I have just descovered a few spots of oil on the sensor of my D800, not heard of this or experienced it before on any of my previous nikon cameras. My research tells me that the sensors in DSLR camera's can be easily cleaned but care must be taken and done at your own risk. Here is a simple system for the best result. Remember only wipe the sensor once per wiper unit.
http://www.visibledust.com/instructions.php?pid=450

Mine didn't have "a little dot or two." A couple of my shots looked like a tarantula had wandered into them. Whatever it was, I was able to get it off with a wet swab, though it took a couple of tries.

I spoke too soon - 20 or 30 continuous high bracketed exposures and I have a little dot or two. I will not panic into getting it cleaned too soon, I'll let the excess spray off for a while.... 8-(

You would have thought they would have learned what happens if you use an out of control process by now....

It isn't pollen or dust.

Yesterday I was talking to a local guy who runs a photo gear business - he sells sensor cleaning gear and also cleans sensors. He is starting to see a few D7000's (seven in the last two weeks) for cleaning and showed me pics he took of the oil on the sensor. The best way to describe it is that it looks like frogspawn - you get a darker spot with the oil creeping out from it creating a lighter 'halo'. Sometimes it is taking him 12 swabs to remove it so he is thinking of putting his prices up.

It seems the problem actually does exist, hopefully Nikon has already changed the out of control process for one that does the job right.

Mine seems OK (so far) but then I haven't put many clicks on it yet.

Any possibility it's pollen? It's dust, but it'll also "smudge" the way something oily will (one of the posters above mentioned yellowish streaks...)

I'm waiting for the D 400 too! It's between it and the D 700, even though it is 4 years old in technology, but supposed to be a great camera. Too many problems associated with the D 7000 for that much money!

ipdouglas said:
Those that think this issue with the Nikon D7000 is simply dust and not an oil or grease are mistaken. Under careful loupe examination this debris is clearly opaque to light and creates greasy marks on the sensor.
For me it started (or appeared to start) after using mirror lock-up.
I suspect a rather (too) liberal amount of lubricant or some black coating (antireflective?) or some other contaminant is breaking loose and causing this issue.
It is widely reported and NIKON should sit up and take notice. It looks as though they have even if they are not publically admitting it as newer D7000s seem to suffer less.
The old Nikon corporation would have put there hand up and taken responsibility but I doubt that will happen.
The answer is simple buy a Canon. I know that is sacriledge but this way they will react in future.
Can you be guaranteed that your £2800 on a Nikon D800 body will not have the same problem? No you cant because Nikon refuse to acknowledge it! When they own up and fix it you have that surety........ but not yet.

This is what bugs me too!

The D7k was my first Nikon experience and that has left a bad taste...

I feel like Nikon never really took responsibility for inconsistent AF, 2/3 of a stop hot metering, slightly off WB, and oil splatter. I have since sold my D7k!

I have decided to give Nikon another chance, but just one more new body chance. I made that decision based on the large following of Nikon owners who love Nikon but also admit the D7k was a flawed design. I'm currently waiting for the D400.

Where is Nikon's sense of honor, responsibility, credibility? When the D800 had AF issues widely reported on the left side, Nikon should of put out a press release stating "due to reports of possible misaligned AF sensors, Nikon is temporarily suspending production of the D800 until a analysis can be made".

Instead it *appears* they halted production and blamed customer demand for the shortage.

Admit there is a production issue, fix it, and move on! This builds trust with your user community.

Those that think this issue with the Nikon D7000 is simply dust and not an oil or grease are mistaken. Under careful loupe examination this debris is clearly opaque to light and creates greasy marks on the sensor.
For me it started (or appeared to start) after using mirror lock-up.
I suspect a rather (too) liberal amount of lubricant or some black coating (antireflective?) or some other contaminant is breaking loose and causing this issue.
It is widely reported and NIKON should sit up and take notice. It looks as though they have even if they are not publically admitting it as newer D7000s seem to suffer less.
The old Nikon corporation would have put there hand up and taken responsibility but I doubt that will happen.
The answer is simple buy a Canon. I know that is sacriledge but this way they will react in future.
Can you be guaranteed that your £2800 on a Nikon D800 body will not have the same problem? No you cant because Nikon refuse to acknowledge it! When they own up and fix it you have that surety........ but not yet.

