Is this an oil spot issue or just dust?

Is this an oil spot issue or just dust? Just discovered it by accident. Its at the same spot of most images be it landscape or portrait. Urgghhhhh. What would most of you do?

I am wondering if Nikon will clean it for free under warranty? Otherwise, I will just let it go since I can only see it on a neutral background.

looks like dust, take a few shots at a white wall at small aperture say f22 ro something and then repost the photos

Dust is inevitable with any DSLR, so you need to be prepared for it. I suspect that's all it is. As Scott said, shoot against a bright white wall/paper at f22 with the focus set to minimum (autofocus off) and post that. It should show you where you have dust on the sensor. Invest in a good bulb blower, lock the mirror up with the camera facing down so gravity is your friend and use the blower to blow the dust off the sensor. Do not use your mouth or compressed air as it can damage the sensor (and your mouth is moist as all get-out). Then check again. 19 time out of 20 this should remove any problems. The rest can be handled in post processing until you hit the point where you need a wet clean. At this point you can learn to do it yourself or find a shop nearby that will do a cleaning for you.

Sent my camera to Nikon service centre for cleaning. Now it's as good as new. Clean and clear. No spots.

First time sensor cleaning is free. Subsequently is $27.90 inclusive of GST. For this amount, I can live with it. Just pay and I can sleep soundly at night.

Over in my thread about the oil/dust spot issue in my D600, BackdoorHippie was kind enough to post this YouTube video on how to wet clean a sensor. Before doing a wet cleaning, the dust needs to be blown off the sensor. If you watch the video, you will see that using a blower is a piece of cake (fortunately without all the crumbs! ). You may want to invest in a decent rocketblower rather than to pay Nikon to remove dust. If the items are stuck onto the sensor, you can decide whether or not to proceed with a wet cleaning on your own. Please consider watching the beginning to see how easy it is to use a rocketblower.

And in case you are interested in buying a rockeblower, I use the large Giottos blower although I'm sure there are many other equally good blasters out there. This brand has a filter on the back end so it doesn't pull in dust which would just end up being blown out onto your sensor. Giottos makes 3 sizes, the large is definitely the best of the bunch IMHO.

Hi Hark,

Thank you for the kind advise. Will try this next time round. Luckily the cleaning was free for first timer.

It really wasn't that difficult.