I recently had a little extra money and decided that I wanted to get back into the hobby. I have 2 high school boys in sports, I want to be able to shoot them and I like to do portraits here and there. I still had some old Nikon film bodies and few f mount lenses and speedlights, so a Nikon DSLR was going to be the choice. I wanted a high frame rate and I settled on a D4 or D4s, looked around here and there, ultimately found a body on ebay that I liked. The seller had inherited the camera from a relative that passed and was bundling the body with a lens and some filters, memory cards, etc...this would save me money. It has an insanely high shutter count, you guys wouldn't believe it. But the body is flawless so I have to imagine that it's been well cared for, and had service when required. So I buy it. I see the shutter count as a badge of honor, and it's a challenge to get it to the next milestone.
So, I start shooting and I'm struggling with white balance. I can correct it a bit, but everything seems a little off. where are those legendary Nikon colors? I do a little digging and I learn that it has been full spectrum modified by Life pixel. I don't really have any interest in that kind of shooting. I know that I can get a UV/IR filter and it'll shoot visible light, but that's a pain and more stuff to buy.
So do I try to sell it now and get beat up because of the shutter count? Or do I just accept that this camera is my child now?
I think I would sell and get another D4 or similar body that hasn’t been converted to full spectrum. Another option might to have it converted back? Although that may cost more than just buying another D4…
Based on what I have seen in the buy/sell area here, IR/full spectrum converted bodies list for more than standard bodies, and they are not very common (especially not integrated grip bodies). At this point in time, I don’t think shutter count causes as much a hit on resale with older bodies if everything else is in good order (and it comes with a battery, charger, etc). Do you have any service records with the camera? If the shutter was replaced at some point it may have a lot more life left than the raw count suggests.
I would insist on returning the camera. I'm sympathetic to the fact that the seller likely didn't know, but a full-spectrum modified camera is not what you thought you were buying.
If you're stuck with it and not interested in full spectrum photography, then getting whatever you can out of it makes sense to me.
