Trouble in paradise!

(the first dead pixel, at 100% on the left, zoomed out view on the right)

Almost exactly two months ago I bought my first DSLR: a Nikon D40x. And it was pretty much love at first sight. I had pushed my 4mp Canon Powershot pretty far over the past four years (example 1 2 & 3) so I was beyond ecstatic at the prospect of a new camera.

So the parcel arrived swiftly and safely, and in a week I had already taken hundreds of photos. The Nikon took a bit of getting used to having exclusively used Canon DSLRs and 35mm cameras. But the results were great (below ISO 500, for the most part) and I had no complaints.

A few weeks go by and I notice something. A speck. A teeny, tiny, white speck on a photo. In the same exact place. Of every photo. My first reaction is: dust. Back in my darkroom days with negatives flying through the air, in and out of holders and enlargers, dust was a nightmare. So I’d end up spot toning my final prints for hours, which was, pretty much, the Worst Thing Ever (and punishment for poor handling of materials, gah).

So I was pretty bummed thinking that it didn’t even take a month to get some nasty dust in my camera, which might have been more troublesome than the actual problem…

Upon closer inspection (in Photoshop, at 400% – below) the speck is too perfect to be dust, too solid to be anything other than: a dead pixel.

So I stopped taking pictures. It took a week for me to grab my camera again and shoot flawed photos. Sure, I could clone out this dead pixel in a matter of seconds, but not for every shot. Nor should I have to, with a brand-new camera (factory sealed, sursly!).

I went back-and-forth for a while, debating on whether or not I should hit up Nikon with my warranty. By doing so, I could possibly get my camera fixed, free of charge. But that would also involve paying to send it to Long Island, and more importantly, being without my rockin’ DSLR for an indefinite amount of time. Not cool.

On the other hand, I just couldn’t get excited about taking photos anymore. There has been a dead pixel in the dead center of my PowerBook for two years…a horrible two years, and I wasn’t sure if I could let the same thing happen to this new, beautiful camera.

And then last week, I notice it: dead pixel #2.

So of course I dig back through my photos and find the exact same defect in the same exact spot. All the way back to my first shot.

Less than 24 hours later I’m on Nikon’s customer service site logging my ticket. They write back: “better send it into the shop.”  And so I did. Two weeks ago.

But all should end well. The warranty covers it. The dead pixels are not dust. But I’m still cameraless, and that is–as I said before–not cool.