where there’s smoke there’s fire

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.”

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ReallyRightStuff sent out their 2011 catalog today and they have a entry for a new BD4 or BD4-L plates for Nikon D4 camera. The comment section says “Camera to be released mid 2011. Check website for plate details”:

Click on image for larger view

The wide spread belief is that Nikon does not share information in advance with different vendors about unreleased cameras. On the other hand RRS is a serious company with excellent products and I am not sure why would they speculate on a future Nikon camera in their official 2011 catalog.

P.S: dpreview’s review of the Nikon D7000 is up (overall score: 80%, D300s had an overall score of 82%)