Professional Sensor Cleaning Advice

I have been experiencing problems with dust on the sensor recently.
A trusted friend cleaned it for me; however, this made the problem worse!
I can now see a few particles through the viewfinder (no idea where/what this is).

Applying the rocket blower has it seems got rid of some of these particles, but some remain.

I have applied the rocket blower once again, but have not got around to testing it (my usual method being the blue sky, which is sadly missing in North Wales at the moment).

If a professional job is in order, does anybody have any recommendations?
Ideally taking it to a shop would be more preferable to sending it away.

The following link shows the state of the sensor after it was cleaned by my mate, and after applying the rocket blower afterwards.

Kind regards.
Adrian

link

I found the official pentax sensor cleaner to be excellent - got rid of a lot of spots on my sensor that I couldn't see by eye.
You need to take a deep breath before poking your sensor with a plastic wand though....

Some will tell you that using a blower will blow the dust further into the camera others will say it is fine as long as you hold the camera upside-down, mind you I can't see the logic in that as fine dust does not fall when blown it will take to the air and land when it runs out of energy.

I have gently blown my isd but I am not going to do the K20 will buy some other sort of cleaner and will read others opinions with interest.

The specks through the viewfinder are probably due to your friend trying to "blow" the sensor clean!.....dust has been blown up inside the viewfinder, I gave up with blowers along time ago for this very reason, invest in an Arctic butterfly brush!. You can clean your focussing screen very easily,but great care must be taken not to touch it,I believe special tweezers can be bought for the job.......good luck!

Best place for a rocket blower is in the bin

Well, no it is fine on lens and the exterior of the camera, good to blow round the lens mount area and the lens when you change them, if you remember and there is not a rare animal dancing in front of you.

Dust visible in the viewfinder is, at worst, annoying. It will not affect your images in the slightest.

An Arctic Butterfly from Visible Dust will sort your sensor dust issues.

I've used a rocket blower for the past 2 years on my k10 never had a problem with dust' never had a problem with the camera either.

I touching wood right now

I caught my sensor with my rocket blower and put a ruddy great mark on it which shows from about f/13. I emailed the company that has taken over Pentax servicing yesterday for a quote and they came back this morning at £160 + vat. I am thinking I may as well leave it now and buy a K-7 sooner than expected, I have put up with the mark for about 6 months so Im sure a few more wont make any difference.

Andrew... set the camera to do a long exposure at f22 pointed at a bright wall with the camera defocused. Download the picture to photoshop, flip the image (to give a mirror image) and you will have something to refer to to pinpoint any bits of dust.

I got dust in the viewfinder using a blower once. I just gave it another good blow and that removed it.

"dust in the viewfinder" will often be dust on the upper surface of the focusing screen or bottom of prism - release the screen and allow it to drop down then use blower or clean brush (eg Artic Butterfly" to dust of the bottom of the prism and top of the focusing screen and flip the screen back up.

A few weeks ago I took the camera to a photography shop in North Wales for cleaning (£35). This didn't get rid of everything, a few slightly visible specs remain, although it's a whole lot better than what it used to be.

I noticed that the Pentax cleaning wand on SRS and many others has shot up in price from £29 to £57! I managed to get one at the 'old' price, but as yet haven't given it a try.

Again thanks for all your advice and suggestions.

Adrian

You didn't like the thought of an "Arctic Butterfly " then?.......you may live to regret it!

That was £35 wasted then.

To anyone who feels afraid, I cleaned my sensor with the Arctic Butterfly with a lot of trepidation. It took me 4 attempts to get it clean, but you soon realise it is not as difficult as you might imagine.

The kit I bought cost £100, which does seem like an awful lot, until you realise this should last you for the next 10 cleans (at least).

Don't think that a 'professional' clean will necessarily be done by professionals.