JECSD said:
@ tookl - I am new to this forum, and have followed with interest.
My history is much the same as yours and others who have had this problem.
Difference - Nikon Canada, does NOT acknowledge the problem.
After some frustration, similar to your situation, I called them and was told that the D7000 does NOT have oil problems and i might say they were quite rude about it.
I decided to take it to my local store (where i bought it) which is certified by Nikon to clean sensors, to have the sensor cleaned. The technician said it WAS oil, and that they had seen quite a few D7000s with this issue. They also called their Nikon rep who would NOT acknowledge the problem to them either!
The shop (they are a large Canadian- wide vendor, well reputed, sell a lot of nikons….) did a fine job in cleaning. I played it safe and tried using it only in the "quiet" mode, to reduce mirror slap. Yesterday, however, i took a shot on the normal S setting and to my horror several large droplets appeared, visible even on my camera LCD - basically from one shot to the next!
I guess i will have to verify again that it is oil and then send it in to Nikon, which i have been told can be a 6-8 week ordeal!
BUT, i will try to be optimistic! Maybe in the last few weeks things have changed….

I recommend you learn the "Copperhill" method of sensor cleaning. It will save you a ton of hassle. I'm not totally sold on the oil reports, but it's possible. Either way, it can easily be solved by swabbing your sensor using the "Copperhill" method. You'll need the proper sensor swabs and cleaner and will need to carefully use the correct method. Google is your friend.

It sure beats sending your D7000 back to Nikon every time you get some dust on the sensor.

@ tookl - I am new to this forum, and have followed with interest.
My history is much the same as yours and others who have had this problem.
Difference - Nikon Canada, does NOT acknowledge the problem.
After some frustration, similar to your situation, I called them and was told that the D7000 does NOT have oil problems and i might say they were quite rude about it.
I decided to take it to my local store (where i bought it) which is certified by Nikon to clean sensors, to have the sensor cleaned. The technician said it WAS oil, and that they had seen quite a few D7000s with this issue. They also called their Nikon rep who would NOT acknowledge the problem to them either!
The shop (they are a large Canadian- wide vendor, well reputed, sell a lot of nikons….) did a fine job in cleaning. I played it safe and tried using it only in the "quiet" mode, to reduce mirror slap. Yesterday, however, i took a shot on the normal S setting and to my horror several large droplets appeared, visible even on my camera LCD - basically from one shot to the next!
I guess i will have to verify again that it is oil and then send it in to Nikon, which i have been told can be a 6-8 week ordeal!
BUT, i will try to be optimistic! Maybe in the last few weeks things have changed….

I'm also a bit shocked at the know-it-alls telling people they are wrong, regardless of evidence.

It is oil. Not dust. Why?

On my D7000, I got the spots. Here's the evidence that it's not random dust, sorted from circumstantial evidence to plain confirmation:

1. They didn't look like typical dust spots as I am used to from my D70.
2. The spots appeared in the same area as other D7000 users complaining of the issue.
3. The self-cleaning didn't work.
4. Blowing with a quality blower didn't work at all. In my D70, the blower would remove most dust.
5. Repeated self-cleaning *without taking any photos or otherwise opening the shutter* made the problem significantly worse.
6. Took it to the camera shop, where they performed a cleaning, then found that using the camera immediately caused spots to reappear.
7. Nikon Switzerland not only cleaned the sensor, but also replaced a motor.
8. Nikon Switzerland told me it's a known issue. Sensor cleaning is normally NOT covered under warranty, but because it is a manufacturing defect, it's covered.

To anyone with this issue, call Nikon — they'll fix it for you. A simple sensor cleaning is NOT enough, because the source of the contamination is a camera component.

I also get oil spray on the sensor. Had the sensor cleaned by Nikon once, but the oil is now back on the sensor.

I never cleaned the sensor myself.

casperwb said:
Ribid

I use methanol with a swab.

One pass only on each side of the swab.

The brand I use is Eclipse and you can get it and replacement pecpads and supplies from B&H, Amazon or many of the other suppliers. [Niko please don not delete]

Please remember to use very little methanol, better to use too little than too much.

There are some very nice sites that give you indepth instructions on cleaning the sensor filter. Google "digital camera sensor cleaning"

I use a Gittos blower first, and if that does not work, then the wet method, of course the in camera cleaning is on at start up and shut down all the time.

