Following on from yesterdays post. The image below is taken from a series shot at Casey’s Beach, South Coast, NSW on the 6th July.
Shot at f 9. Oil spots top left, following the same contamination pattern as Nikon’s discontinued D600.
I found another post with images showing a particularly bad contamination of the 610 sensor here
Follow the thread down and pick up the “Update” it’s a shocker.
This is the post I thought I’d never be writing. But here we are again in snake oil territory.
On the 4th and 5th of July I took my relatively new D610 and old faithful Canon 50D for a workout along the South Coast from Batehaven to Tuross Heads.
All appeared to be going well until the files were loaded from the respective cameras into Lightroom on Saturday evening (5th July). From the first batch out of the D610 starting at DSC0343.NEF through the next one hundred and twenty or so shots there they were, those telltale oil marks I was so familiar with from a previous and thoroughly unpleasant experience with my ex D600. I couldn’t believe it. The previous 300 + shots gave no hint that this was going to be an issue I would have to contend with again.
Whilst there were some unpleasant issues with Moire in the 610’s video output and I was preparing a write up for that, this took me completely by surprise. The worst part of this was it started out with just two spots in the upper left (a familiar pattern) and just over 120 shutter actuation’s later had increased to a spread of 10 spots of oil, indicating a worsening problem.
It’s possibly a fair argument to say that most of these are shot with the aperture stopped well down and so it’s more likely that oil on the sensor is going to have increased visibility, however, in the image below shot the following day, Sunday 6th July you can see visible oil at f4.5. These images have been pushed and processed a little to increase the visibility of the spots. Whilst there aren’t as many to be seen at this aperture the fact that they are visible at all is a serious concern.
The earliest reports of an oil problem with the D610 began appearing mid Jan 2014, see here and here.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this news will be received by Nikon Sydney when I take it in this week.
Do I wish I had read these before collecting my D610 replacement in May this year? Yes indeed.
I had argued with the people at Harvey Norman that I did not consider replacing the D600 with a D610 a particularly wise course of action and had at the time suggested other options; now my initial reservations have been verified. I can’t really see how Nikon can resolve this other than by abandoning production of this camera series. It’s an extreme suggestion I know, call me old fashioned but this model roll-out appears to be jinxed in the true sense of the word.
I have a couple of Canon cameras and problems like this are simply not on the spectrum at all.
Here are some detail captures
Congratulations to Julio Lucas on taking out this years iPhone Photography Awards ahead of tens of thousands of photographers with the image shown below.
You can see the full gallery here
6 x Honorable Mentions in this years IPPAWARDS (iPhone Photography Awards) in categories Lifestyle, Trees and Others. So fortunate once again to be included in the acknowledged photographers for 2014 and to have work shown in such good company. To my knowledge the only other Australian photographer to receive honorable mentions this year was Michelle Robinson
My first run with Hipstamatic’s new iPhone app for video ‘Cinamatic’
It’s addictive. My only wish is that it had options to remove the built-in fades at the beginning and end of each clip. If you are using it the way it is intended this is no issue but if you are compositing clips in an external editor you end up having to cut a significant number of frames from each clip to clean it up, however, its good and easy to use. Well done Hipstamatic.
Abbottsville 243 from Gary Poulton on Vimeo.
“After an afternoon of testing out the new Cinematic app for iPhone from Hipstamatic in the continuing heat of our 7th month of summer weather I had a stack of random footage and something needed to happen with it. Abbottsville 243 was the child of this junction of time and space. A serious cinematic experience? not really, but it was fun and putting it together took my mind off the prospect of an eternal summer.”
It’s a priviledge to be again invited by Charles McKean to submit to this years AddOn Exhibition.
Show opens 28th May at Depot 1 Gallery in Dank St Waterloo.
iPhone + Hipstamatic
It’s been a long wait. One year and 10 days and numerous shutter replacements since I first brought the issue of dust and oil on the sensor of my Nikon D600 to the attention of the retailer who sold it to me. The resolution is not ideal (call me fussy) however Nikon came to the party and 17 days after dropping the camera off via Harvey Norman, shipped a new D610 body along with the old 24-85 lens from the old D600 to the Penrith store which I collected today.
It had kind of a surreal air to it seeing that old lens in the plastic bag with the new D610 body. I also felt significantly out of pocket as the D610 is nearly eight hundred dollars cheaper than the D600 was when I purchased it and the extra cash laid out on the extended warranty felt like an arms deal gone wrong. However I didn’t have the mind to argue the case with an innocent and helpful technician at HN. I walked out without even having to sign for anything to say I had collected the camera. That weird ‘Twin Peaks’ sense of finality and futility washed over me briefly, like walking out on a bad relationship that you held out some hope for.
Call me old fashioned but I found a twisted sense of irony as I stared up at the sign over the counter that read …
Had I missed something?
Throwing caution to the wind I dropped my Nikon D600 into Harvey Norman Penrith for the last time. Surprisingly the issue was dealt with promptly and with a minimum of fuss. I took some paperwork (Previous job cards from Nikon Sydney, the most recent reference file and a copy of a 40 + page Class Action Lawsuit) with me this time which I think gave the guys who I spoke to (Peter and Joe) a better view of the bigger picture. I put my preferred options on the table and now simply have to wait for the outcome. Hopefully I won’t have to follow through with the next step.
image courtesy of www.nphotomag.com
Art + Photography + AI 