About three months ago, my Nikon D600 started producing images with a narrowly overexposed arc that swept across the image from top to bottom through the center of the frame.
Initially, I assumed it was a strong flare that came when I shot into the sun and would not be an issue in other situations and, in truth, this curved bright line was not noticeable when shooting indoors and barely noticeable on photos in which there was not a continuous block of color in the composition.
I continued using this camera for some of my event and press work, but when I took the camera and a 35mm lens with me on a beach vacation, I was disappointed to see that many photos, in fact, every photo with a large portion of bright, uniform color (especially blue sky and sand), displayed this same problem.
Upon my return from vacation, I tried the camera with various lenses and the same 35mm lens on different cameras. It became clear that the problem was in the camera. Knowing that, I put the camera on manual and tried shots of the sky at different aperture values and shutter speeds, but it always produced the same arc, the only difference being that at wider apertures, the arc was a bit soft at the edges and at f/11 and above (smaller apertures) the edge of the arc was more defined.
My main concern was that the sensor was damaged and the camera might be irreparable or too expensive to warrant a repair. It was very possible that I damaged the interior with rough use or salt water, but I did continue to use the camera when I was shooting interiors. Eventually I asked some B&H colleagues for their thoughts, and many offered opinions; one idea proffered held some possibility for an explanation—had I used canned air to clean my camera recently? This I had done but was careful to not spray the blast of air directly at the sensor. Of course, many reminded me that the D600 had encountered complaints upon its release, in late 2012, that dust and oil were accumulating on its sensor, and some felt that the release of the D610 just a year later was an admission that something might be wrong with the shutter unit of the D600. Could it be a problem with the shutter? But my camera had worked flawlessly for almost five years and the issue I was facing was not like what had been described in 2013.
Since the arc was in the exact same spot on the image frame and relatively consistent with varying f/stops, shutter speeds and on sequential images,
I was convinced the problem was with the sensor, and I considered just buying a new camera—after all, I had had this camera for almost five years and used the heck out of it. But the time came to consult a professional, so I took my camera to Photo Tech Repair Service, a trusted camera repair shop, just around the corner from B&H. They promised to get back to me within three days with their diagnosis and an estimate on the repair cost. The next day they called and emailed me. Before I go any further with this story, we would like to engage with some of you readers—let us know your expert (or not) opinion on what is wrong with my camera and I will follow up next week with what was ultimately diagnosed by the repair shop.
We’d love to get your thoughts in the Comments section, below, on what’s wrong with my camera, based on the above images.
For the epilog of What's Wrong with My Camera? Part 2, click here.
