So my D600 has been returned... thinking of buying another D600?! How is yours behaving?

Which option should I choose?

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W44NNE

W44NNE

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Around 2 weeks ago, I purchased a Nikon D600. It was instantly a hit with me as the quality far surpassed anything I'd owned before. I'd read about the oil spot issues before buying but hoped the model I bought would be free of this. Well, 600 or so holiday pictures later, I loaded the photos on to my PC and the dots were there in anything but a dark background. I'd been using it solely indoors before we went away and hadn't really gone above F4. On holiday however, I mostly shot at F8+ and the spots were too small to be seen on the camera's display.

Obviously, this was disappointing but luckily, Currys were absolutely excellent (I never thought I'd say that!) and allowed me to return the camera with no quibbles at all last night.

The issue I now have is, that I really loved the D600. The price was the first huge plus point as the deals around right now are super (but of course we know why!). So I wondered if anybody who has bought a D600 from July 2013 onwards, has noticed any issues with the same spots? I say July because I've found a Body only at a local John Lewis for £1050 which came in, in July, and they have a 90 day no quibble exchange policy. I thought I'd give this a go with my 50mm prime and see what results I get, within the 90 day period.

I see my options as (please respond to the poll):

1 Buy the D600 from John Lewis, try it for up to 90 days with my Nikon 50mm 1.8G and see how it goes
2 Buy a Nikon D610, where I know the issues have been resolved. They're offering a free SB-700 flash at a local store, so this would be £1700 for the D610 body and flash... I'd be buying a flash anyway so in theory, the camera is costing me £1500ish.
3 Buy a used D800 for around £1500, however I tend to solely shoot handheld on holiday etc, only using a tripod for tough low light such as capturing stars etc. I believe with such high reolution, blurring is very easy to create, and also, I'm lookig at a travel zoom, so it wouldn't really do the body as much justice as I'd like.
4 Wait for the Sony A7 or A7r which apparently use the same sensors as the Nikon range. However, the A7r could create the blurring issues that I'd get from the D800 above, and the A7 with 24MP sensor has the AA filter, whereas the D600/D610 do not. The LCD display is also missing and I found myself using fill-flash with the in-built D600 flash now and again, which saved a couple of pics.

...or another suggestion from yourselves?

Any personal experiences\advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm by no means a pro but I enjoy my photography hobby and like to get the most out of something when I'm spending so much of my hard earned cash :)
 
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Buy the D600. If you get spots, send it in, to have the new shutter plate fitted. Just expect to be without it for about 3 weeks.
 
Thanks... So is the new shutter plate a definite fix?
 
That John Lewis price is too good to turn down IMO , I would buy at that price and then send it back to Nikon as Johnny suggests if the spots are bad .
 
I've had the D600 from the beginning, and yes mine had spots; but I just clean the sensor every now and then and since about 3,000 shots (now over 10,000) there has been a significant improvement (currently 2-3 spots, originally perhaps 30 or so!). I'm not bothered by them, my D800 is just as dirty and the spots are only noticeable above f11 against a pale uniform background; and very easy to correct in post. I'd recommend the D600, especially at that price.

By the way, I have used my D800 occasionally with my 28-300 super zoom; it's fine re motion blur if you keep the speed up. Another thing, for speed lights I use the Nissin Di866/Di622 Mk II's; definitely a recommendation from me (though I heard the SB700 has gone down a bit in price, my cousin found one for £199 somewhere).
 
I've just been watching this video. It goes on a bit but here is a guy who's had his D600 shutter mech replaced, however after 700+ shots, it's showing the identical issues that mine had.


You can see the dots are smeared rather than the pattern regular dust would show.

With this in mind, I don't think I want the hassle of a D600 anymore. It's a massive shame at the price, but I think the D610 is really looking like Nikon's resolution to the issue. Pretty poor considering you're now expected to shell out for a new camera.
 
daktar1 said:
I've had the D600 from the beginning, and yes mine had spots; but I just clean the sensor every now and then and since about 3,000 shots (now over 10,000) there has been a significant improvement (currently 2-3 spots, originally perhaps 30 or so!). I'm not bothered by them, my D800 is just as dirty and the spots are only noticeable above f11 against a pale uniform background; and very easy to correct in post. I'd recommend the D600, especially at that price.

By the way, I have used my D800 occasionally with my 28-300 super zoom; it's fine re motion blur if you keep the speed up. Another thing, for speed lights I use the Nissin Di866/Di622 Mk II's; definitely a recommendation from me (though I heard the SB700 has gone down a bit in price, my cousin found one for £199 somewhere).
Click to expand...


I have a Nissin Di866 Mk 2 and its a good flash but I find the recycle time a bit to slow for my work. I am looking at getting the SB-700 which is £230 in most places but Nikon have £40 cashback on it


Regarding the D600 I really like using mine and have had NO dust/oil problems at all with it. If you can get a D610 with a SB-700 thrown in then go for it I would say as you would probably be paranoid about dust and always be looking out for it
 
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