D600 Dust/Oil/Lubricant Issue discussion/Discontinuation and price reductions

Ironheart

The raw image is unaffected by any of the picture controls, hence the name RAW.

PB_PM

The raw image is unaffected by any of the picture controls, hence the name RAW.

That is unless you use a Nikon RAW converter...

spraynpray

@PB_PM: Surely you mean unless you use an Adobe raw converter set to process 2012? If you change process from 2012 back to 2010 you will see the sliders move a fair bit. Adobe have taken it on themselves to make changes to all of our images before we see them.

PB_PM

Wouldn't know, never use Adobe products.

Ironheart

Even with NX2 you can reset the sliders to zero. The RAW data is unaffected, only the metadata is changed.

Nik0n2011

my d600 is at Nikon repair center

they are changing :

1F999-708 SHUTTER PLATE UNIT

1K935-331 DOUBLE STICK TAPE B
1K935-332 DOUBLE STICK TAPE C
1K935-334 DOUBLE STICK TAPE F
1K935-335 DOUBLE STICK TAPE G
1K935-336 DOUBLE STICK TAPE H
1K935-337 DOUBLE STICK TAPE I

1H998-498 RUBBER UNIT
1H998-490 (most likely some foam i screwed up)

donaldejose

Now that f999 replacement is interesting. Please tell us the cost? and is this the same shutter as was put i9n the D610? Can D600 users send their camera in to Nikon and have the D610 shutter installed? And if so, what is the cost to do that?

Of course, Nikon should do it for free but if they will not and someone has a constant problem with their D600 it would be nice to know that you can pay to get the D610 shutter installed in your D600.

Nik0n2011

i got the d600 less than 1 year ago (maybe 8 months?) and it came with 3 years free check and clean service.
i sent it to the repair center here in Finland asking for cleaning oil spots on the sensor, i didnt ask for any change or replacements - i believe nikon now developed a standard procedure for the problem, months ago the solution wasnt standard NOR all centers in the world had all knowledge or parts available
-
i also believe that nikon keeps/kept it low
IF every d600 owner on earth would come and pretend a new camera NOR a complete fixed camera
Nikon could have had a BIG LOSS there, so there they made 2 teams
1) takes care of rebuilding the new model D610 (fixed problem + new shiny reputation)
2) studies and develops a solution and then spreads it to the centers worldwide

they really avoid that the rumour spread = everybody goes and tell ' hey give me the d610 shutter now! '
like they also avoided to admit ' yes its our fault '

a % of the owners will come, yes, another % won't, will live with it.
thats called limit the loss.


now i dont know if that shutter plate (mechanism) is the same as the D610 or a 'redesigned' for the D600
i'll have to see how the camera performs later on i love macro and i'm always at f18-20-30-40 (i did an 80something once) lol


ps: since im on year 1 of 3 years check and clean, this costs 0 to me.

Nik0n2011

ps, when i gave my camera it had less than 10.000 actuations
i'm curious to see how it comes back


i also live close to the repair center (no shipping)

