I noticed yesterday this nasty bright green dot and line in recent photos from my Nikon D40:
Crap.
Just to be sure, I did some more test shots tonight with my other lens, and it’s definitely there.
It doesn’t seem to be dust on the sensor. After some quick Googling, I found this guy, who had the same symptoms on a D40, and returned it under warranty as defective.
The D40 has a 1 year warranty on parts, so I guess I have to figure out how to get warranty service on it. Any pointers or ideas?
Update: Nikon’s Knowledge Base has an article about “banding” - vertical lines appearing in high contrast areas of photos. I don’t think that’s what this is - my line is green, has a bright dot on it, and always appears in the same place. Hmm…
Update 2: A ha! Here’s a Nikon KB article on “defect pixels”, that says if they appear consistently, you should have Nikon evaluate your camera. Bingo!
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Need to lighten up - I’m doing a "Twitter Boot Camp" with the ISN team in 1 hr. 
Yes… from what you’ve described, you’ve got a sensor problem. The good news is that Nikon should fix this under warranty without any hassle.
Dude, that sucks… but is sounds like it is fixable. I wonder if you can get the new one before you send in the old one. When the pearl on my blackberry died T-mobile sent me a new one in a special box and I just put the broken on it it and sent it back. They did include a funny little note that said in all capital letter. Send this back in 5 days or you will own 2 blackberry’s.
Definitely NOT banding (unfortunately). Looks like a blown sensor for sure. If Nikon’s warranty repair is anything like Canon, you’re in for 4-5 weeks without a camera. You’ll have to send it in, and then play the waiting game.
After sending my 40D in after 3 months, I was kicking myself for not buying the camera at Best Buy with an extended warranty. Oh well =)
Hmm. I bought it from Amazon. Think it’s worth trying to return it to them? I’ve had it for less than 90 days…
Looks like Amazon has a return window of 30 days, so no luck there. Off to Nikon it is, I guess!
I really hope I get it back by the time I go to SXSW the first week of March, or worse, by the time I go to China in April…
I had the same problem with my D50 after my warranty ran out. Cost me nearly RM950 (about USD300) to have the sensor replaced at the Nikon Service Centre. They repaired it in a week.
My D40 has the exact same problem! I took in to Ritz Camera and they sent it off to Nikon. It is less than a year old and under warranty but Nikon is saying I must pay the $187 to repair it because they say the camera appears to have been dropped. I never dropped it and do not believe there were any scuff marks or anything on the body that would suggest it might have been dropped or mishandled. The Ritz customer service repair person is calling Nikon today to follow up but I’m worried about the outcome of this. I’m glad I found your site to see that others have experienced similar problems. How did your problem get resolved?
@Murphy I filled out an RMA request on Nikon’s support website, then sent it in to them for evaluation. They repaired it (replaced the sensor) under warranty, no cost to me except what it cost me to ship it to them. If Ritz is giving you a hard time, try dealing directly with Nikon. Sounds like they might be trying to rip you off.
Josh - Thanks for the reply. Turns out Ritz is going to be the “good guy” and cover the cost of the repair which Nikon still insists, based on their findings, was caused by some kind of blow to the camera. Anyway, like you, all I have to do is pay the cost of shipping. Fortunately, Ritz noted no damage to the camera body on their own repair sheet so, at the end of the day, I’m glad I took it in to them and didn’t send it straight to Nikon… Have you had any problems with your camera since the repair?
Joe Murphy
Nope, it’s worked fine since I got it back. I’ve taken hundreds of shots with it since then:
http://flickr.com/photos/JoshB/