Hooray, my Nikon D70S camera is back in action

After my Yellowstone trip in June 2008, I found there were black specks on every picture I took. Being a perfectionist and a detailed guy, I was upset at the specks marring the pictures, especially of clear, blue skies. This made me uninterested to take pictures till I got rid of those specks.

Since I had two lenses, I tried to determine where the specks could be by switching lenses. Alas, the specks appeared on the exact spots which meant they were inside the camera body.

I sent my camera twice to Nikon Servicing Center (NSC). For the first time, I sent my camera body but they shipped back without doing anything. For the second round, I sent both my camera body and newly bought zoom lens where they replaced some components of the lens. However, the specks were still there.

I was frustrated and felt cheated even though I printed out a picture indicating the locations of the specks.

During my last trip to New York City, I met a guy at The Top of The Rock where I asked him to help me take pictures of me with The Empire State Building. I approached him since he was carrying a Nikon camera too. He asked if he could change the manual settings on my camera. That was my sign to ask him if he could help me identify what was happening to my camera.

He said if there were black spots, then the sensor needed cleaning. For greenish spots, the problem was fungal. He also said any camera repair shop could clean the sensor after I mentioned sending to NSC.

Not willing to be disappointed by NSC again, I searched the internet and found an independent authorized Nikon repair service center. I called them up and was given an estimate of $45 to clean the sensor.

After sending the body to Illinois, I was getting worried when I did not get any phone from them after three business days. Thinking to call them the next day, I got a letter of repair estimate on the same evening. I was shocked to see the bill. It cost $115 plus $12 shipping.

I called the next day to complain why there was so much discrepancy between what was quoted to me and on the letter. There were services which I did not requested such as auto-focusing adjustment, TTL flash etc. After resolving the amount, it was settled at $45 plus $12 delivery.

Just when I thought I should be getting my camera back, it arrived on the same night. I wasted no time to take pictures and check for specks.

I was elated to find the major specks gone from viewing the LCD screen. I would need to transfer to a computer screen to scrutinize the cleaning but I am upbeat about it.