[heatherslightbox]

I've got some sensor dust on my K10D and after a bunch of blowing, it wouldn't go away, so I went and got a $70 Green Clean vacuum dust removal kit. I vacuumed it and ran both the wet and try swipes over it, took it out and took some sky shots and guess what--the sensor is worse than ever!

The battery I was using the camera ran out, so I pulled out my second battery, only to discover that it was dead, too. I've got one of the batteries recharging, so I can't try another cleaning again until that battery is charged.

I think I'm going to cry.

Can anybody help me?

Thanks!
Heather

[lithos]

Two words: canned air.

It works, it doesn't kill your sensor, and, like trying to rub out a coffee stain from carpet, doesn't spread dust around as much as swabbing.

Angle it around, to blow the dust off.

[VF-19]

Do not use canned air. There's a good chance it may spit out frosty liquids onto your sensor, making your problem worse than ever.

Best bet, take it to either your local camera technician for a proper cleaning, or send it back to Pentax.

[Kei]

I would say first thing is to calm down. Sensor dust is part of dSLR, even if you cleaned it this time sooner or later there will be more again.

It is a good thing that the battery is still charging so you can think about what to do, rather than trying to do anything that pops up in your head. We tend to make stupid mistakes when acting in a haste.

I agree w/ VF-19, don't use canned air. It spits out frosty gas and you wouldn't want any liquid fall onto the sensor, and the air pressure can be too hard for the sensor to bear as well.

A camera with dust is still LOADS better than one w/ a broken sensor.

[heatherslightbox]

On the way home from work, I did stop by the local camera store, where I got the Green Clean and found out that for $90, they can send it off for cleaning for me. The only problem with that is that there is a 2-week turnaround time and I need the camera next week, so that's not going to work.

Since I've been thinking about getting a backup body, anyhow and I've got the money, I went on ahead and ordered a K200 from Amazon that should get to me on Thursday (2-day shipping). If I still can't get the dust off of the K10 in the meantime, then once the K200 gets here, then I'll take the K10 back to the camera store and have them send it off for a professional cleaning. Even if I can get the K10 clean again, it won't hurt to have a second body that takes AA batteries.

Heather

PS--Here is a pic of the offensive dusty sensor...

On the way home from work, I did stop by the local camera store, where I got the Green Clean and found out that for $90, they can send it off for cleaning for me. The only problem with that is that there is a 2-week turnaround time and I need the camera next week, so that's not going to work.

Since I've been thinking about getting a backup body, anyhow and I've got the money, I went on ahead and ordered a K200 from Amazon that should get to me on Thursday (2-day shipping). If I still can't get the dust off of the K10 in the meantime, then once the K200 gets here, then I'll take the K10 back to the camera store and have them send it off for a professional cleaning. Even if I can get the K10 clean again, it won't hurt to have a second body that takes AA batteries.

Heather

Is that a mistyhpe Heather, I thought you were going for the K20?

[heatherslightbox]

I was, but after this experience, I need a second body more than I need one super duper body. I would've gone for the K20, but I don't have enough cash for it, whereas I do have the cash for the K200. I figure that I'll hang on to the K10 until I can get some more cash saved up and then sell it and take that money and the the cash I've saved up and then buy a K20--by then, new ones should be even cheaper. At that point, I can sell the K10 and not have to worry about not having a body to shoot with in the meantime (however long it takes for the K10 to sell). Even if the K10 didn't have any issues, it would still be a pain to try and sell it, knowing that I have no body at all (I'm not comfortable with buying a new body before making sure that the the body I'm selling is actually sold first).

One plus of having both the K200 and K20--improved dust reduction system!

Heather

[Aegon]

I went on a week long trip to Asia and got dust on my sensor on day 1.

So I just kept shooting and removed it in PP where necessary.

Of course, I cleaned it when I got home to my tools. But Murphy's Law says that you'll get dust when it is least convenient.

[philmorley]

I have camera set to dust reduction on startup, on the rare occurence I need to clean it I use a cleanskies? brush to give 1-2 passes over entire sensor, never had something that needed mroe than that.

[heatherslightbox]

I've got the K10D set to dust reduction on startup and this is still what happened! As I mentioned before, I'm eventually going to sell the K10D to finance the purchase of the K20 and I don't want to sell it with dust spots on the sensor. That wouldn't be right, so it's best to go ahead and deal with it now.

One thing with having 2 bodies is that there's less need to change lenses, therefore reducing the amount of dust that gets inside the body.

Heather

[hinman]

Heather,

Just a basic question to ask, what kind of blower you use. I use the Rocket Bower from Giottos and find it quite capable for most of my needs.

I used this package from Amazon:
Giottos Rocket Blower
Amazon.com: Giottos Optical Cleaning Kit with Rocket Air Blaster, Brush & Liquid.: Electronics

And few things that I paid attention:

• Always turn camera off in lens change/dust removal -- always have the camera off when you change lens as static charge attracts dust. A must when you try to apply air blower to remove dust.
• Apply blower from downwards -- upon mirror up, I tilt the body in an angle, and blow from downwards
• Leave blower a distance -- make sure you blow about few inches from the camera housing and let the dust have room to escape
• Never touch the inner housing -- whatever you do, don't touch the inner housing of the camera body. You can look but no touching.
• don't leave body facing upwards -- dust falls down with gravity

[hinman]

My friend with a Canon 450D traveled to Europe and after the trip, he has dusts similar to yours due to wet weather with occasional light rain when he changed lens -- the sticky ones that don't leave with air blower. He ordered something called Eclipse swipes costing about $8 per pad and he order the package for about $50 with 8 swaps/swipe in the package. After one application, he gets down from 6 tough spots to about 1.

It is a scary thing to apply the swipe with likely chemicals onto the sensor. I recommend a service from reliable sources instead. But if I were you, I will try the simple air blower that I list above to try our best efforts.

[heatherslightbox]

Hin,
I do have a blower--it's a Promaster Hurricane (I think) and it works most of the time (except for this time). Being in Florida--I also deal with high humidty conditions, especially during the summer. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I've got the Eclipse 2 premoistened swabs on order, but they're on backorder and won't ship for at least 10-15 days and I couldn't wait that long.

In the meantime, I've emailed a Pentax-authorized service center in Florida to ask how much a good cleaning will be if I send it to them. Maybe not right now, but I will probably send it out for a good professional cleaning sometime down the road.

Heather

[hinman]

Hin,
I do have a blower--it's a Promaster Hurricane (I think) and it works most of the time (except for this time). Being in Florida--I also deal with high humidty conditions, especially during the summer. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I've got the Eclipse 2 premoistened swabs on order, but they're on backorder and won't ship for at least 10-15 days and I couldn't wait that long.

In the meantime, I've emailed a Pentax-authorized service center in Florida to ask how much a good cleaning will be if I send it to them. Maybe not right now, but I will probably send it out for a good professional cleaning sometime down the road.

Heather

Heather, not all blowers are alike. The one that I use is the better one, I believe. Others, please jump in and share the best blower that Heather can use for reference. That $10.95 that I spent with Amazon serves me the best tool for sensor dust.

Hin

[weaponx525]

Please do not take this as sarcasm but is it possible that dust is on the back of the lens? I have successfully used the Green Clean Kit many time and in the field I use the rocket blower and no signs of dust so far. That dust you have must be really, really sticky!