[dicko3000]

Hello,

I have managed to scratch the low pass filter of my k-x during cleaning! It's definitely a scratch not dust.

Can anyone give me an idea of how much it might cost to get this fixed, just ball park (UK price if poss).

Really gutted, not sure I can afford it

I'll call pentax I guess but hoped someone might be able to give me an idea first.

many thanks!

[mtroute]

is it possible to remove the scratch in Post?

[Adam]

You'll probably end up paying just as much as another used k-x would cost, unfortunately.

[joe.penn]

Sell the Kx with the scratched lowpass filter - someone will buy it as it would be a good candidate for an IR conversion...




---

[dicko3000]

that's what I had hoped you wouldnt say! oh well that will teach me.

[dicko3000]

ps. no there are two long scratches, I really buggered it. the thought of removing the lines from every photo shot at more than f8 in photoshop makes me feel ill!

[JinDesu]

How did you scratch it, if I may ask?

[ihasa]

This guys always on the lookout for bodies to convert: http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/forum/topic/wanted---faulty-bodies-30477

[jamesm007]

How did you scratch it, if I may ask?

I ask as well. Are you 100% sure its scratched? The filter has Pentax Super Protect on it and I just don't see some one doing damage to it. Sometimes things look like scratches when they are not.

[Philoslothical]

Could well be smears rather than scratches. You gotta tell us what you did though.

Could you also post an image showing the damage, for educational purposes?

[dicko3000]

oh no, just got a quote for repair from pentax - £293.75 as an estimate. It may well cost more. I think I only spent about £100 more than that when i bought it.

I will post the pictures and story shortly, I don't want other people to go through this.

[JeffJS]

oh no, just got a quote for repair from pentax - £293.75 as an estimate. It may well cost more. I think I only spent about £100 more than that when i bought it.

I will post the pictures and story shortly, I don't want other people to go through this.

Tell us what tools you used as well. I would like to update my cleaning article with a description of what can cause it to happen.

As others have said. Dump it for an IR conversion and apply the funds toward another camera. People are always looking for cameras to do that with.

[dicko3000]

A couple of months ago I used a can of compressed air to try and remove ONE piece of dust from my sensor. Unfortunately the canister was nearly empty and liquid came out with the air and sprayed all over the sensor.

I read various articles and decided to use eclipse cleaning fluid and Type 2 Sensor Swabs. I bought a kit that had a blower in it as well.

Firstly I used the blower, that didn’t help and I succeeded in getting black flecks all over the viewfinder - which i have not been able to remove.

I then used the pads with the cleaner on the sensor. It removed most of the dirt and I was happy enough. However when shooting at f22 I noticed a lot of dust and tried cleaning again. Over that last couple of months I cleaned it a couple of more times. Most recently I got fed up and used the pads again to give it a good clean. I also decided to us pec pads with a modified type 2 swab - here is where I think I really went wrong. I cut one of the type 2 pads in half and wrapped a bit of pec pad over it. I then used this with eclipse to clean the sensor. Soon after I noticed two scratches on the sensor - I checked by wiping over them again to make sure they weren't smudges - definitely not.
after much hair pulling and test shots I confirmed these were definitely scratches.

I feel stupid for trying to do this myself - I should have just sent it to a shop to get professionally cleaned. I don’t think I ever got all of the original crud off from when I used the compressed air.

Of course I shouldn’t have cut my own wipe and I shouldn’t have kept attempting to clean it after the first attempt didn’t work.

My advice is not to try and clean your sensor yourself but practice good avoidance techniques instead.

I got another quote today from Ashai repair for £120 or thereabouts. Now I have to choose whether to spend £120 on a camera that is 2 years old. Or try and sell it as faulty and then put the money towards a new camera I can't afford

I was hoping to upgrade next year to a k-5 looks now I face buying a k-r or living without a camera until next year when I might be able to afford a k-5!

[Schraubstock]

A couple of months ago I used a can of compressed air to try and remove ONE piece of dust from my sensor. Unfortunately the canister was nearly empty and liquid came out with the air and sprayed all over the sensor.

I read various articles and decided to use eclipse cleaning fluid and Type 2 Sensor Swabs. I bought a kit that had a blower in it as well.

Firstly I used the blower, that didn’t help and I succeeded in getting black flecks all over the viewfinder - which i have not been able to remove.

