[seacapt]

I guess this is the place to post this question. My ist DL has dark spots or shadows that show up on flat background shots .I'm assuming this is dirt on the sensor. The manuals says to send camera back to Pentax for cleaning but then goes on to talk about cleaning functions. What do I do?

[Wheatfield]

The people on this forum seem mostly married to something called a Rocket Blower for blowing the dust off of sensors.
On the rare occassions I need to clean a sensor I use canned air.
But I'm a bit of a rebel, and you will get lots of people quoting the internet myths about how it will wreck your camera.

[user440]

There are several threads on this, here is one:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/2081-how-do-you-cl...t=sensor+clean

[Urmas R.]

Google for Rocket Blower. In 9 cases out of 10 it does the job. If something happens to remain stuck on the sensor surface order swabs and a small bottle of cleaning liquid (Isopropanol) and do it yourself. It would be a waste of time to send it somewhere, when it takes maximum 10 minutes to do it yourself.

The only thing where one can go wrong is to get too eager about removing event the smallest of dust particles. Clean the sensor, when the dust gets obvious on your photos. If you mess around too much, you'll likely get more dust on the sensor in the beginning. I cannot imagine that anyone could damage something or do wrong with cleaning. In the end you are not cleaning the sensor itself, but the thin protective glass layer covering it.

[OregonJim]

The people on this forum seem mostly married to something called a Rocket Blower for blowing the dust off of sensors.
On the rare occassions I need to clean a sensor I use canned air.
But I'm a bit of a rebel, and you will get lots of people quoting the internet myths about how it will wreck your camera.

In the right hands, compressed air is fine.

You have to be aware of the forces involved, and if you tilt the can too much it will expel the liquid propellant along with the air. That's the main reason why most people don't recommend it.

[simico]

In the right hands, compressed air is fine.

The only problem is that 95% of those "compressed air" cans doesn't contain compressed air. They are filled with different types of propane gas.

[Canada_Rockies]

The people on this forum seem mostly married to something called a Rocket Blower for blowing the dust off of sensors.
On the rare occassions I need to clean a sensor I use canned air.
But I'm a bit of a rebel, and you will get lots of people quoting the internet myths about how it will wreck your camera.

My school of thought is just slightly different, Wheatfield - it can wreck your camera. So I use a blower brush (without the brush attached). This won't work for the OP's camera, but I also have shake on startup set in the custom functions, and when I see a speck in an image, I take the lens off, with the camera mount down, and turn it off and on a couple of times, and look again even before I blow into the mount. If the dust did not come off, I blow it off.

I have a proper liquid cleaning kit for the sensor, but have not yet had to use it. (bangs hand on head saying "touch wood").

[jeffkrol]

I guess this is the place to post this question. My ist DL has dark spots or shadows that show up on flat background shots .I'm assuming this is dirt on the sensor. The manuals says to send camera back to Pentax for cleaning but then goes on to talk about cleaning functions. What do I do?

YouTube - Pentax O-ICK1 Image Sensor Cleaning Kit
http://www.amazon.com/Pentax-Image-Sensor-Cleaning-O-ICK1/dp/B0018ODLH6
0-ick1
Works really good (if can find one). I used to use one of those "spatula" cleaners wrapped w/ a Zeiss lens cloth (worked surprisingly well and a lot easier then those methanol cleaners and a lot cheaper)...