Sluggomagoo

I sent my Nikon D600 Camera into the Nikon center in Melville, NY on Jan 2nd for a sensor cleaning and evaluation of a spotting issue in the corners of some of the pictures. The spotting issue is well documented by many of Nikon's customers that own the D600. It's not that horrible an issue but it is there and after several cleanings the problem always comes back. Some are saying it's a flaw in the shutter letting dust particulars in and others are saying that it is cause by oil residue. I don’t know what the issue is but, I did open a case with Nikon about it right after I got the unit because I noticed it within the first two weeks I had it. Their answer was to clean the low pass filter that covers the CCD sensor.
I am able to work around it because I don’t shoot a lot of high depth photos because I can’t afford a $8000.00 fast lens. So when I do shoot with a pinhole, it only shows up on landscape shots where there's a lot of blue or white. Just so happens that the sky is blue or white so I see the issue occatinally but before I crop the images down to 8x10 or a hit it with a blemish tool on the computer.
I opened the new case on 12/26 specifically about this spotting issue and to have someone contact me on my options. Knowing that I was going to put the camera away for the remainder of the winter anyway, I figured this would be the best time to do this. I waited until 1/2/2014 to ship it out because I wanted to have it over the holidays and I kept the case updated on Nikon’s website as to the status of the shipment so they wouldn’t worry. The day before I had it mounted on the tripod and took about 75 shots from the dining room of the bird feeders. Then I packaged up the unit and off it went to Nikon insured for $2000.00. The cost was 43 dollars and change. I’m thinking I can’t take the chance so I’ll have to pay the extra for the insurance.
Three days went by and I got an email from Nikon stating that they got the camera and it would be another three days of pre processing before they could review it. That three day’s went by and I got an email estimate for $53.00. Since the estimate only has a dollar amount I called down to Melville to find out what’s going on. I get connected to one of their call centers and they review the service request and the guy tells me that the $53.00 is the normal charge they get to review a camera that is out of warranty and I would have to approve that in order to get it looked at further. He went on to say that if the camera required cleaning that the service change would cover that. I asked about the spotting on the sensor and he said that nobody has reviewed that yet. I approved the charge and asked to speak to the technician and I was denied that request. So I ended up with no technical assessment, just a $53.00 charge to perform the service. Late that day I logged into their website and I asked that someone please contact me about the spotting problem like I had originally requested. A couple more days went by and I get another email estimate for $1115.00! Again the estimate says nothing but a dollar amount with no explanation as to what generated that estimate. I called Nikon again. The call center this time couldn’t find the $1150.00 estimate so I had to ask for an escalation. The case got reassigned to someone named Steve M at corporate head quarters. The following day I got an email from Steve stating that the reason for the $1150 estimate was because the CCD sensor (the sensor inside the camera that acts as a piece of film) was defective. I sent a message back asking him how that could of happen because the camera worked almost perfectly before I put it in the box. The message I got back was even more confusing, he said that the camera sensor was damaged buy the customer before it was sent to Nikon. Nikon did nothing to the camera. He also went on to say that they the tech told him that he didn’t even clean the camera. The inspection revealed that the sensor was damaged. Steve went on to say that there’s nothing more he can do and if I didn’t like the way things were going I would have to write the President of Nikon a snail mail to get any further decisions on this matter.
I denied the estimate and I had the camera sent back to me. Now it gets even better from here. I got it and it’s totally inoperative. None of the lenses I have will focus. They just hunt for the focus point. The exposure meter won’t read anything but a 30 second shutter time no matter was ISO or aperture I select. I sent Nikon a working operational camera and they sent me back a brick. I double up on my HBP pills and I called them again to find out what my options are. The only thing they could offer me was to have to camera sent in for further review. I send it back to service again today.

PB_PM

Sounds like it could have been damaged in transit to Nikon. Maybe something to take up with the delivery service?

Sluggomagoo

How does a delivery service damage a CCD sensor? They would have to remove it from the box first.

donaldejose

sluggomagoo: So sorry to hear of your problem. Really strange also. Never heard anything else like it. Here is an idea. Ask Nikon what is the damage to the sensor, scratched? loose? etc. If scratched Nikon will think you did it tying to clean the sensor yourself. If loose you can file a claim with the shipping company claiming it was dropped or vibrated to death during shipment which loosened internal parts. Good luck.

PB_PM

How does a delivery service damage a CCD sensor? They would have to remove it from the box first.

Shock in shipping could, in theory, cause damage to electronic parts. Not saying that is what happened, just thinking of possibilities. I doubt a Nikon tech broke it and then tried to blame you for it, and based on what you said it was working when you shipped it. That leaves only one other possibility, damage in shipping.

Sluggomagoo

The camera was packed tightly. I put the camera in the original wrapping and inside the original Nikon box it came in and then in another box with packing material. When I took it to the post office I had them mark it fragile and insured it for $2000.00. I took photos with it the day before I shipped it and I uploaded one of them to Nikon yesterday to prove it was in working order after I opened up the case. If there's a scratch on the sensor it was done at Nikon. I didn't do it. The only thing that I did to the camera is blow air inside of it like the manual says. This is a quality issue. If these cameras didn't have a dust/oil problem I would have never sent it to Nikon and I would still have the camera in a usable state.

spraynpray

Reading your posts Sluggomagoo, I am confused. I see that you 'opened a case' with Nikon right after you got the camera - did you buy new or used? If used, you have no warranty. If new, even if you waited for the warranty to expire, the fact that you flagged it with them should mean they are obligated to repair it under warranty (although I can't understand why you didn't follow the path of sending it back to them to confirm/repair/clean straight away.

None of what I wrote above invalidates the hideousness of the last part of your post though. When you returned for spots and they found a duff CCD, they should have told you it wasn't working and when you said it was before you sent it they should have asked you to prove it was by sending them the most recent picture it took then written a report commenting on the packaging to use for insurance reasons.

EDIT: Nikon UK provide a system for return of items for repair which is free under warranty and includes insurance - all their liability. Why is this not standard in the USA too I wonder. Shipping to our repair centre for out of warranty items is approx a £10 cost (including insurance too).