I then used the pads with the cleaner on the sensor. It removed most of the dirt and I was happy enough. However when shooting at f22 I noticed a lot of dust and tried cleaning again. Over that last couple of months I cleaned it a couple of more times. Most recently I got fed up and used the pads again to give it a good clean. I also decided to us pec pads with a modified type 2 swab - here is where I think I really went wrong. I cut one of the type 2 pads in half and wrapped a bit of pec pad over it. I then used this with eclipse to clean the sensor. Soon after I noticed two scratches on the sensor - I checked by wiping over them again to make sure they weren't smudges - definitely not.
after much hair pulling and test shots I confirmed these were definitely scratches.

I feel stupid for trying to do this myself - I should have just sent it to a shop to get professionally cleaned. I don’t think I ever got all of the original crud off from when I used the compressed air.

Of course I shouldn’t have cut my own wipe and I shouldn’t have kept attempting to clean it after the first attempt didn’t work.

My advice is not to try and clean your sensor yourself but practice good avoidance techniques instead.

I got another quote today from Ashai repair for £120 or thereabouts. Now I have to choose whether to spend £120 on a camera that is 2 years old. Or try and sell it as faulty and then put the money towards a new camera I can't afford

I was hoping to upgrade next year to a k-5 looks now I face buying a k-r or living without a camera until next year when I might be able to afford a k-5!

Hi
JeffJS and I have published here a number of sensor cleaning posts. Search for them and read them.
Unfortunately you have done everything wrong that can be done wrong. Firstly, never use canned air. You know now why. Secondly, and I have preached this many times, don't use rubber blowers. Yes you have read this correctly! To start off with they don't remove dirt but just merely redistribute it inside the mirror chamber and there is the ever present danger for deteriorating sticky rubber to come loose from inside the ball and this will be neatly blasted on to the sensor. You have learned this fact now as well. (Also some blowers have Talcum powder inside)

I am still not convinced that you have actually scratched the sensor with the ill fated cleaning method you describe above. Unless you have done something really really stupid which you are not telling us. You have bombarded your sensor with such a massive amount of sh-t that any normal cleaning will not remove it.

I would go about it this way:
Go to your chemist (supermarket) and buy some distilled water. At the chemist buy a bottle (10 or 20ml) Ethanol. Then buy a good quantity (15 or 20) sensor swabs.

Step 1) wet a swab well with distilled water but not so well that it drips. Wipe the swab over the sensor in one move from left to right (or right to left) with firm pressure but not heavy handed force. Discard swab. Repeat this step at least 6 or seven times, (possibly more) discarding the swap every time.

Step 2) Take dry swab and repeat the wiping action as described in step 1, discard and repeat until sensor is dry.

Step 3) Wet a fresh swab with a few drops of Ethanol and wipe over the sensor in the same way as in step 1. Repeat this at least 2 or three times. You'll be the judge. (The Ethanol is 98% pure, the rest 2% is water which cannot be removed from it.) Ethanol evaporates very quickly, sometimes quicker than you want to because then it has not enough time to dissolve what you want to remove. In fact the water content can work here for you. I have at occasions added a drop of distilled water to 20ml Ethanol (with a clean pipette) knowing that some of the crap on the sensor can only dissolve with water and other crap only with Ethanol and by applying this mix I can catch both.

Step 4) Take yet another fresh swap or two and wipe the sensor dry.

Done, if you follow this method I bet you will find your sensor will come back clean. If it still is not repeat all the steps until successful, this is why you need a good supply of swaps. Don't be tempted to re use any of the swabs. I just refuse to believe that you can scratch the sensor that easily because the surface is harder than you think and unless you have attacked it with something really sharp. Anyway give it a go you have nothing to lose but everything to gain. Tell us how it went.

And search for JeffJs' and my posts, you will learn a lot. Best of luck.

Greetings

[JeffJS]

You and I disagree on the blowers but here's the article which is based only on my own experience. Most of it with the K10d. With later cameras I haven't had much need to invade the mirror box with a foreign object other than the occasional rocket blower blast and once or twice with the Pentax cleaning kit.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-camera-articles/121739-those-...ml#post1259109

The blower serves best for the fuzzy type dust that the shaker won't remove. Though they are optical cleaners, Pec Pads are not recommended (by the maker) for sensor cleaning. From what I understand however Canon simply uses one held by a pair of tweezers (pickups, forceps) to do their factory cleans. The Sensor swab people Use to provide a guarantee that if you damaged the sensor using their materials and methods, they would pay the cost of repair.

I say use each method at your own risk. While most could be deemed 'safe' each has caused someone somewhere, a problem but it seems rare. Other than dicko3000, I only personally know of 2 people who have actually 'scratched' the AA filter. All were with methods that require one to drag something across the filter.