Plz Advice: Should I buy D600 now or wait until Christmas

dinamaria · Mar 22, 2013

just wanted to provide an update. I purchased a refurbished D600 from Adorama. Got it on Wednesday. Took some shots, other than half were blurry, I did not notice any degradation in image quality at first. Then took a shot at f/16 of a white background. You could instantly see spots, but zooming in revealed much more than I anticipated. I am packaging it back up and sending it back to Adorama for a replacement which I hope to get by the end of next week.

As to the blurriness. I account this to the default Auto Focus settings and me having to become more intiment with my new camera. I have since changed the autofocus settings. On a side note, I also noticed a lot of vignette on my 85m f/1.8 wide open, something I do not experience with my D90. Auto Focus also seemed a bit slow on the default settings, but changing it to AF-S seemed to help.

Parker219 · Mar 22, 2013

Ok, cool, well that answered my question. Getting a refurbished does NOT mean the issue has been fixed.

Thanks for the update. Let me know when you get the replacement, how that turns out.

wackii · Mar 23, 2013

The vignetting is because you have Full Frame camera (D600) while your lens is DX lens. Your D90 has a Dx sensor therefore you see no vignetting... Hopefully, you get a good replacement. Switching to FF will cost you more on the glasses if you don't already have Fx lenses.

dinamaria said:
just wanted to provide an update. I purchased a refurbished D600 from Adorama. Got it on Wednesday. Took some shots, other than half were blurry, I did not notice any degradation in image quality at first. Then took a shot at f/16 of a white background. You could instantly see spots, but zooming in revealed much more than I anticipated. I am packaging it back up and sending it back to Adorama for a replacement which I hope to get by the end of next week.

As to the blurriness. I account this to the default Auto Focus settings and me having to become more intiment with my new camera. I have since changed the autofocus settings. On a side note, I also noticed a lot of vignette on my 85m f/1.8 wide open, something I do not experience with my D90. Auto Focus also seemed a bit slow on the default settings, but changing it to AF-S seemed to help.

Mach0 · Mar 23, 2013

wackii said:
The vignetting is because you have Full Frame camera (D600) while your lens is DX lens. Your D90 has a Dx sensor therefore you see no vignetting... Hopefully, you get a good replacement. Switching to FF will cost you more on the glasses if you don't already have Fx lenses.

An 85 1.8 is NOT a dx lens.

OP you will see more vignette on fx than dx because on dx the sensor is smaller.

Derrel · Mar 23, 2013

You'd better tell Adorama that you expect a D600 that has had a RECENT, capably-done sensor-cleaning!!!! The D600's sensor-spotting issue has been pretty severe in some percentage of the cameras, and according to my interpretation of what I have read on Thom Hogan's Nikon site, the problem seems to reappear after a short time after a sensor cleaning...so...he advises D600 owners to learn how to do a good, capable wet-style sensor cleaning, using sensor swabs and cleaning solution.

The entire issue of the D600's sensor-spot problem is most unusual; Thom Hogan's Nikon Camera, DSLR, Lens, Flash, and Book site, in the archived stories, is where you can read about his findings. Anyway..it "seems" that there could be two issues at play: first is manufacturing dust/fragments/crud that is INSIDE the cameras as they came from the factory, and second is an apparent tendency for the mirror/shutter assembly to "fling" lubricant onto the sensor surface. ACK!!!!!!!!! The way I read Thom's comments, D600 owners simply will have to clean their sensors frequently, and, by my understanding, the problem seems to dissipate after multiple cleanings, over time...which I am assuming is because the excess lubricant has finally diminished to the point where it no longer flies out and onto the sensor surface.

In one way, one thing I am telling you is this: when you buy a current D600, you are most likely going to be REQUIRED to know how to, and actually perform, swab+fluid "wet" cleanings of your sensor, at least for the forseeable future. At least on the D600 stock that's floating around now in the refurbished/returned category.

Steve5D · Mar 23, 2013

If you keep waiting for the next best thing, or a lower price, you'll never buy a thing.

Buy the camera now and enjoy it, and don't worry about what prices are going to do nine months from now...

