[uday029]

I recently returned from a trip to Hawaii where I was changing my lenses once/twice a day. None of the photos showed any signs of dust. Today, after couple of months, I took out my camera to test a new macro lens I bought and seems like there is something on the sensor. Here are some samples:





Initially I thought there might be a scratch on the lens but all my lenses show a "scratch" like thing in approximately same position. But it does not show up on all the images. I took some more pics and it does not show up:



What could it be? I can't see that in the view finder though. But I do see couple of tiny dots in my view finder which do not show up on any of the photos. Tried really hard to take a picture of my view finder with my cell phone. Here are the tiny dots visible in my view finder:



Do I need to get it professionally cleaned? Any suggestions?

Thanks

[jatrax]

Cannot see the images but:
If you see something in the viewfinder but not the image then you have dust in the viewfinder, annoying but not an issue, just live with it or try a rocket blower to clean.

If you have spots on your images but cannot see them in the viewfinder you have dust on the sensor. It is very rare for anything on the lens to actually show up in an image.

Best way to test for sensor dust is take a picture of an evenly blue sky with the aperture at f/22. They will show up easily.

Dust removal procedure in order:
1) Use the camera dust removal system. There is a menu setting to turn on/off. If you have dust run this several times in a row and then check for dust again. I leave mine on "run on startup" and I think that is best so you don't have to worry about it.
2) Use a 'rocket blower' or equivalent to blow off anything the shaker will not get rid of. Do not use compressed air or canned air. Some folks report it is OK to use canned air if you are careful, personally I'm not taking any chances but YMMV.
3) Use a wet cleaning kit. This is the last resort, and on two cameras with over 50,000 actuations in all kinds of environments I've never had to use one yet. Get this if all else fails but don't go there unless you are sure you need it.
4) Send in for professional cleaning. Pentax extended warranty (in the US) includes one 'free' cleaning. Not sure about anywhere else.

Easiest way to check for dust is to set your aperture to f/22 or so and take an image of the sky. Dust on the sensor is more visible at smaller apertures.

[uday029]

Not sure why the images are not showing up. I tried flickr and imgur and both of them didn't show up. I reduced the image size and attached them with this post.

My camera is pretty new. I bought it in December of last year.

Thanks.

[Adam]

Not sure why the images are not showing up. I tried flickr and imgur and both of them didn't show up. I reduced the image size and attached them with this post.

My camera is pretty new. I bought it in December of last year.

Thanks.

Looks like hair/dust on the sensor, and dust on the focusing screen. Try using a manual air blower to get rid of both.

Adam
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[JimC1101]

Yep.....looks like dust to me....in both places.

[sterretje]

Not sure why the images are not showing up

Because the images ain't images. Example of one of them

http://imgur.com/zsCr54W

You put that in an image tag, but it's a webpage. The two options

1. link the page by posting the url http://imgur.com/zsCr54W
2. insert an image embedding the image itself http://imgur.com/zsCr54W.jpg

Respective results
Imgur

and