned myself so the previous situation didn't happen again.

Then I bought:
1. Pec-Pads to clean the sensor but can be used on lenses too.
2. Eclipse cleaning fluid. You wet the pec-pads with this and is the actual cleaner.
3. Rocket blower... an absolute must!! A lot of times a few bursts will clean the sensor.
4. sensorsweep brush, again, this might be all it takes on some cleanings.
5. a speck remover from kinetronics.com
6. a carson led sensor light

I think it cost me $60-$70 for those, a cleaning is usually around $50, so you can see the cost savings after only 2 cleanings.

One site has these little spatulas you can buy for a $1 that you can use in place of the sensor swab sticks and used those for a long time.

Until one day I saw a video in Japanese from Nikon showing how they clean the sensors. The basically use a big chopstick. I bought a bag of dowels from walmart for $1 and took a couple and sanded down the sides to make a v.

The easy explanation is that you take one of the cleaning swabs (sensor swab sticks, spatula) and you wrap a pec-pad around it and double it up on the bottom to not be so hard on the sensor. Then take some tape (or I use envelope address labels) and tape it near the top of pad to hold it on. The wet pad while eclipse. Now if you're using the sensor swab sticks or spatula then you start at one corner and with soft but moderate pressure go straight across the sensor, at the end slide it down and go back the other way to the end. Then test it. To test it I just open up and empty folder on the computer, set the camera to aperture priority at f22 and put it up against the white bg of folder and DON'T FOCUS and take a shot and look at it to see if and/or where anything is still on sensor, if there is repeat the cleaning. NOTE* if you see dust on top.. on the sensor its on the bottom. You can always use the carson sensor light to look for dust/oil with the shooting part.

The biggest issue is where you do this as dust will settle into the camera fast. I will go into a bathroom beforehand it turn on the shower to steam it up then turn off and close the door and after room cools go in and clean it as the mist should, in theory, drop the dust to the floor.

Sounds like a lot but really it's not and takes like 5 minutes when you get the hang of it. Be careful not to put too much pressure on the sensor but they are more scratch resistant than you think.

mhedges

daveznspace said:

mhedges said:

daveznspace said:

waloshin said:

F22 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FSSk

F1.8 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FRXK

Mine look like that every two weeks or so and I just clean the sensors and they are good to go. It doesn't look like sand to me, sand would be bigger and probably a few clumps and would be seen way before f22.

Cleaning the sensor is stupidly simple, buy a few supplies for the cost of sending it in once and it will last you for years. I'm about 1/2 way through my first batch of supplies and its been almost 6 years and 5 cameras, cleaned at least once a month.

What supplies do you use?

First I bought some of the sensor swabs from photosol.com(lots of info there as well) but that gets expensive as some really dirty cleanings might take 5-10 swabs, which unfortunately I learn the morning of a wedding and it left a big mess on the sensor. However, you can use the plastic swabs for future cleanings. Personally, I think 1 swab is too flexible and took 2 and shrink wrapped them together.

After that, I learned myself so the previous situation didn't happen again.

Then I bought:
1. Pec-Pads to clean the sensor but can be used on lenses too.
2. Eclipse cleaning fluid. You wet the pec-pads with this and is the actual cleaner.
3. Rocket blower... an absolute must!! A lot of times a few bursts will clean the sensor.
4. sensorsweep brush, again, this might be all it takes on some cleanings.
5. a speck remover from kinetronics.com
6. a carson led sensor light

I think it cost me $60-$70 for those, a cleaning is usually around $50, so you can see the cost savings after only 2 cleanings.

One site has these little spatulas you can buy for a $1 that you can use in place of the sensor swab sticks and used those for a long time.

Until one day I saw a video in Japanese from Nikon showing how they clean the sensors. The basically use a big chopstick. I bought a bag of dowels from walmart for $1 and took a couple and sanded down the sides to make a v.

The easy explanation is that you take one of the cleaning swabs (sensor swab sticks, spatula) and you wrap a pec-pad around it and double it up on the bottom to not be so hard on the sensor. Then take some tape (or I use envelope address labels) and tape it near the top of pad to hold it on. The wet pad while eclipse. Now if you're using the sensor swab sticks or spatula then you start at one corner and with soft but moderate pressure go straight across the sensor, at the end slide it down and go back the other way to the end. Then test it. To test it I just open up and empty folder on the computer, set the camera to aperture priority at f22 and put it up against the white bg of folder and DON'T FOCUS and take a shot and look at it to see if and/or where anything is still on sensor, if there is repeat the cleaning. NOTE* if you see dust on top.. on the sensor its on the bottom. You can always use the carson sensor light to look for dust/oil with the shooting part.

The biggest issue is where you do this as dust will settle into the camera fast. I will go into a bathroom beforehand it turn on the shower to steam it up then turn off and close the door and after room cools go in and clean it as the mist should, in theory, drop the dust to the floor.