Msmoto

@Sluggomagoo

I noted on your review on Amazon you had suggested to folks to not purchase the D610 either and you stated the D610 had spotting problems as well. Can you help us out on NRF with more information regarding the D610 spots? My understanding is the D610 has the problem corrected.

roombarobot

From Dpreview, regarding D610 replacements for D600: http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/31/nikon-issues-statement-on-rumored-d600-d610-swap-outs

Photobug

From Dpreview, regarding D610 replacements for D600: http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/31/nikon-issues-statement-on-rumored-d600-d610-swap-outs

+1 and the right thing for Nikon to keep happy customers. The "case by case" reply does leave this wide open.

Nik0n2011

got my camera back and had some hundreds shots (3-400)

no oil back at the moment

manhattanboy

@Sluggomagoo
Read your story. Glad I didn't bite on the D600 deals as the sensor sounds like a nightmare. Customer service is apparently split into different regions at Nikon, which may explain some of the differences in practices and service over the world.

This is what Thom recently said about Nikon's customer service:

Will Nikon ever become customer friendly, or put the customer first?
I doubt it in the sense the question was asked, at least not without Nikon first realizing that their previous customer stance was one of the things that limited how far they could take their camera sales. There are many isolated examples where a Nikon employee or subsidiary tries to do the right thing, but this doesn't seem to be well supported at the corporate level, which is much more worried about pennies earned.

rensuchan

Just wanted to chime in on this since Nikon started offering free repairs for the D600.

I got mine back on March 21 and have taken around 400 shots since then. I don't see the problem recurring yet and hopefully it'll stay that way.

Berryhill

Got my D600 in Dec. 2012. By July the debris on the sensor was unacceptable. I tried the Rocket blower with little effect and then the wet clean which removed some particles but none of the oil? spotting. Held on to the crippled camera until the most recent paid return was announced. Nikon West Coast accomplished a quick turnaround with a new shutter and C&A but straight out of the box test shots showed spots remaining and even a few dust? particles. I called Nikon, explained the problem and offered to send test shots and a few actual photos from the past year as examples of how the sensor debris shows up in alpine flower shots with a background skyline and macro shots with featureless background. Now waiting to see what is their reply. It is quite discouraging to read through the posts from half a dozen forums detailing, some at great length, the Nikon intransigence and obfuscation regard the problem and their intended solutions. Even worse, are the cases of "damaged" cameras that seem to occur too often in the reports to be dismissed. Fingers crossed here now as I sort LR catalog, looking at high f stop files to see how I might live with a dirty sensor if it comes to that. If Nikon service cannot remove the oil spotting, I have little hope of doing it at home.

Photobug

Berryhill, send it back to Nikon service.

Berryhill

I have decided to send it back. The new twist is that Nikon sent me a shipping tag to Melville (other side of the country from WA state) and when I called for an explanation I was told that it "might be" that a shorter wait time was predicted there. I suppose "impact damage" might occur in a shipment of 1500 as well as 3000 miles, but I may keep a video of the normal operation of the camera pre-shipping, as well as the "boxing" ceremony. Maybe I have read way too many stomach-churning accounts of Nikon vs. Nikon customer tales but I would hate to be one of those antagonists. In that line, I should add that I bought a new D7000 at a good price to tide me over while the D600 was in repair/transit, and found to my dismay that the camera started numbering files at 107 and that the sensor was lightly oil spotted from the get-go. I am returning it within the thirty day seller's warranty though it seems a shame to have the retailer paying for Nikon's poor QC. This whole affair with the D600 has led to tens of hours of getting to know the LR library sorting functions, and I can state with some certainty that the D5100 I owned had nowhere near the degree of spotting on the sensor after tens of thousands of exposures, and enough of the high f stop, unfocused and featureless backgrounds to get a look at sensor contamination from day one until I sold it (more's the pity since I am now considering a D5200 instead of another D7000). Why another Nikon? Lenses. Why the 5200? Tilting LCD for the low angle macro shots that make up a fair percentage of my high-satisfaction shots. And that, a pleasurable by-product of looking through tens of thousands of exposures, many at slideshow size and 1:1 resolution on a 27" monitor. Luckily for me it is just a game and I am not required to render hundreds of images spot free for anxious clients. I do like my toys to work as well as my tools do though and I have no good words or thoughts for Nikon for the way they have handled the resolution of a a manufacturing flaw that has obviously affected some significant percentage of the D600's sold. They seem determined to stay close-mouthed on that issue. Shutter replacement is a good start, but if they cannot clean the low pass filter of previously slung oil then the new shutter may only keep it from getting more occluded. I assure you, the D600 had enough debris on that filter in a few months that it was not necessary to go to a high contrast, black clipping 1:1 to see it. The particles were quite visible throughout the sky though the oil spotting was visible only with the PP.