Nikon D600 24.3MP DSLR w/24-85mm VR Lens

These had reported issues with slinging oil onto the CMOS sensor - not consistent but a problem for some.

I have a D7000 and D7100 in my bag, lenses and accessories are a bit easier on the wallet and the DX format does the job for me.

Maybe Woot will be there for me one day when I need to step up.

I like this guy’s somewhat deep voice with thick British accent. Yes, he is a funny guy but he is very informative.

I picked one of these up recently after researching and weighing the pros/cons of the alleged sensor dust/oil issue. I have made a couple thousand shots at this point and have not had any problem. After the first thousand or so, having not noticed anything in my pictures, I took a f/22 test shot to see if I could spot any dust or oil. I saw a few spots, so I blew some air with a Giotto air blaster and in seconds my sensor was clean again.

Maybe the newer refurbs have the issue fixed. Maybe I got lucky. But my gut feeling is that the internet allowed a firestorm to brew over something probably very minor. IMO if you can’t be bothered to maintain your equipment then you shouldn’t be buying cameras anywhere near this price range.

You can pick up a new body for around 1400, so…

The oil on the sensor issue was genuine. Too many reports from various sources for it to be a minor problem. Even some of the long term Nikon bloggers had D600’s with the issue or saw it on other’s cameras. Somewhere along the way Nikon seemed to remedy the problem as later serial number bodies seemed to not have the issue or at least it was less frequent. I think this may be the reason some cameras have been in for repair more than once, early shutters used for repairs were also a problem and later ones not so much.

I also use this camera in my professional photography business. It has served me well and I have really enjoyed it. I do have the issue with excessive gunk spots on the sensor and I have to clean the sensor periodically using sensor swabs and Eclipse. I really should send the camera in and see if they can repair the issue now but I haven’t had a period of time where I could really afford to not have my camera for an indefinite time.

In summary it’s an amazing camera for the price. Simply amazing. The pros and cons have been covered in this thread and I agree with them. You may or may not have the dust issue. Who knows but if they’ve been Refurbed by nikon there’s a chance you won’t have the issue.

Also people keep pointing out that you can get the body only for $1400. That’s fine if you already have lenses but this will be a good deal for beginners who don’t or for someone who needs a better-than-budget-level midrange zoom.

Brad

You done good. I am waiting for the nay-sayers to dump their D600’s when the credit card bill is due for the the D610.

You could probably sell the lens for $350-400 pretty quickly if you didn’t want it. (I have it, it’s OK.) 't you would be at 1200 for the body. Full Frame for the cost of a very very good crop sensor.

Then add the Tameron 24-70 f/2.8, around 1300. You will need good lenses for this.

For $2500 total, or $250/year (10 years). $500 year (5 years), you would have a great set up.

With a shutter rating of 200,000, that’s 12 1/2 cents per 100 pictures.

Does the math justify it?

Yup. On Amazon, $1600 gets you a refurb body only.

If you’re ready to spend $1,705 on a camera, you’re likely a semi-pro so you already know the following…

If you’re simply spending big bucks to jump into top quality pics, the D in “Digital” SLR does not remove all the internal mechanicals vs. old film SLR cameras.. Basically you lose the film drive mechanicals.

Unlike compact digital cameras where the only mechanical thing is the autofocus lens, a DSLR camera has a mechancal mirror mechanism that allows you to view the pending shot thru the lens. That mirror mechanism flips out of the way to expose the image sensor and “take” the picture.

The point of the above is, unlike other refurb stuff like 100% electronic TVs, you can have no way of knowing how this portable device was previously handled or abused. Whether it was dropped, weather to which it was exposed, what kind of crap crept into the body and mirror mechanism while the lens was being swapped, the shutter count, etc…

Surely there are loads of folks who have had happy experiences with refurb DSLRs. I would not go refurb on this high $ item simply to save 15% ($300).

BTW, in this body price range I’d want to carefully consider lens choice rather than relying on someone else making the choice.

The price is not bad for this model but I have received a lot of useless crap that woot claim to be “refurbished” instead of “non working”. I prefer to take my chances with ebay when I consider to buy a refurbished item because you get much better support when you have to make a claim for a product instead of having to send countless emails to woot or the manufacturer.

I’ve had this combo since a few months after they came out. I love the camera and have had zero issue with oil etc on the sensor. This camera is a joy to use and incredibly sharp. The lens is decently sharp and well made but I’m going to replace mine with a used nikon 28-70 F2.8. Speaking of lenses, this camera drives old non SWM lenses very well and very fast.

All that being said, I paid $2100 for this combo new. I’m not sure this price is good enough. Woot DOES have outstanding customer service and return policy, so buying here is much less risky than some of the competition.

Excellent. Thank you for that!

Bought a Nikon D5100 on woot a few months ago and the autofocus on the lens broke right outside of the 90 warranty. The worst part is, I had only shot about 100 pictures total across a few short sessions. Nikon does not care and will no cover the lens because the unit was purchased as a refurb.

Maybe Im just unlucky and I got the one lemon.

Ummm, Woot has a no-return policy. CS has been good to me for all the times I’ve had to contact them, though if you look around these forums, they still have a lot of room to improve upon too.

It’s out!

Is just the body refurb? Or is the lens also refurbished?

TIA,

Jason

The D600 is the most satisfying purchase I’ve made in the past year, even better than the pork shoulder I barbecued last week.

I am waiting for the D5300. It will be released in November.

Out for pre-orders