[alohadave]

I see four spots and some really smaller once.
If you are within the seven days depending on your country's law. I'd return it for a new one. Since you got yours delivered fro somewhere I guess it involves shipping and waiting. Try simple mirror cleaning with a blower.

Don't use a compressed air from a can! It's to strong and can damage your camera.

If it worked enjoy your new camera if not do the shipping.

Why return it? He's going to have to learn to clean it eventually anyway.

Besides that, it's not a mirror problem. You'd never see mirror dust in your pictures.

[bobmaxja]

That not a pixel isse, seem really like dust

[blind-bat]

You can't return the camera every time you get dust & you'll pay a fortune for someone else to clean it all the time. You may as well suck it up & learn to clean the sensor yourself. Many good post about how to do that. You just need to search & read.

[MrApollinax]

You definitely have dust/debris on your sensor. It happens to everyone eventually. It is the necessary evil of the SLR system. You are removing and attaching lenses to your camera and debris will get into the body.

Second try to share images has failed.
Sorry.

Bottom Line-
"Dust" scan comes up clean.
(A new camera should not have a dirt problem in the first place.)

Pixel repair function cycle has been used, produces no visible change.

At f40 the "spot" is denser, with more defnition that at f7.

A large part of communicating this experience has been to poll users to establish how common this is. (Apparently it is not common.)

Secondarily- to provide one data point in case there are others who experience this.

I have general confidence in Pentax's quality control, so I do not expect a 50/50 chance of a repeat experience.

Cameras should not produce images of black dots that are not there in front of the lens.

This one, for what ever reason, does, and it does it very consistently.

[wshi]

Although I agree that a rocket blower or similar is a necessary accessory, if its brand new and the dust is resistant to being taken off by the self cleaner, you may as well exchange for another. I believe mine shipped with some dust as well, and I now have two minute spots that cannot be removed by a blower. They're nothing serious, but will require some work to deal with.

[Blue Jay]

It is new and just out of the original packaging.

The K-X "dust detector" feature registers zero dust.
- I am lead to believe it is there to show me where to clean.
- It says there is nothing there to clean.

The K-X "sensor dust shaker" produces no change.

Yet among the early responders, there seems to be concensus that this visual effect can only be "dust".

Has anyone else had to correct something like this in a new K-X ?

[Blue Jay]

Oops.
Chewed too long on my pencil.
Got out of phase with last posts.

Very much appreciate the quick replies and collective insight.

Thanks for shaping my expectations.

[aerodave]

How did you use the "Dust Alert" feature? I've found that it only produces reasonable results when done in a very particular way. You need to point it at a fairly close, evenly illuminated, white or nearly white surface. And even when it works, it doesn't always register things that you might see in your pictures at moderately stopped-down apertures. It's a fairly insensitive alert system, probably designed that way to minimize false alarms.

But aside from all that...just clean it! Returning a camera because there's a dustbunny on the sensor makes about as much sense as returning a new car because you didn't notice a bird dropping on the trunk until you drove it home. Shit happens (see what I did there?), and you're going to have to get used to cleaning any DSLR's sensor anyway. Just like you would have had to wash the car one day, no matter what.

[JeffJS]

I see four spots and some really smaller once.
If you are within the seven days depending on your country's law. I'd return it for a new one. Since you got yours delivered fro somewhere I guess it involves shipping and waiting. Try simple mirror cleaning with a blower.

Don't use a compressed air from a can! It's to strong and can damage your camera.

If it worked enjoy your new camera if not do the shipping.

One more time.
One image f40.
Spot in high center.

It's dust on the sensor.. Many are probably shipped that way but you happened to try it at a very small aperture and saw it sooner. I counted 5 specs but then I cleaned my screen , only 4 remain.

The Sensor mapping feature works best when the camera is pointed at a flat well lit evenly colored surface (like a white wall). The dust mapping feature can Also show dust that isn't really there so care should be taken to properly use it.

Get yourself a blower as the first defense. Wheatfield swears by the canned air, I say use it with caution and at your own risk. We won't ever agree on that so there's no point in debating it. Some use other products and report varying degrees of success. Welcome to the world of interchangeable lens Digital SLR cameras. Just like death and taxes, sensor dust is a fact of life. Returning the camera isn't gong to guarantee a clean one. It is entirely possible that the minute you removed the body cap to mount the lens, you picked up the dust problem. You'll go blind broke returning cameras hoping to get a perfect one. If cleaning the sensor scares you and you have a local shop, they'll sometimes handle it, for a fee.

Good luck and enjoy your new camera when you get it all sorted out.

[Blue Jay]

Over the years, I've had four film slrs, a couple pocket film range finders, three digital pocket point and shoots. (Modest by most any enthusiast standard)

My wife's Nikon D40 dslr has been very well-behaved, so I was taken unawares.

Relieved to know nothing significant is wrong.

Very much appreciate knowing what to expect from the K-X.

[davidvandoren]

I see four spots and some really smaller once.
If you are within the seven days depending on your country's law. I'd return it for a new one. Since you got yours delivered fro somewhere I guess it involves shipping and waiting. Try simple mirror cleaning with a blower.

Don't use a compressed air from a can! It's to strong and can damage your camera.

If it worked enjoy your new camera if not do the shipping.

Sorry! that was early in the morning here.
Of course clean the sensor and not the mirror.

Still;"If it worked enjoy your new camera if not do the shipping"

[epqwerty]

It's good to see that you have your problem resolved. I'm just sorry that it took 2 pages to get to conclusion. As for our comment BlueJay On DSLR cameras even if the lens is clean black spots can still occur on the picture. This is unlike SLR cameras. In SLRs black spots CAN occur due to lenses rarely any other time. This is because the curtain protects the film from exposing. Think about it this way in SLR film cameras if there is dust on the film and it is not exposed the next picture will not have the same problem because you winded the roll. In DSLR, the same dust will be in every photo because it's the same (film) sensor.

[gostwick]

Nice blue sky though!

[Blue Jay]

Happy Camper checking in.

Returned the K-X with the black spot on the screen.
(Full refund.
-Three cheers for Amazon.com!)

Purchased K-X number two.
Arrived today.
Thanks to the Pentaxian Responders in this earlier thread, I now knew how to stop it down (f32 was all I could coax out of it) and look for snakes in the grass.
Nuthin' when compared to last time.

Okay, okay - One VERY small dot, upper left is all I could see, and that was really working to find it. Just not a factor.

FWIW- Went to "How to clean a sensor" school on line.
I'm on my own to keep it clean. But it arrived in excellent shape!

Thanks again.