Nikon D7000 stuck pixel issue

tambrico · Feb 12, 2011

Hi all,
Last night I got my Nikon D7000 in the mail

. It's my first DSLR. I've just been taking pictures of things around the house, trying to figure out how the camera works. I put my pictures on my computer and zoomed in on them, and in the majority of the pictures, there is a fairly noticeable stuck blue pixel. I'm aware there is a firmware update out. Does anyone know if this will fix this issue?

rainking · Feb 12, 2011

Try it and see what happens. But from what I know, it is only video. It fixed my two blue stuck pixels in video. But those two pixels did not show up in my images.

tambrico · Feb 12, 2011

rainking said:
Try it and see what happens. But from what I know, it is only video. It fixed my two blue stuck pixels in video. But those two pixels did not show up in my images.

According to the camera, I think it already has the update. Under the "Firmware Version" tab in settings it says

A - 1.01
B - 1.01
L - 1.002

Garbz · Feb 12, 2011

Contact Nikon. That's what they are there for. They have great customer service.

tambrico · Feb 13, 2011

Garbz said:
Contact Nikon. That's what they are there for. They have great customer service.

I just did. They had me send some sample images through an online form and they said their technicians will evaluate them and then contact me back.

I will continue to update this thread in case someone else has the same problem.

xjoewhitex · Feb 13, 2011

Well as you said this is your first SLR, and you've never really ran a camera like this. You know these stuck pixels normally show up when you are in a low light situation with a high ISO setting. It happens, all cameras do it. Is this your case? Check the ISO in the shots you took. It may not be a problem at all.

tambrico · Feb 13, 2011

xjoewhitex said:
Well as you said this is your first SLR, and you've never really ran a camera like this. You know these stuck pixels normally show up when you are in a low light situation with a high ISO setting. It happens, all cameras do it. Is this your case? Check the ISO in the shots you took. It may not be a problem at all.

It's showed up at ISO 100 and in my opinion, if I pay $1,200 for a camera, having a stuck pixel in all of the photos I take with it is absolutely unacceptable.

Garbz · Feb 14, 2011

Agreed. Press this issue with them if they kick up a stink for whatever reason. A stuck pixel at a reasonable shutter speed as ISO100 is unacceptable for any camera.

tambrico · Feb 14, 2011

Garbz said:
Agreed. Press this issue with them if they kick up a stink for whatever reason. A stuck pixel at a reasonable shutter speed as ISO100 is unacceptable for any camera.

Nikon still has yet to contact me back.

This thread is worthless without pics. So here's a picture I just took of my bed to highlight the issue. I know it's completely out of focus/ severely underexposed/my bed is messy....I don't care this is just to highlight the issue. It was taken at ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second.

Here it is zoomed in. You can see the pixel on the headphones

And zoomed in just a little bit more for good measure

tambrico · Feb 17, 2011

Update: Nikon sent me an e-mail telling me to install the firmware update. Despite the fact that my camera already has the latest firmware version, I tried to install it anyway, but the update was not cooperating with my computer. I called them back up and told them that the camera already has the firmware update, and they told me that I would need to send it into them for repair. They sent me a link with instructions on how to ship it.

There are two Nikon repair centers in the United States. One on the the west coast, and one on the east coast. I looked at the address for the east coast one and realized that it was literally three and a half minutes away from where I go to school. So today, in between classes I just drove there and went inside, told them about my issue, and dropped the camera off there. They told me the repair should be completed within the next 24 hours, and I should be able to pick it up tomorrow.

iamcdn · Mar 3, 2011

How did the repair go?

KmH · Mar 3, 2011

No news, is usually good news.

There probably wasn't an actual repair (defective parts replacement) involved, as much as just re-installing the software update.

tambrico · Mar 9, 2011

Woops, forgot to update this. The repair went fine, though it took quite a bit longer than they told me it would. They cleaned all the electrical contacts and the ccd (whatever that is) and that seemed to fix the issue. I just wish my camera didn't have this defect in the first place.

480sparky · Mar 10, 2011

This is the price we pay for mass production. Defects are an inevitable byproduct of the process. If every camera was hand-built and thoroughly tested, we'd all probably have to pay over 5 grand for the same D7000.

whitenebula · Mar 11, 2011

I have the same problem, just it's not one hot pixel but MANY - the images look like starry night. It is in ISO 100 and initially only on long exposures - over 3-4 sec.
I did the same thing as tambrico, but after I got my camera back it was worse - now I have hot pixels even when I shoot 1/250.
After I contacted with Nikon again they asked for new samples and I'm still waiting for their answer.
HUH - the guys above are right - I love the camera but for $1200 you don't want any problems.
So do you guys think this is a common problem for all D7000? I can return the camera and pick up something else (although I can't see what - may be D90).
I'm afraid to ask for replacement - what if my new D7000 has the same problem?
How many of you have working/not working D7000?