Cleaning D600 sensor (good and the bad)

Recently I have spotted some dust spots on the sensor. As most will know, D600 was whack for the oil/dust spots issue since the launched. I bought the D600 (used) knowing this issue due to the low price. Nevertheless, my experience is only with dusts. No oil stain so far.
I am ready to face the dust issue as my past experience with  Canon 1Dmark2 and other DSLR faces the same dust issue. Recently D610 was launched and some D600 users are feeling lousy. For me, I still love this great value Fullframe DSLR. And will clean the sensor myself once a while. It is like cleaning our lens etc. Not too much of a chore. All DSLRs will some day face such issue as interchanging lens outside will attract dust.

The amazing thing I want to highlight is Olympus camera are free of dust even for the mirrorless OM-D. I believe their sensor self -leaning (Shaker) is the best in the market. I used OM-D for one year and no dust spots at all. The other reason is also maybe because of the smaller size sensor thus attract less dust. There is also no moving mirror inside the mirrorless camera thus reducing the "sucking" effect of dust.

I invested a sensor cleaner brush Artic Butterfly. It cost about $99 SGD. Boy it works very well. The anti-static brush does remove the dusts completely. More info can be found in their web. The brush is great for dry dust.

However, do beware of the CHINA made wet swap on the right of the photo. DO NOT BUY. The SWAP is so wet and once you clean the sensor, the residue of the alcohol  is left on the AA filter protecting the sensor. I need to use a cotton bud to slowly wipe it clean. It is a risky thing to do. Thank God that the stain was removed completely . No more such stuff anymore.

I have order swap from USA's Copperhill image. I have read good review and is willing to try.

Jumping Spider by the flower

Shot by D600 and 100mm tokina ISO100

Ant Mimic Spider

From the first glace, it look like an ant. Upon close-up it appears to be a spider.
By D600 and 100mm f2.8 w Raynox 250

Labrador Park (Singapore Sunset)

By D600 and 24-85mm. Handheld.

Nikkor 85mm f1.8 K with D600 Street shoot

Had a spin with this maunal lens from the 1970s on a 2012 DSLR.

Macro with FF and my flash set up

After being used to using m4/3 and 60mm f2.8 macro lens for awhile it does take more patience and practice when using a Fullframe camera.

As the m4/3 has a smaller sensor of 1/2 the 35mm film, there is a extender effect to get close. For a FF DSLR, all need to be compensated. However I can see one big advantage is it is much easy to get a smoother background on a FF sensor. As mentioned, a DSLR has virtually no lag in the shutter release and it is crucial for manual focusing and pressing the shutter (with actual capturing of the subject). This allows a better hit rate.

As I need more light now due to the requirement of smaller aperture f11-f16, I uses a remote flash as shown in the picture below.

Film-Like processing

Recently I found in my Lightroom 2 software, there is a preset filter called "Direct Positive".
I personally love this setting. It turn my digital photo to a Lomography look.