About a month ago, I posted a thread concerning the problems I encountered with five (5) brand new out of the box Nikon D70 cameras. Here is the update to my purchase experience..... Today, I recieved a call from the tech people at Nikon...and, after seeing some of the sample images, they told me that yes, in fact it was "dust" on the ccd. When I asked how dust could get on 5 brand new cameras, they said that it was common, not unique to Nikon DSLRs and that likely every one has some dust on it. The dust they claim is NOT on the ccd from the factory (apparently assembled in a dust free environment)....the dust likely comes from the rear element of the lens....then when the ccd is charged it draws the dust like a magnet. Not sure I believe that one as I checked all lens elements for cleanliness prior to assembly...but...that was their thought. They said that they could ship me a "clean" camera but said they could not guarantee that it would be "clean" by the time I got it..... For what it's worth, a few other things they said; 1)Spots tend to show up starting around F4.5 (and higher) 2)"Consumer" zoom lenses have a habit of sucking dust in when zooming out 3)Similar problems with "out of the box" 20D's 4)Also problems with Olympus "ultrasonic" dust cleaner....apparently shakes the ccd, realigning it and causing focus problems Anyway, I didn't much care about the other manufacturers problems but maybe it was their attempt to deflect the matter by saying that "the other guys have worse problems". That was pretty much it....they said it was something you have to live with.....not much else they could do.... Another interesting thing is that local "knowledgable" camera shops and even the area Nikon rep seemed to be completely surprised that this could be possible on 5 brand new cameras......my gut feel is they know exactly what is going on but are reluctant to acknowledge the fact for fear of losing sales. Prior to my purchase, I had done a fair bit of research, attended a D70 seminar, had the opportunity to use a friends D100, read the D70 reviews...and so on....although dust was raised as a DSLR maintenance issue (I can live with that)....NO one ever said that the D70 came "pre-loaded" with dust. The bottom line is that my experience didn't leave me with much confidence in either their product or their customer service. As I said to the Nikon people, initially I was mad....then I was disappointed. "Mad" you get over quickly....unfortunately, disappointment lasts a long time.

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.