Sounds like a lot but really it's not and takes like 5 minutes when you get the hang of it. Be careful not to put too much pressure on the sensor but they are more scratch resistant than you think.

Thanks for the info. I had already bought one of those $15 kits on Amazon - it came yesterday and seemed to do a good job.

What do you consider acceptable results? Does the test image have to be absolutely free of dust? I still had a little bit in one corner on mine, but figured further cleaning would be diminishing returns.

Pistnbroke

Remember you are not cleaning the sensor but a sheet of glass in front of it so provided you dont damage it you cannot over clean

daveznspace

mhedges said:

daveznspace said:

mhedges said:

daveznspace said:

waloshin said:

F22 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FSSk

F1.8 https://flic.kr/p/2a3FRXK

Mine look like that every two weeks or so and I just clean the sensors and they are good to go. It doesn't look like sand to me, sand would be bigger and probably a few clumps and would be seen way before f22.

Cleaning the sensor is stupidly simple, buy a few supplies for the cost of sending it in once and it will last you for years. I'm about 1/2 way through my first batch of supplies and its been almost 6 years and 5 cameras, cleaned at least once a month.

What supplies do you use?

First I bought some of the sensor swabs from photosol.com(lots of info there as well) but that gets expensive as some really dirty cleanings might take 5-10 swabs, which unfortunately I learn the morning of a wedding and it left a big mess on the sensor. However, you can use the plastic swabs for future cleanings. Personally, I think 1 swab is too flexible and took 2 and shrink wrapped them together.

After that, I learned myself so the previous situation didn't happen again.

Then I bought:
1. Pec-Pads to clean the sensor but can be used on lenses too.
2. Eclipse cleaning fluid. You wet the pec-pads with this and is the actual cleaner.
3. Rocket blower... an absolute must!! A lot of times a few bursts will clean the sensor.
4. sensorsweep brush, again, this might be all it takes on some cleanings.
5. a speck remover from kinetronics.com
6. a carson led sensor light

I think it cost me $60-$70 for those, a cleaning is usually around $50, so you can see the cost savings after only 2 cleanings.

One site has these little spatulas you can buy for a $1 that you can use in place of the sensor swab sticks and used those for a long time.

Until one day I saw a video in Japanese from Nikon showing how they clean the sensors. The basically use a big chopstick. I bought a bag of dowels from walmart for $1 and took a couple and sanded down the sides to make a v.

The easy explanation is that you take one of the cleaning swabs (sensor swab sticks, spatula) and you wrap a pec-pad around it and double it up on the bottom to not be so hard on the sensor. Then take some tape (or I use envelope address labels) and tape it near the top of pad to hold it on. The wet pad while eclipse. Now if you're using the sensor swab sticks or spatula then you start at one corner and with soft but moderate pressure go straight across the sensor, at the end slide it down and go back the other way to the end. Then test it. To test it I just open up and empty folder on the computer, set the camera to aperture priority at f22 and put it up against the white bg of folder and DON'T FOCUS and take a shot and look at it to see if and/or where anything is still on sensor, if there is repeat the cleaning. NOTE* if you see dust on top.. on the sensor its on the bottom. You can always use the carson sensor light to look for dust/oil with the shooting part.

The biggest issue is where you do this as dust will settle into the camera fast. I will go into a bathroom beforehand it turn on the shower to steam it up then turn off and close the door and after room cools go in and clean it as the mist should, in theory, drop the dust to the floor.

Sounds like a lot but really it's not and takes like 5 minutes when you get the hang of it. Be careful not to put too much pressure on the sensor but they are more scratch resistant than you think.

Thanks for the info. I had already bought one of those $15 kits on Amazon - it came yesterday and seemed to do a good job.

What do you consider acceptable results? Does the test image have to be absolutely free of dust? I still had a little bit in one corner on mine, but figured further cleaning would be diminishing returns.

A little is fine. If you're OCD then the DYI method will save you a ton. I got that speck cleaner for when I feel anal but really even if its mostly clean you won't see them unless your aperture is closed down.

But if you take some pix and notice them and are in a zone where they really show (like in a sky) then maybe go back in. I used to shoot 95% of the time at f22 so I'd really see them, now I mostly shoot on average f7.1 and rarely see them.

daveznspace

Pistnbroke said:

Remember you are not cleaning the sensor but a sheet of glass in front of it so provided you dont damage it you cannot over clean

lol yeah... they try and freak you out that it's so delicate that you'll scratch it, not really the case. Don't forget to clean around lens mount (metal shavings) and lens contacts.



Here's the "rare" video of Nikon's official way (or was at the time) and currently how've been doing mine the last few years. What that video doesn't show is that they start in the middle and move in a circle outwards. There's another video that shows that but too tired to look now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPcvaJl-eS4

daveznspace

Ok, here's the longer sensor cleaning video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP6e8wZ9X1I

mhedges

Thanks again.

