There is a big thread in the NikonRumors forum and several other websites describing hot pixels on the Nikon D7000 when taking videos in low light. I have been holding off to write about this issue because I wasn’t sure if this is a wide-spread problem or just a defective batch of cameras. Today, Nikon Japan published a service announcement and it seems that a new firmware upgrade for the Nikon D7000 will fix this issue (update: the service message is now published in English, also available on Nikon USA):
“We have received reports from some users of the Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera regarding the occurrence of noticeable bright spots with movie recording under certain conditions.
Nikon believes that these bright spots are not normally noticeable, and therefore do not indicate a problem with practical use. However, with further investigation of the reports received, we have confirmed that bright spots may be noticeable when recording movies of especially dark scenes or subjects.
In order to provide our customers with better products, Nikon is currently preparing to release a firmware upgrade with measures to reduce the occurrence of these bright spots for the D7000. Further details will be announced at a later date.”
Here is a video that shows three hot pixels one red, one green and one blue (0:28-0:30, watch in HD):
And two more video examples of D7000 hot pixels:
BTW, Amazon has the Nikon D7000 kit in stock right now.
Image credit: memania/flickr. More “D7000 hot pixels” examples from other [NR] forum members can be seen here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.