i am appreciative to everyone for your valuable input - your advice is what makes UHH indispensable to me. I have attached the image of the spot which hopefully made it through in full scale now. The spot in the attached image is more distinct in some images, less in others, which, as I have learned, is due to me changing f-stops. This spot is of roughly average intensity.

As a result of what I have learned, I am sending the camera back and already have a RMA number.

(Download)

The line is mostly horizontal but not straight; it curves up and down slightly. It does not appear to be part of the sensor. I am pretty sure it is not a hair - it is completely white and extremely thin. There is only one such line on the entire sensor and it is not visible to the naked eye but is visible under a loupe. I have photoshopped out spots in the past but I don't think these should be there for a 5-day old camera.

Attached is an image showing the spot. The line visible on the sensor surprisingly does not show up in the image, but is visible on the sensor itself. The spot is a particle that does not go away with an air blower.
Thanks to everyone for all your help.

Thank you Longshadow - that is very helpful. Not wanting to sound as inexperienced as I am I sometimes feel bad about questions that I think I should know the answer to but don’t.

My apologies - that last question of mine about importing images was stupid

I am sure it is rather simple but how do you import an image?

The camera (Nikon D500) came from Adorama. I noticed the spot against a blue sky. F-stop was high when taking the pictures (~f/18 -ish). I do have a Rocket blower and tried that to no avail (in mirror lock up mode). I tried the in-camera sensor cleaning first and that didn’t work either.

Thanks for your input - good questions. I first noticed a spot on my images irrespective of which lens I used. Having seen this in my older dslr (which I have cleaned myself) I looked at the sensor with a loupe and spotted the dust particle. I then also noticed the “line” which did not show up in the image. Following responses thus far, it sounds quite clear I should send the camera back. Finally, and this may be a stupid question, should I request a cleaning or a whole new camera?

I have a new dslr less than a week old. I have noticed a spot and a line on the sensor. The spot clearly looks like a dust particle, the line is unclear. I have cleaned sensors before but since the camera is brand new, does anyone have recommendations as to whether to return it (UPS back to NYC) or try cleaning it myself (blowing on it with an air blower did not work).
Thank you for your input.

I am wondering what contribution a lens plays in limiting autofocusing capabilities. For example, if you have a top-of-the-line camera (e.g. Nikon D5, Canon EOS 1D Mark III) taking BIF images, does the lens itself become the limiting factor in autofocusing? Do some lenses respond more quickly to camera commands than others? If this is correct is it the result of a better mechanism inside the lens? How would you know that lens A is faster focusing than lens B?

As always, everyone's help is very much appreciated.

I need some experienced advise. I am looking to upgrade from my current camera (Nikon D7200). I am looking at the Nikon z6/6 ii. While looking at these I noticed the Canon EOS 5DS R on sale for about 1/3 of the original price. I understand that it came out in ~2015. So my question is whether it makes sense to purchase a camera that was great in its time, so to speak, but now is older, or whether to focus (no pun intended) on newer technologies?

Does using a full-frame f/1.4 lens on an apc camera provide any more light than using an f/1.8 lens specifically designed for an apc camera?

I have some spots appearing on my images. They are there no matter which lens I use, so I presume that they are on the sensor (camera is a Nikon D7200). I have run the cleaning routine in the camera several times, and I have lifted the mirror and gently blown the sensor using a bulb and tube, but nothing has changed. So I have three questions:
1) Is there anything else I can do myself to clean the sensor?
2) If not then does anyone have any idea how much Nikon would charge to clean it?
3) Any estimate of how long it would take, particularly in this Covid situation?

I am grateful for your time and help.

Last night the moon was behind some clouds creating interesting rings of different colors (sort of like a circular rainbow). As I looked at this with my eyes, the intensity of the moon was brighter than the rings, but not by a lot. As a very rough approximation, if you considered the rings to be intensity of "1" (in the appropriate units) the moon may have been a "3". I took out my camera to record the image and the moon came out significantly brighter than the clouds. This time if the clouds were a "1", the moon could have been a "30". As I thought about this I am not sure that changing any settings on the camera (shutter speed, aperture size, etc.) would actually change anything because the relative intensities of the moon and the rings would track together (I think). So I have two questions: First, does anyone know how our eyes are able to adjust so that we can see details in darker and brighter objects side by side but the camera does not (or at least not as well)? Second, does anyone have any suggestions or tips for photographing brighter objects alongside dimmer ones?

Thanks in advance for your help and insight.

Probably a dumb question, but for long term storage (>5 months) of “heavy” telephoto lenses (e.g. Nikon 200-500) does it matter whether the lens is stored horizontally or vertically? Or to put it another way, is there any slow deformation or creep of the plastic components over time from the overall weight of the lens? Thank you very much in advance.