The Nikon D750 has been a very successful camera getting rave reviews (including our own) and being commercially picked up by many wedding photographer. But all is not well as several D750 owners are reporting a dark band issue that appears on the top edge of the frame. The problem seems to only appear when there’s lens flare in the image where it produces an ugly separation between the top of the photo and the rest of the frame.
Users began reporting the issue a month ago and now after much discussion Tomasz Piotrowski a Polish Nikon forums user on Nikoniarze, has discovered the culprit. Upon comparing two Nikon D750 cameras, Tomasz discovered the source of the problem comes from the autofocus sensor module positioned directly in front of the D750’s mirror box.
It appears the autofocus sensor should sit flush with the bottom of the mirror box. However, the “bad units” afflicted by the dark band issue have a sensor unit that protrudes slightly by just a few millimeters and apparently this small difference is enough to cause a big issue. More analysis after the jump.
Tomasz also did some tests on his troubled Nikon D750 camera by placing a black tape across the top of the sensor module. Apparently the camera hack fixes the problem by removing the unwanted internal reflection. We would suggest against doing this as we’re not sure if this fix hampers autofocus performance or worse yet damages the sensor unit.
Other photographers have also highlighted that attaching a lens hood alleviates many of the problems by eliminating lens flare all together. It’s a decent temporary measure for most D750 users, unless you’re a photographer who artistically introduces lens flare into the image. No matter what it would be best to contact Nikon directly about the issue, after all the company probably does not want another Nikon D600 fiasco.
