[sewebster]

Maybe don't stop down so much? I've taken many thousands of photos with my k200d and can't recall any where I actually had to clone out dust. Shrug.

[Mutters]

Thanks for the sensible replies, I to have come to the conclusion that the dust removal is a poor second to that of Olympus.

Shopping list will include the rocket blower and a wet clean kit, why are they so expensive? does anybody out there have any advice as to those to avoid?

That's possibly the wrong conclusion regarding the K-5, and in my experience the K-7 which has a dust removal system that works very well.

Yes, the K10 /20Ds dust removal system is a bit of an embarrassing joke, but the K-7 and 5 systems aren't - they work.

Your problem with it seems a rare one which may possibly correct itself somewhat over time - this does happen!

Let it settle down and check it out in a few months.

Wet cleaning is absolutely unnecessary in most cases and should be avoided (imo) unless you get a great gob of something on the sensor. I've only ever physically cleaned the *istD sensor - never the K10D or K-7. I have a K-x as well, which has the 'joke' dust removal system, but can't comment there, as it hasn't presented the problem, so far.

Btw, all these cameras were used professionally in very varied conditions and often under duress.

Cheers

Mutters

[Ash]

Dust removal progressively improved with each flagship, but there's nothing better than prevention. A level of obsession with this does help minimise the dust deposits. My most troublesome Pentax dSLR for this problem was the K100D. No dust removal feature either, not that it made much difference with my K-x. The K10D and K20D that I've had for some time OTOH had vastly fewer issues, and I've only had to rocket blow them each once in over 3 years of good use and changing lenses.