A tip that might be useful is to keep your camera level on start up and shut down to prevent the dust collecting on the lower left and lower right while the camera is doing its cleaning.

for me the room in the house that I use for cleaning is the bathroom, as it tends to be very clean and has no dust.

good luck, it is not as hard or difficult as people say.

I have (had) the Eclipse kit, but it seems that the liquid is already old and I need to replace it (my kid left the bottle open and all the alcohol may have vaporized leaving me with the non-alcoholic liquid that leaves some marks on the sensor). The method I use is the Copper Hill Method. (Just let Google be your friend in finding pages related to "Copperhill Sensor Cleaning Method")

Ribid

I use methanol with a swab.

One pass only on each side of the swab.

The brand I use is Eclipse and you can get it and replacement pecpads and supplies from B&H, Amazon or many of the other suppliers. [Niko please don not delete]

Please remember to use very little methanol, better to use too little than too much.

There are some very nice sites that give you indepth instructions on cleaning the sensor filter. Google "digital camera sensor cleaning"

I use a Gittos blower first, and if that does not work, then the wet method, of course the in camera cleaning is on at start up and shut down all the time.

A tip that might be useful is to keep your camera level on start up and shut down to prevent the dust collecting on the lower left and lower right while the camera is doing its cleaning.

for me the room in the house that I use for cleaning is the bathroom, as it tends to be very clean and has no dust.

good luck, it is not as hard or difficult as people say.

Which wet method do you suggest?
(Add the corresponding disclaimer due to the danger of ruining the camera when applying the wet method incorrectly!)

@casperwb

Yes wet cleaning will remove it and yes it was oil. It is not the higher resolution of the D7000 - it was visible when looking at the sensor - and very clearly oil when all of the "dust" particles smudged exactly where they were as lines of yellowish oil when looking at the sensor. After that was cleaned, it happened again, and without any attempt at cleaning my father took it to the store where he bought it. The employees at the camera store and the technicians at the Nikon service centre all agreed that it was oil. Apparently this is not the first D7000 that had been brought in because of this. There is a very clear difference between dust and oil. I experience dust on my D200's low pass filter. My father had oil on his D7000's low pass filter. I clean my D200 with the exact same techniques. They have worked every time for years - because I have only ever had dust on the D200 sensor.
You may have not have had oil on your D7000, but my father, some Nikon service techs, some camera store employees, and I all agreed that his D7000 had oil on the sensor filter.

rabbits

here we go again, I thought it was not possible to add anything to this discussion.

I had what looks like oil on my sensor filter.

using the in camera cleaning did not help

using the blower brush did not help

wet cleaning did remove it and it has not reappeared.

It is my belief that the very high resolution packed into the small sensor is causing the dust particles to show up in different ways.

some like black spots and some like drops of oil or moisture when the camera photographs light backgrounds.

you guys should do one of the following:

a] learn to clean your sensor filter.

b] buy cameras with lower resolution

c] stick with sealed point and shoot cameras.

about using the Atric Butterfly, if it is not clean, or you touched it by mistake, or came back for a second or third swipe, then you are going to get results that look smudged.

I can tell the difference between oil and dust. I own a D200, which sometimes gets dust on the sensor, never oil - I clean it with a blower or an arctic butterfly. My father owns a D7000, I thought he had dust spots in his photos, so I went to clean the sensor and it was very clearly oil after the blower didn't work and the arctic butterfly smudged a drop of oil - dust doesn't smudge. Looking at the photos again I can see the difference between dust spots and oil spots as well. He took it in for a warranty cleaning - but it happened again - so they sent it to a Nikon service centre and it has been okay since - hopefully the problem is fixed. Maybe some people are confusing dust for oil, but what I know is that my father's D7000 had oil on the sensor - so I'm inclined to believe other people who have reported this issue. I've heard of this occurring with the D3, so I don't consider it a great stretch of the imagination that some D7000s somehow flick oil onto the sensor.

Let me just start by saying I'm sorry if I offend anyone and if I do it certainly is not my intention here but I do think that Keith MIGHT have a valid point in regards to the spots being oil albeit he's probably blowing things out of proportions a little bit.