I recently took some pics of my kids, backlit by the setting sun, and the sensor dust was very obvious. I was able to mostly clear it up in post (which took a while), but I figured it was time to clean the sensor. But even with it looking this bad in most situations I can't say I saw any sign of it.

Here's an example:

daveznspace

mhedges said:

Thanks again.

I recently took some pics of my kids, backlit by the setting sun, and the sensor dust was very obvious. I was able to mostly clear it up in post (which took a while), but I figured it was time to clean the sensor. But even with it looking this bad in most situations I can't say I saw any sign of it.

Here's an example:

I see them, easy to take out in post or clean till gone.

Mine will get so dirty some days that they'll be several hundred lol

CaMeRaQuEsT

My D600 was bought used from Japan, but all languages are selectable, so probably it's not a JDM camera; its serial# does show up on Nikon USA's D600 service advisory page and its tripod socket has no sign of ever been painted, so it's likely still on its factory shutter; it did arrive with its sensor in pristine clean condition, the seller probably cleaning it before shipping. It came with 20K+ on the clock and I've added 3K+ more, with lots of lens changes in between, and yet I haven't seen any signs of dirt on the sensor to this date, and I love to shoot against the Golden Hour sun. Am I one of the lucky few who got a non Daffy Duck shutter?

Ton14

This is the statement in 2014 Nikon made for the D600.

https://www.nikon.com/news/2014/0328_01.htm

Maybe Nikon service center can look at the body and check if the shutter is replaced. If not maybe they will still replace it for you. At least you then know if it is the old "oil problem" or a cleaning problem.

The shutter in my D600 was replaced after 1 1/2 year and the did it again by a check a year later, because there was a better solution they said.

PS, The D600 is the cheapest FF camera at the moment with one of the best 24mp sensors and dust spots are always come back since the beginning of photography.

CaMeRaQuEsT

Yeah, the D600's used prices have reached parity with those for used (and at least 2 years newer) Sony A7's, which purportedly shares the same sensor, but for some reason gives up 1/2 to 3/4 of an EV of DR throughout its ISO range. I've owned an A7 before, it's great for shooting with manual focus lenses thanks to its EVF with focus peaking, instant zoom-in and zebras, but you do have to spend a lot of time in post to get the colors to a decent level, and good luck if you want AF: even used native AF lenses are a pretty penny, while the available Nikon AF adapters are more of a novelty than dependable tools, and a pretty penny themselves, too. At the end, it was too much hassle for me, so now I own a D600 and it's sunshine all the time I do take a big size/weight penalty, and my Ai and Ai-S Nikkors, while fully compatible with the D600, don't focus correctly with the e-rangefinder, as all my AF lenses need extreme micro adjustment, meaning that either the AF sensor is way off film plane or it's full of dust, also the "focusing screens" on DSLRs are absolutely useless for focusing and I don't want to replace that with an aftermarket one that will must probably affect the proper functioning of the multi function meter sensor. So I'm trying to find new homes for my old MF Nikkors, while adding to my arsenal dirt cheap AF and AF-D primes that are actually optically superior to my equivalent MF lenses. As hassles go, periodically cleaning a sensor is nothing compared with what the A7 was throwing at me, so good riddance!

daveznspace

CaMeRaQuEsT said:

Yeah, the D600's used prices have reached parity with those for used (and at least 2 years newer) Sony A7's, which purportedly shares the same sensor, but for some reason gives up 1/2 to 3/4 of an EV of DR throughout its ISO range. I've owned an A7 before, it's great for shooting with manual focus lenses thanks to its EVF with focus peaking, instant zoom-in and zebras, but you do have to spend a lot of time in post to get the colors to a decent level, and good luck if you want AF: even used native AF lenses are a pretty penny, while the available Nikon AF adapters are more of a novelty than dependable tools, and a pretty penny themselves, too. At the end, it was too much hassle for me, so now I own a D600 and it's sunshine all the time I do take a big size/weight penalty, and my Ai and Ai-S Nikkors, while fully compatible with the D600, don't focus correctly with the e-rangefinder, as all my AF lenses need extreme micro adjustment, meaning that either the AF sensor is way off film plane or it's full of dust, also the "focusing screens" on DSLRs are absolutely useless for focusing and I don't want to replace that with an aftermarket one that will must probably affect the proper functioning of the multi function meter sensor. So I'm trying to find new homes for my old MF Nikkors, while adding to my arsenal dirt cheap AF and AF-D primes that are actually optically superior to my equivalent MF lenses. As hassles go, periodically cleaning a sensor is nothing compared with what the A7 was throwing at me, so good riddance!

Even if they "share a sensor" wouldn't they still differ since they each need to top the sensor off with their own special sauce?