Sensor cleaning... not

Its now seven months since I bought my K20 and I have just realised that I have never had to clean the sensor, it would seem that that the sensor shaking thing really works. My DS, by comparison, needs fairly regular scrubbing.

Anyone else concur?

I've never owned a DSLR without the dust removal feature.

Friends with other brands which don't employ this feature often talk about sensor cleaning, I just shrug and carry on shooting.

My K20 needs cleaning. I just can't raise the enthusiasm to do it at the moment. The clone tool takes care of it for now.
The Ds didn't need much cleaning either, though perhaps more often the the K20. But then I used it more than I do the K20 .

Same as you Ken. The *ist-D & *ist-DS need regular cleaning

Since the K10 I've only ever had to blow off stubborn dust - but that seems increasingly rare (with the K7)
It certainly is doing its stuff
Matt

See my various threads about this

I've always had the sensor-shake-on-power-up option on since the day I've bought the Kx, and had nothing but trouble with dust the last few months.

Waiting for SRS to get an Artic Butterfly in for me at the moment, camera sat on the shelf doing nothing... Had a play with a friends D90 this afternoon by coincidence...that didn't help my decreasing-enthusiasm for the Kx very much either...shall see what comes out at Photokina, but I clearly need a WR and/or "Better Built" body for 50% of my shots

I haven't really found dust to be much of a problem to be honest. Certainly nothing compared to the dust that could end up on negatives....

flossie, where is all this dust coming from? Maybe lens changing in a very dusty environment?

I'm not sure a "better built body" is the answer to dust though. The K-x seems well built enough to me, but are you meaning dust and weather sealed perhaps. K20D or K7 could be the answer to that, but I'm still concerned that you seem to be finding so much dust.

I change lenses pretty often,in hostile enviroments,especially this weather when it's dusty!.I always have my the automatic cleaning on at start up ,hence I have very little problem with dust. If I do manage to take in a few particals,the "Butterfly " solves the problem,I had much more trouble with my DS!.....Long live the K20D!

The *istD was terrible - K10 a lot better and the K7 even moreso. Have even had the dust remover switched off and its been fine!
Andy

My only two DSlrs have been a K10D & a K20D. Dust has been much (much) less of an issue with the K20D. Which means:

a. I've got better at changing lenses;
b. I'm changing lenses in a less dusty environment;
c. the K20D has improved performance in this regard.

I reckon it's mostly c.

I did a dust alert check recently (after a long period in which lenses were changed probably more than 100 times) and was amazed when absolutely none was detected.

So if you want something dust resistant then the K20D might be the way to go flossie. It's also ergonomically superior (in my hands, at least) and much better built (in anyone's hands) than a D90.

Of three sensors, I cleaned one (scary) and learned to be more careful. I haven't had to repeat, yet.

I wish I knew where all this dust is coming from! I change lenses 99.9% of the time indoors, and I try to be as carefully about it as I can. From going through the pictures with the Clone/Heal tool in LR, I am positive that the dirt noticeably increases through the day as I'm walking about outdoors - even though I haven't changed lens or done anything other than had it out for a few hours. By comparison my studio/indoor shots show nothing.

Yes the ergonimcs of the K7/K20 are better than the D90 - but the AF system completely blew me away. Silent, quick, and those active focus points in the viewfinder...oooOOooh, very nice - and I'm a Manual Focus guy a lot of the time! Don't worry, I wouldn't swap system for it though - a D700, maybe... but that's another matter.

I am considering a second body, but for financial reasons I'm holding off for a while, at least until Photokina. But if the Butterfly doesn't fix my dust issues with the Kx, it will either get thrown out of the window in rage or be relegated to indoor candids only.

p.s.
The sad thing is my friend hasn't really got a clue (or the time) to use it properly, I may have to offer to take his pictures for him!

You do hold the camera facing down when you change lenses don't you?

And you do switch the camera off while you change lenses don't you?

You do use head and shoulders?
You have hoovered your camera bags out?
You have got rid of any desiccant packs (I suspect dust producers)?
You don't keep the spare lens in your pocket with a loose macaroon?

You're right, Doug - the head and shoulders is very important