It is entirely possible that his D7000 has somehow gotten some oil in it during production or is leaking oil from one of it's internal components. The fact that he got this many "spots" after only a few weeks (probably a month since he was still able to return his D7000) supports this especially since he never changed lenses. Yes, true that zooms do suck-in a certain amount of dust from the air but to cause this many spots within less than a month? I doubt that. Also, the fact that this occurred with the Canon 1D and 1Ds line speaks about the possibility of the spots actually being oil spots. Also reportedly somewhere some time, Pentax users complained about this problem too.

However, all this is just one single defective D7000 within a small batch of other defective D7000's within oh so many beautiful and fully functional D7000's. I use a D7000 myself so I should know. I've owned it for three months now and I'm always changing the lenses. I've changed lenses indoors as well as outdoors. So far I can only see two little specks of dust that are barely visible even at f/22.

Keith, my recommendation to you is to buy and try another D7000. The D7000 is one kick@ss camera, it's such a shame to dismiss it after one bad defective unit. After all, defects do happen with all brands and makes nowadays (sad but true) and your case is nothing more than that.

Keith Moseley said:
I was not surprised by the replies that followed my original posting. I got the same on Flickr...it must be dust...and, by implication, it must be your fault and not Nikon's. Evidence is mounting to the contrary.

No, it isn't dust; the spots are all round, the spots are much larger than typical dust motes, the spots are concentrated in one corner of the sensor (all victims of D7000 oilers find this, the spots appear mainly bottom right of images) and some of the spots have rings around them. Also, the camera had no change of lens from the time I started using it to the time I sent it back. I agree that zooms suck in air but I've been using cameras for years and I have never seen 30 spots appear in a few weeks and nearly all in one corner of the image. My other DSLR has fewer spots after 3 years of use and the spots are essentially randomly scattered, as one would expect. Something else, which is often overlooked, I live in Britain where dust is usually kept firmly on the ground by continuous rainfall! Seriously, apart from house dust, we really don't see a lot of dust here.

To answer some further points; the spots appear smaller, albeit darker, on higher f numbers, not larger...because they are better focused. At lower f numbers they diffuse into large grey blobs and can be distinctly seen right down to f4. It isn't a pixel-peeping issue then.

Thanks for the advice about imaging contaminants on the sensor using a plain surface and high f number. Someone looking in may find this useful but following the link in my original post will show I have already done this. I had the same on Flickr; people telling me how to do something I had already done. Well meant and thanks anyway.

Some D7000 users have some real beauties on their sensors and I advise a look at these webpages:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/d7000-oil-on-sensor

and

http://www.flickr.com/groups/d7000-club/discuss/72157625681752931/

By the way, Canon had the same problem with the EOS 1 MkIII but they came clean (no pun intended). See:

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/EOS_oil_spots.do

This is my last word on the matter. Go look for yourselves. Most will find nothing, I hope.

It is so sad that these people know everything.

It is a waste of time trying tell them it is dust, because other people post of the web that it is oil, and they are convinced in their head that it is oil.

tilt the camera everytime you turn it on and the dst will collect on that side when the camera self cleans.

you may have been using cameras for years, but, not a camera with so many pixels jammed in to such a small space.

Oh well additional post will just fuel the fire, so if you think the camera has a problem with oil, just return it, get a point and shoot, it will never have dust.

dont buy a Ferrari, it is too fast, you will just crash it, maybe they should ban all sports cars. It is the cars that cause accidents, not the people.

same with cameras, it is the camera at fault, not peoples understanding of them and how they work. everyone who has a DSLR will have to clean the sensor filter or have it cleaned some time.

the higer the resolution, the more the cleaning.

never argue witha fool, people may not be able to tell who is the real fool.

I was not surprised by the replies that followed my original posting. I got the same on Flickr...it must be dust...and, by implication, it must be your fault and not Nikon's. Evidence is mounting to the contrary.

No, it isn't dust; the spots are all round, the spots are much larger than typical dust motes, the spots are concentrated in one corner of the sensor (all victims of D7000 oilers find this, the spots appear mainly bottom right of images) and some of the spots have rings around them. Also, the camera had no change of lens from the time I started using it to the time I sent it back. I agree that zooms suck in air but I've been using cameras for years and I have never seen 30 spots appear in a few weeks and nearly all in one corner of the image. My other DSLR has fewer spots after 3 years of use and the spots are essentially randomly scattered, as one would expect. Something else, which is often overlooked, I live in Britain where dust is usually kept firmly on the ground by continuous rainfall! Seriously, apart from house dust, we really don't see a lot of dust here.

