I was queued up to buy a D600 local this afternoon. I bailed out and wondering if it was the right call.
Body has 65,000 clicks. Hasn't been sent in for the shutter service. No issues with oil/dust spots. It was priced a little on the high side of what they go for here, but not unreasonable give the service advisory for a fresh shutter. I called Nikon and confirmed I could send it in as secondhand owner for replacement.
I had read here about the paint dot in the tripod mount after the repaid. The camera was purchased new in June 2014 after everything had run its course and the repairs were being made. I'm thinking they fixed some of them before they got out the door. The owner didn't do it and a paint dot in the tripod mount seems like a strange coincidence.
It's a scenario that I hadn't come across. I didn't want to drag it out any more after sitting there making a bunch of test shots and chatting so I just pulled the plug and apologized for wasting their time.
I was thinking I'd send in a possibly already "fixed" body with no issues and 65,000 actuations and get back a nice letter that they cleaned it for me and I just overpaid for something that had been used a bit knocked around a lot. On the other hand, I was thinking they see it's already "fixed" and send me back a D610. Didn't seem like it was worth it on a risk-adjusted basis.
Just thought I'd see if anybody has worked through that situation and/or mention it as something to think about if anybody else researching comes through here. While really helpful, the Nikon people can't give you any expectation or promise anything over the phone, which I understand....Show more →
Lots of D600's had no issues. No doubt, a good number of bodies were affected as well, but the amount of affected bodies I think was exaggerated somewhat by the internet snowball effect and people doing absurd things to make spots show up. I pre-ordered the camera and bought one from presumably the first batch (or a very early batch), and it was not affected at all. I knew several others who had D600's with no issues as well. My dad's D600 purchased later on did have the issue, and Nikon replaced it with a D610 after one shutter replacement. Top notch service.
A well used D600 with 65,000 clicks should be on the very low end of pricing, for sure. If the guy is asking way too much money just move on. The service advisory is indeed for the life of the camera and not limited to the original owner, which is comforting. It even covers grey market.
FWIW my D600 also had the dot in the tripod socket when I got it (used). Given the usage from the previous owner (just 361 shots) my guess is that it was never sent in and was fixed before it was ever purchased. I haven't noticed any dust/oil but I haven't looked for it either.
In any case Nikon doesn't make any exclusions for the long term cleaning and potential shutter replacements/D610 upgrades. So black dot or not the service still extends to you if you have an issue.
Thanks for the clarifications. It was good to handle a D600. Compared to my D7100 the AF array looked super tiny, but in practice in you can pan around a bit in AF-C and and still get the job done. Truth be told the D7100 has made me pretty sloppy. I just point it in the general direction and pick the one where the framing or action is best because they are all in focus.
The Sony RX1 has ruined me on DX despite that I like my camera and lenses a lot. I know the lens makes a big difference, but just the file itself is joy to work with and the D600 sharing the sensor and being affordable used pretty much makes it my go-to option. The warranty baked in is also a positive. I figure the RX1 will be my "prime" and easy to carry option and a D600 and a 24-120 f/4 with my 2x teleconverter would round me out for everything I would need to do.
I think I learned I want to buy one, just not that one.
