Red/Blue line going through pictures taken with Nikon D5100?

Last night I took some pictures of one of our cats laying in a flower pot and when I when I put them on my computer today there was a vertical red/blue line going through 9 out of 10 pictures I took last night. The camera is only a week old. Hasn't been dropped or anything. This is the first time this has happened out of 700-800 pictures I have taken with it and any I have taken today don't have the line going through them. Any idea what could have caused this?

Here is a link to one of the pictures with the line going through it.

You need to contact Nikon.

There are times when a sensor can fail and it does so along a line if pixels like we see in your photos.

Another thing that can cause such a problem is if the sensor has had a laser strike it.

Oops… I'd say your sensor is gone. Contact Nikon about replacing the sensor. I don't know but you may find replacing the camera just as cheap.

Yep it is a bad sensor. The sensor is connected via a matrix of vertical and horizontal electrical connections, so when one of the connections goes bad, it takes out a whole column or row.

But as you only just bought the camera, I'd try to return it to the store first - and then to Nikon warranty repair second if the store will not accept the return.

Either way, it should be an item covered under warranty.

Hurry! Bring the camera, the box and everything that came in it back to the store. Don't forget to bring the receipt. If it has been less than a week after you bought it, you may still qualify for an outright replacement.