To answer some further points; the spots appear smaller, albeit darker, on higher f numbers, not larger...because they are better focused. At lower f numbers they diffuse into large grey blobs and can be distinctly seen right down to f4. It isn't a pixel-peeping issue then.

Thanks for the advice about imaging contaminants on the sensor using a plain surface and high f number. Someone looking in may find this useful but following the link in my original post will show I have already done this. I had the same on Flickr; people telling me how to do something I had already done. Well meant and thanks anyway.

Some D7000 users have some real beauties on their sensors and I advise a look at these webpages:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/d7000-oil-on-sensor

and

http://www.flickr.com/groups/d7000-club/discuss/72157625681752931/

By the way, Canon had the same problem with the EOS 1 MkIII but they came clean (no pun intended). See:

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/EOS_oil_spots.do

This is my last word on the matter. Go look for yourselves. Most will find nothing, I hope.

Keith that's dust not oil. Your photo was taken at F25! Any little spec will appear as a huge blob at that aperture. Even if you never take your lens off your camera dust will still get sucked in because very few lenses are sealed. Whenever you zoom in or out with the 28-300mm dust will get sucked into your camera through the openings of the lens like a straw.

Agree with casperwb.
Your shot was taken at f/25, which will show all dust on your camera. I guess that if you do the same with other digital cameras, you may find also some dust in the sensor. The spots may not visible if you do take photos with a faster aperture (below f/8).

For checking when to clean the camera I do: (before/after sensor cleaning)
- Put the camera in aperture mode ("A").
- If it is a zoom lens, use the largest focal length (usually it has the smallest F number)
- Close the diaphragm to the largest F number. (f/39?)
- Use manual focus to infinite.
- Set to a fixed ISO (100)
- Use a white smooth wall with the camera located at 1 feet (30cm),
- No flash, no shadows on the wall
I guess it will take longer than 1sec for the exposure time, during that time, move the camera (to blur any detail on the wall).

Look on the result, you may use the on-board display by zooming and panning the resulting shot, but it is best to download the photo to your computer and do an Auto-levels operation.. and walla, you will see all the dots accentuated.

Remember, these dots will be visible only using a large F-Number (Above f/16).. or if you have elephants on your sensor, they may be visible at f/8 already.

I do this before cleaning the camera, and if dots appear, I use a "Giotto Rocket Blower" to clean it (google videos and you will find a lot of tutorials how to do it), and I re-check after cleaning as well.

Good Luck.

Keith Moseley said:
The problem is real and it isn't dust. I bought a D7000 4 weeks ago and immediately fitted a 28-300mm zoom. It never came off and so no dust had a chance to get in. I was therefore surprised to see circular out of focus smudges on my images, mainly in the bottom right corner. I then took a de-focused shot at high aperture number of a sheet of white paper. Sure enough I found about 30 circular dark blobs showing in the image (see image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagined_horizons/5795633705/in/photostream). One had a halo around it, suggesting liquid. I looked on the internet and found other D7000 users with the same thing. I've returned my D7000 for a refund and won't buy another until I can establish whether this is common or rare. Nikon won't say and I wonder how many of us have yet to discover the problem; I didn't at first. I don't want to have to return another D7000 and the nearest Nikon service centre is just too far away...so I'm holding off for now.

yes it is dust

The problem is real and it isn't dust. I bought a D7000 4 weeks ago and immediately fitted a 28-300mm zoom. It never came off and so no dust had a chance to get in. I was therefore surprised to see circular out of focus smudges on my images, mainly in the bottom right corner. I then took a de-focused shot at high aperture number of a sheet of white paper. Sure enough I found about 30 circular dark blobs showing in the image (see image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagined_horizons/5795633705/in/photostream). One had a halo around it, suggesting liquid. I looked on the internet and found other D7000 users with the same thing. I've returned my D7000 for a refund and won't buy another until I can establish whether this is common or rare. Nikon won't say and I wonder how many of us have yet to discover the problem; I didn't at first. I don't want to have to return another D7000 and the nearest Nikon service centre is just too far away...so I'm holding off for now.