Do you guys check the sensor when buying a new camera?

[Zang]

Happy Sunday everyone!

I am curious about your experience with new cameras. A few years back, I bought a new Fujifilm XT1 for a friend. Being curious, I did a series of tests including high ISO dark shot, small aperture wall shot etc. and I discovered a lot of blemishes. We were OK only with the fifth body! I have not bought any new camera after that one but I was pretty surprised about Fuji quality control. Does anyone have similar experience with any other makers?

Cheers,
Zang

[Birna Rørslett]

Apart from the infamous oil splatter on my D600 sensor, which was replaced several times for free, last time when the camera was well out of warranty, I have had only positive experiences with my Nikons (10-12 different models). A brand new Olympus M1.3 had sensor issues as well, but they seem to have been fixed first time around.

[Akira]

I do test the camera as well as the lens when I buy one, brand new or used.  Fortunately, I haven't experienced with the initial issues of the bodies, but a friend of mine who is professional photographer told me that there have been brand new cameras whose sensors are mis-aligned.

I experienced defect samples of the lenses of most of the makes I used: Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Fuji.  In some cases, the manufacturers insisted that they were within their tolerances.

[pluton]

By 'blemishes' , do you mean spots caused by fugitive dust? Or more like spots/areas of noise/unconforming lightness/darkness? 
Dust, if not permanent (under the sensor filter glass) is expected.  My new D3's (in 2008) had dust on the sensor an hour after taking them out of the box new! The dust was removable, so not part of any camera defect.

Test...always test...even with new.

[Zang]

The issues I had was, oil stain on one of them, clustered bad pixels on another.

Cheers,
Zang

[Erik Lund]

I don't check the sensor as such, I just start shooting and if anything looks dirty i clean the sensor, my D850 is set to auto dust-off as on when powering down.I had an Leica M re-calibrated for dead pixels many years ago

[pluton]

I don't check the sensor as such, I just start shooting and if anything looks dirty i clean the sensor, my D850 is set to auto dust-off as on when powering down.I had an Leica M re-calibrated for dead pixels many years ago

Eric, Why not set auto dust of for both power up and power down?  More cleaning cannot be bad, no?

[Erik Lund]

I want the camera to be ready to capture images as soon as I power it on

[MFloyd]

The only negative experience I had in over 40 years of Nikon usage, was with my new D4s where the shutter was spitting dust particles like an antique steam locomotive. After several back and forwards, and some threat to resolve the problem in court, I had the body returned with an accompanying letter that mentioned that the camera has been cleaned “for free”, but that the next time I would have to pay for ....

Three months later, I learned, by accident, from a Nikon representative that the entire shutter mechanism had to be replaced. But, obeying the sacred Nikon rule: Never Admit ...

_D4S5746.jpg
sensor after 100 shots ...

After that, the D4s fulfilled its duties faultlessly.

[BruceSD]

I just bought a "lightly used" Panasonic MFT body.   The attached photo is an image of a pure white sheet of paper at a small aperture. 

A bit of typical dust is visible, but because of the large grey blobs (and dozens of scratches/scrapes on the body) I'm returning the camera to the seller.

Another example of a greedy seller exaggerating the quality of their items.