[Clinton]

The smugness of your reply appears as though you know it was Mortox who caused the dirty sensor. I don't agree that one lens change would cause a mark of dust (maybe, but not probably).

Or just a continuing dialog on this whole thread. I read it. I panicked a little. Stressed for a few days. And then I cleaned my sensor; problem gone.

Did Pentax get the dust on there? I dunno, I change lenses frequently, so it's as likely them as me.

Would I have returned it to Amazon had it shown up this way new (or had I noticed it as such)? Absolutely.

Would I have written a dramatic post? Probably not. Would I have called a fellow forum member names? Nah, I've got bigger fish to fry.

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Last edited by Clinton; 01-19-2011 at 08:56 PM.

[JayBee]

got the 4th one today - sensor looks clean!

woot!

SN 3982xxx

Thanks for the updates and serial number. I'm hoping my replacement from Pentax will be clean as well. Your issue definitely looked different from most of the other reported 'string of pearls', but still looked more like stain than dust. Possibly a partially-developed stain that would have evolved into a more obvious example. My sensor had the string, but then developed a more serious and evident stain after using LV for a few dozen shots.
Like most experienced Pentax owners (K10D, then K20D, now K5), I can identify sensor dust and deal with it quite easily. The usual stuff that lands on the sensor during normal, careful lens changes will disappear with a few puffs of the blower. Like you, I was able to recognize that this wasn't that usual stuff.

[Clinton]

Like you, I was able to recognize that this wasn't that usual stuff.

Mine looked like a water droplet, but I was shooting near the ocean recently, and it's an unlikely possibility that it was mist from said.

I'd say it's more likely that my sensor was marked to start with, but I'm well beyond my 30 day Amazon return window, and I didn't relish being without my camera for the week or two it would take to get to the repair center and back.

[Fontan]

I think this is spit.

[kasv]

@Mortox: so I hope you're done with it now. Ricehigh mentioned there is likelihood for stains to evolve as the sensor gets hot e.g. during LV. I had only one bigger and a few smaller of what I regarded stains and my K5 falls in the respective SN range that seems to be affected by the stains. It will make its way to Pentax tomorrow for this and a few other issues. Also checked a K20D and istDL, both of which showed spots. After dust removal using air blower, one remained on the K20D's sensor (see attached pic), so did one on the istDL's (see attachments done with f22 and f32), the latter of which happened to vanish after mechanical dust removal. As they all had a similar appearance to all the K5-stains (although with a less pronounced halo as it sometimes seems to me) I saw meanwhile (although not appearing in a row), I could easily take a wrong conclusion. Think it is hard to distinguish between dust and stains. Does anyone have access to a later Nikon make and could screen its sensor for stains? Just curious to see if they have a similar issue. But maybe one can also live with it, if it causes the same appearance as dust, which apparently is always present, if you look closely enough... .

The yellowish square on to the left is K20D, the middle one ist DL @f22, the right one same model f32.

[JayBee]

I think this is spit.

To PENTAX K-5 Digital SLR Camera Users

We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for your patronage of PENTAX products.

We deeply regret that the first shipment of our PENTAX K-5 digital SLR camera included some products with a stained image sensor — a problem which we believe was caused during manufacturing — causing them to occasionally produce images with spots which look something like water drops, and which users cannot remove with ordinary cleaning methods.

All users of these defective products will receive free repair at our service center.

We sincerely apologize for any trouble and inconvenience this problem may have caused. We also promise to do all we can to achieve the highest level of quality control in the future, and eliminate any worries our customers might have about our products. We sincerely appreciate your kind understanding and cooperation regarding this issue.

[30v iPentax]

Nyt on alkanut ilmestyä muutamia tahroja pitkin kennoa. Olen kuvannut tarkotuksellisesti paljon videoo. Ei näytä pölyltä, mutta testaan senkin viellä puhaltimella. Seuraava kirkas päivä otan uudet testikuvat.