Sensor Cleaning Pentax K-r

Do as needed or auto at start up . Opinions please

I set mine for auto startup..

Both. There's no reason not have it switched on at start up. How often you need to clean the sensor after this depends on a few factors:

1. How often you change lenses
2. How careful you are when you change them (don't leave the body for long with no lens attached and dont leave it pointing upwards)
3. How dusty / dirty the environment is when you change lenses

There's no doubt you will have to clean it at some point. I would recommend the Giottis Rocket Blower (great product, reasonable cost) and also would say don't be afraid to give it a 'wet clean' with pec pads and some isopropyl alcohol if you ever get any stubborn dirt that won't blow away. Also, make sure your cleaning pads are just slightly damp and not 'wet'. I made some wooden spatulas out of unused chip forks to help with the cleaning - make a 'flat end' and wrap the pec pad carefully around it, spray the alcohol onto a clean surface (not your sensor!) and carefully dampen the pad. Pull the pad across the sensor making sure you wipe all of it. Before you do this make sure you've got rid of any loose dust with the blower to avoid any risk of scratching.

This method should only be required once in a blue moon, but is very effective as long as you are careful.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards
David

As long as its not detrimentle to the camera i guess auto will lessen the chance of ruining a good photo opportunity with dust marks

I have it on by default. Canikon friends bemused by such a fine feature and the dust preview screen option. The ad hoc option in the menu seems more vigorous

I use a hurricane blow brush to clean the protective screen in front of the sensor if persistant dust. I check whenever I'm back from field use of multiple lenses.

How does the dust preview screen work ?

Page 317 of the user manual. Takes a white pic against a plain surface and shows where any dust is.Check again after cleaning.

Cheers Bill , i'll remember that

I have mine set to shake the sensor on startup. Feels a bit violent but it didn't harm my old GX10 and seems to do no harm on the Kr.

I used to use a rocket blower to clean out odd bits of dust - but I had a bit of a disaster with one a few months ago. The blower got some dust in it - so instead of cleaning out one or two specs my blower added about a dozen - nasty!

I wasn't brave enough to wet clean my sensor so I got a friend who has done it lots of times to help out and it all came up clean and fine again. He recommended a blower with a filter on its inlet - that way it should never be adding dirt to my camera - so I got one of these:

link

I keep it in a zip lock bag just to help keep it super clean - I've used it a couple of times and it hasn't caused me any problems - so fingers crossed!

Cheers, davey.