I have been getting several problems...never thought to have them sent to repair but wish I had because the warranty just ran out. Everyone told me my technique must be bad but then I tested a pro-quality 70-200 and images were not focused as they were in the viewfinder. 20 years of experience sports and other, and this is the results upon experimentation: Images are totally crisp, although rotated, when I put my old film lenses on the camera...however I must alter the focus slightly blurry to get them crisp in the recording. No matter which lens new or old, images are rotated slightly. I thought the distance to sensor had slightly wrong distance to sensor, which would make autofocus impossible and manual focus would require my compensating. Hard to explain to a client in the moment that I have to re-do shots! I didn't realize the gravity of the situation for a while. Now I'm finding other people having "alignment" issues...otherwise a great camera but needs repair to this quality control or design issue, or the garbage can. Honestly, I've been using this camera body for a year and I don't think it was ever accurate, now that I've been testing other brands & models to replace it with.

Suan said:
I have my d5100 that before this which function normally . Out of sudden, the images that I viewed in the viewfinder were not same as what I get after releasing my shutter..the images I got were all moved up lots, I mean its degree have been tilted up...what actually happen? Must send for repair? I am very annoying with this trouble which make me view Live...
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HI; problem occurs with any lens used.

Hi there,

Interesting issue. Have you tried to examine it with other nikon lenses? Is it the kit lens that you use?

Yup. Same problem here. For a while I thought it was something I was doing when pressing the shutter button, but I've since tried with a remote and I'm absolutely positive the viewfinder is tilted on mine. My photos all come out needing to be rotated ~1-2 degrees counter clockwise.

HI, new here but long time photog and recently added Nikon gear to my kit.

I've been really enjoying the IQ of the low cost little D5100 I picked up last fall but the thing drives me nuts because the final image does not line up with the viewfinder.

If I set the left most and rightmost AF points in the viewfinder along a straight edge, that edge should be perfectly horizontal in the shot and also in live view.

I align my shot, then have to remember to rotate the camera body about 1 degree CW to get things level in the final file. Or slow down even more and use a tripod and live view.
I just find this very annoying! 1 degree off can be quite noticeable in some shots.
For reference, that means I have to adjust the tilt of the camera so the outermost AF points in the viewfinder are no longer exactly lined up with the reference line. The left AF point needs to be about half its height above the line, the rightmost AF point needs to be about half its height below the line, then I can get the reference line to be close enough to being aligned with the resulting image. That also equals about 3/8" over a 2 foot line.

Those of you using D5100s, have you noticed this same issue with your cameras? Of course, you may have to specifically check for it, then, upon discovering it, become similarly disappointed this otherwise great little tool may be slightly flawed. 8-\

Of about 15 SLRs I recently tested, mostly Canons and a couple Nikon models, only the D5100s, five of which I've tested, gave me results that were tilted up to 1 degree CW.
Of the five D5100s tested, one was nearly spot-on, one was off just a little, and the other 3 were off nearly 1 degree. All were rotated CW.

Considering that I'v also read of some people having AF issues with this camera, I'm wondering if there may be some slop in the mirror system or overall mirror-box component alignment that may be contributing to this.

I've taken close-up photos of the mirror box, mirror up and down, and tried to locate any misalignments using basic software tricks. Closest I'd found was the mirror frame, when it was up and therefore irrelevant, was tilted about half the angle of the experienced problem. It's really hard to tell if there's any tilt to it in the normal down position.

Your thoughts, commiserations and comments are requested. I'd like to get a feel for what proportion of D5100s may be affected before I consider sending mine in for a possible warranty fix.