K5 sensor stain or something else

Depends on which basic one you mean. There are Arctic Butterflies (the original)without a motor that you have to spin yourself, or buy a spinner attachment for, but there are also a couple of Motorised Arctic Butterflies, in which case the cheaper one is as good as the more expensive one.
The newest one has lights too. I'm not sure if they are an improvement and worth the dosh or not. The one I got my Daughter-in-law has lights.
They are cheaper here than in the UK btw .

I also have a sensor loupe which means I can be sure the sensor is crud free.

How much cheaper Gwyn?

Swap the pound sign for a euro sign normally. I've seen the 724 for €59 or the Super Bright (with LEDS) for €89,95 and the 788 for €69.95. Of course you'd have to add postage to that, so the savings probably aren't worthwhile.
They have actually gone up a bit since I bought the one for my DIL.

I have the 'basic' 724 and it has served me well since the 31st of May 2007. Definitely worth getting, wouldn't buy the more advanced ones the price increase isn't really justified considering the results would be close to the same.

Thanks for the advise
Bernard

Whilst I agree with your opinion that a butterfly would be a good investement, but did you buy yours within days of getting your camera?

I have purchased the Pentax lollipop (sensor cleaning kit), and it has served me well on the K100D and Kx, yet to use on K5. However, if I had to have used it on the K5 so soon after purchasing the camera, I would not be a happy bunny.

If I purchased an expensive suit, and found a stain a few days later, I would not purchase a box of Persil to hopefully clean the stain, thinking that the Persil might come in useful for future stains.

Personally (and I stress personally), I would want the suit perfect when I bought it. The same would apply for a K5, or any other expensive camera.

Understandable sentiments, but hardly something that can be helped. A brand new camera is just as likely to get a fibre/dust or whatever on the sensor as an older one.

To throw my two cents in here though, I agree an Arctic Butterfly is a good investment HOWEVER I would NOT recommend using it to clean the sensor on an brand new K-5 for the first time. Indeed I would STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST IT! I tried this myself with unfortunate consequenses. The brand new sensor had some kind of residue film on it from manufacturing and the Arctic Butterfly just smeared this around and made a mess, so I ended up having to clean both the Sensor AND the Arctic Butterfly. The first time you clean the sensor, use swabs and solution and give it a thorough going over because this will remove any film which might be present and you'll be able to use the Arctic Butterfly for subsequent cleans without any problems.

Good point Mark. Thinking about it I used swabs first on the K-5, having read of others experiences. I should have cleaned it earlier than I did in fact but was OK with cloning until I got the swabs and gave it a good clean. It has needed a couple of cleans since then too. It seems to attract dust faster than the K20D did.

And yes I got the Butterfly very shortly after I got the Ds. That didn't have sensor cleaning technology so it needed something to clean it. Plus it took me a while to realise how best to change lenses on the thing.

What's this about, then?

Has anyone else come across this?

The filters covering the sensor have coatings that should be treated with care, but it's the first time I've heard of a manufacturing film.

Many things form films because of reaction with Oxygen in the air (air inhibited layers...)but if there were to be a film where would it go? Evaporate? Wouldn't that have happened in storage before delivery?

Quite. Seems a bit dodgy to me.

@ Mark: Are you completely certain it wasn't some gunk you'd managed to get on your AB before attempting the clean, that then got spread over the sensor?

AIUI, it's quite easy to do that, especially if the AB has previously been used on something sticky. Of course, you can't discover that the dust is really sticky pollen until you try the AB and it doesn't work. Then it's too late!

I posted a thread on this very forum at the time when it happened and IIRC I was not the only forum member to have had the same problem when cleaning a brand new Pentax sensor with an Arctic Butterfly. I seem to recall there were at least a couple of others. If this is not due to some kind of residue left over on the sensor from the manufacturing process it seems like an awfully large coincidence.

Okay I found the old thread here. So to correct my previous comments slightly one other forum member (GDN) had the same problem with a new sensor. Smeggypants also had a similar problem but does not state whether the sensor was new and thought the 'gunk' came from the brush. I think I can rule that out in my case because as I stated on the other thread, my wife used the same brush on her Canon with no issues whatsoever (and her sensor was far from new).