Ballistics · Mar 23, 2013

If the D600 had a 1/8000 max shutter speed, 1/250 sync speed, and a larger focus point coverage, I would have easily picked it over the d800. But it would probably be $500 more.

dinamaria · Mar 23, 2013

wackii: I only have one DX lens, and that is the kit lens that came with my d90 back in 2010. I have only purchased FF lenses since then. Thanks for the info Mach0. Derrel, Good idea, I will def ask for one from a newer batch. I have read in recent weeks that Nikon has been replacing the sensors when D600's are turned in for sensor cleaning. I am not sure if it has fixed the issue or not, but I am hopeful. It really does take beautiful pictures and I am happy with it overall, I just don't think one should have to spend 2000 and then have to photoshop out spots in images. I am hopeful though. You are right Steve5D..that is what my husband always says to me, and then I kick myself for waiting..so I have taken the plunge

...I would love 1/8000 Ballistics, but unfortunately I just cannot afford the extra cost of the D800 ATM.

Ballistics · Mar 23, 2013

Yeah I hear ya, if it weren't for a paid shoot, and a couple of other things falling into place, I wouldn't have the extra $800 either.

DarrylJ · Mar 25, 2013

Garbz said:
If you made it 6 years I think it'll probably be your fault it doesn't work. Warranty exists to cover manufacturing defects to allow people to buy new things. Or you could just not ever buy anything new and wait until the end of time to ensure something works 100%.

The warranty is only one year, this "defect" is still a issue for some after 15k shutter counts. It does not always get better with time. Sorry I don't want to deal with wet cleaning the sensor every few hundred clicks which is what a lot of people are having to deal with. I would not want to be shooting a wedding and have to stop to wet clean my sensor in the middle of the wedding. Maybe that is ok with people like Garbz, but I take pride in my shooting and expect a $2000 camera to not need a wet clean every few hundred shots.

Garbz said:
Speaking of which do you want to buy my D200? It's been in active use and beat around and has some 80k shutter actuations on it. Guaranteed free of manufacturer defects

What are you talking about? This comment is rather ignorant. Have you seen how bad it is for some of the D600 owners?

Garbz said:
But seriously it's a 6 month old camera now. Are you waiting for the D650 before you buy last year's equipment, or why not just go for it and realise that out of the many 10s of thousands units sold only a very small percentage of them have defects and that warranty exists to ensure you get your money's worth even if you're unlucky?

Are you really saying this is a rare and isolated problem?... it is not; as most of the reviewers have seen the problem on the D600s they have tested. The problem is NOT a few isolated cases but widespread. Ask the folks at lens rentals. Some people have bought 3-4 bodies... All contaminated. Many have sent their cameras to Nikon multiple times with NO resolution. Are you trying to mislead newbies into thinking this is an isolated issue?

Garbz said:
Oh also many manufacturing defects are the result of a fault in production which isn't necessarily related to the new technology. I.e. a batch of D800's not being properly calibrated. This can crop in at any time and isn't necessarily related to new products. Heck Nikon issued a product recall on the D200 for some models with a dangerous manufacturing fault some 6 months after I bought it, and it was already 6 months old when I got mine.

To spend this kind of money on a camera body and get such terrible shoddy workmanship is not acceptable.

Nikon has barely acknowledged the problem and are not doing anything about it the same contaminated bodies are still being sold.

The real problem is that if you are traveling you will end up with hundreds of great images that need extensive post processing to be usable. Sorry this is not acceptable to me maybe Garbz is ok with dust all over his landscapes from a vacation, but I expect a little more.

Don't be a sucker, be aware of how bad the issue is before you get it.

If you get the D600, carefully inspect you camera after the purchase before the maximum return click count. Which unfortunately is about 200 clicks at most places. Be aware that if you go this route you may have to continually clean you sensor every few hundred clicks for the life of the camera, if you are ok with that then get it.

Get a different unit. Or wait until Nikon has addressed the issue. They are replacing the shutter box on some of the units but most are still having the issue even after the shutter box replacements. So wait to see if this addresses the issue.

RyanJ7 · Mar 26, 2013

dinamaria said:
just wanted to provide an update. I purchased a refurbished D600 from Adorama. Got it on Wednesday. Took some shots, other than half were blurry, I did not notice any degradation in image quality at first. Then took a shot at f/16 of a white background. You could instantly see spots, but zooming in revealed much more than I anticipated. I am packaging it back up and sending it back to Adorama for a replacement which I hope to get by the end of next week.

As to the blurriness. I account this to the default Auto Focus settings and me having to become more intiment with my new camera. I have since changed the autofocus settings. On a side note, I also noticed a lot of vignette on my 85m f/1.8 wide open, something I do not experience with my D90. Auto Focus also seemed a bit slow on the default settings, but changing it to AF-S seemed to help.

Also looking at the D600 but have the same concerns. Let us know how the replacement goes.