K5 sensor stain or something else

I have had my K5 for only a few days now and enjoying playing with it.

This morning one of shots showed an odd artifact in the centre -

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo1.jpg[/IMG]

I did a test shot against a plain wall and it is clearly visible again -

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo2.jpg[/IMG]

My first thought was a sensor stain, but all the examples I have seen on the Web are like spots. This looks more hair like.

I used the K5's dust removal routine which had no effect and the dust alert option showed nothing in the position of this problem. I tried to use the option to raise the mirror so I could blow air across the sensor, but the battery did not have enough charge to do this. So that may have to wait until tomorrow.

Also tried a few shots this evening and it is still there.

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo3.jpg[/IMG]

The retailer will happily replace the camera, but only after Pentax have confirmed there is a problem (the retailer has been caught out in the past by replacing faulty equipment where the fault had been caused by the user)

Problem is in the next couple of weeks I'm going to some special places and I don't want to be without the camera, so it looks as if I'll have to work around it - not impossible but it will be a bit of a bind and obviously it needs fixing.

So any suggestions on what this may be and how to remedy it will be appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

Dust (or a hair)

Do you have a rocket blower?

Well it's definitely something on the sensor. It doesn't look anything like any of the pictures of sensor stain I've seen, and it does look very much like a hair, or a fibre.

The dust-removal system was virtually useless in four years of K10D use, and although I expect it's better on the K-5, I wouldn't be in the least surprised if you can get stuff on there that it won't shift.

It only needs to be slighty sticky, and the Arctic Butterfly (search the forum for that term) won't shift it, and there's no alternative to a wet clean. Lots of stuff around here on how to do that - don't be afraid of doing it yourself.

I *so* would never use this technique any more.

Although I would concede that the crap you'll blow in there will be smaller than that monster.

Could it be on the back element of the lense rather that the sensor?

I always turn the camera face down and blow inwards from below, hopefully any dust should fall out rather than be blown around the camera.

Very rarely have a problem with dust but when I do this is the method I try first and it works 99.9% of the time.

Thanks for the comments.

I did a plain wall test with an old SMC 1.8 55mm lens too and the mark was still there.

Dave

It definitely looks like a fibre on the sensor. Invest in an Arctic Butterfly as the dust shake feature can't clean some things out as they will just come back eventually.

A few days old K5, and I certainly would not be looking to be spending another £80-£90 on an arctic butterfly to clean the sensor

Adrian

There is some truth in the above view
Following this debacle I give it lots of preliminary puffs to clear out the wildlife...
Pete

How the hell did you blow a spider in there?

Hard enough to squish it against the sensor by the look of it.

Hopefully it's that rather than the aftermath of jamming the end of the blower against the sensor a little overenthusiastically.

Why not? It isn't something you use every day it's true but it is something which will get used fairly regularly. It doesn't stop working just because you change cameras either - mine is now used on my K-5 after being used on both the Ds and K20d. I think it was a very fine investment, far better than swabs and cleaning fluid, which do run out and need replacing.

I had something similar on my K20, which would not budge until I bought an Arctic Butterfly - job done.

I've got something very similar in they eyepiece of my K10D. Happily it doesn't photography. It appeared after I'd had it on the sensor and gave it a blast with a rocket puffer. Just goes to show the bits don't necessarily come out (per JR's comments ages ago I had the body pointing down at the time)


Incidentally is there any advantages in buying a more expensive Arctic Butterfly over the basic one?

Regards

Bernard