I just have all the luck don’t I?

The latest consumer electronic of mine to begin its supposed spiral downwards is quite possibly one of my most loved.  Over the last few months I have noticed a truly bizarre pattern show up in my photos.  I’m not sure if they are in all the photos or random but it does show its evil little head somewhat regularly on photos with solid colors.

Here is an example of what I’m talking about.

Click to view larger version

It’s almost like a fingerprint right on the sensor.  The image on the far right is the most zoomed in and adjusted to better illustrated the problems.   In it you can clearly see horizontal stripes across the chair back as well as uniform, circular stripes in the green and grey.

Columbia Photo’s authorized Nikon repair tech said he had never seen something like this the Nikon USA rep that I talked to today said he had never heard of the problem.

Here’s where things get unfortunate.  December 22 I fly to Paris.  December 27 I’m in London, then back to Paris, then Bahrain, then Saudi Arabia, then Germany and then back to the USA January 12.  Fun trip right?

Except, the warranty on my Nikon D700 ends January 8, 2010.  The soonest they could get my camera back to me, if I sent it out tomorrow, is around December 22.  That’s too late.  I absolutely have to have this camera on my trip!  Pedro at Nikon said if I reported the problem and sent in examples via raw files before the warranty expired, they would extend the warranty period until I can get the camera fixed.

Phew.  Now let’s just hope they keep to their word.