PCFormat Forum Archive

This Time Lapse Shows the Nikon D600 Has a Dusty Sensor Problem
Jamie Condliffe

There have been rumors knocking around that suggest Nikon's great D600 DSLR suffers from excessive sensor dust. This time-lapse goes a long way in proving them true.

Toronto-based artist Kyle Clements wanted to test the problem for himself. He explains:

I thought I would put this claim to the test by purchasing a brand new D600, putting on a 50mm 1.8D lens, and shooting some test shots, before using the camera for anything else.

And, from that I've seen, dust on the D600 is indeed a serious issue. Right out of the box, after taking the very first picture, I could see several dust spots, but as my time-lapse series progressed, I could see more and more spots appearing on the sensor. Keep in mind that I am not changing lenses; all this dust is coming from inside the camera.

Now, that sounds like some problem. There's no official word from Nikon about the issue yet—it'll be interesting to see how it handles it. [Kyle Clements via Peta Pixel]

D600 Sensor Dust Issues

Posted by Roger Cicala

We tend not to get too excited about sensor dust problems here; we clean sensors on every camera after every rental, so it’s just routine. When we started carrying the Nikon D600 they all arrived with a fair amount of dust, but that’s pretty routine, too. Manufacturing and shipping can be a dusty experience.

When our techs started complaining that D600s were all coming back from their first rental with a lot more dust (despite being freshly cleaned before leaving) we didn’t pay much attention to that either. We all remember the oil / dust issues the D3x and D3s had. Those mostly cleared up after a few cleanings.

The dust kept reappearing with every rental, and more impressively – it was generally in the same location (upper left 1/3 of the image). That did get our attention, so we started looking into the matter a bit. We kept dust pictures for 20 consecutive D600s returning from rental and saw the problem was very real.

In general, about 1 out of 4 cameras requires sensor cleaning after a rental. All 20 of the D600s did.

Here are a couple of typical examples (f/16 blank wall photos, contrast and exposure increased). I would point out that these are downsized to 800-pixel wide images. What is barely visible dust on this is quite obvious on a full-size image. The large specs on this are quite huge at full size.

...

Stuart wrote:I seem to have picked up some scratches on the mirror inside my camera. I can see them through the viewfinder, but they are not reflecting on any of the photos I take. As I understand it, the mirror is not actually involved in capturing a picture. That being the case, I don't really see any major need to get it fixed.

Am I correct in assuming so?