A collection of benthic still images was obtained using a downward-looking camera (NERC Vocabulary Server Identifier SDN:L22::TOOL1897) mounted on the UK Autosub6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (NERC Vocabulary Server Identifier SDN:B76::B7600031), deployed from the RRS James Cook during cruise JC120 in the abyssal plain (~4100 m depth) of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Pacific Ocean, in 2015. The images were obtained in an undisturbed area that has been designated as an Area of Particular Environmental Interest (APEI-6) by the International Seabed Authority. The images show the seabed covered by polymetallic nodules. These are the images that were analysed in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2018.11.003. The data were collected by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK as part of the Managing Impacts of Deep-seA reSource exploitation (MIDAS) project of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013; grant agreement no. 603418) and made available through work undertaken as part of the NERC-funded Seabed Mining And Resilience To EXperimental impact (SMARTEX) project (NE/T003537/1).