Absolutely, I bought from SRS because of previous problems. Customer service is more important to me than saving the odd tenner.

Actually I did notice the fault, but wrongly attributed it to something on the lens. It would have been apparent from time to time but these threads helped me diagnose it. It isn't dust, or at least dust which can be removed by me.

I'm not in the slightest concerned as SRS will sort it out and I'm now hugely experienced in owning faulty cameras. The earliest report I have (now) seen of this problem was on 17th November. I only bought this camera a few days ago. There must be a large amount of stock around with a significant risk of this issue being present. This is not trivial, it is an abysmal failure of quality control and a prime example of how to shoot oneself in the foot.

If there is a great blob on the sensor then it would show on videos too I would imagine.

Well it will cost them more than the wages of the QA staff. I doubt there was much QA at all.

Disappointment, Frustration, Anger and Incredulity, all in a few dots:




Pentax K5 pointed at a blank wall today, don't care about the rest.

I could see mine on the screen.

I have no idea if they will replace it. I hope so. My K20D was repaired five times. It went through three sensors and two PCB's, plus other things. It was eventually replaced (with a faulty K7 which was replaced again) but I couldn't understand how the expensive cycle of repairs benefited anyone (apart from the service agents and postal services who must have made a fair bit).

I judge customer service not by product faults but how those faults are dealt with. This is clearly a widespread problem affecting many cameras to some degree. It is not an immediately obvious problem to spot so there may be many more exhibiting the same issue. Dealers must be wondering how much of their stock is affected. All I can say is I'm very confident that SRS will do their best for customers. I know how I would deal with it but I can only hope that Pentax do the decent thing.

I have reported the issue to Chris. Clearly it seems widespread and my guess from reading all the problems is there must have been something wrong on the production line. And even worse, quality control hasn't picked it up. Pentax will have to sort this out, it will damage them if they don't. It seems to me this warrants a product recall. This is my third successive faulty Pentax.

Gwyn, yours is badly affected. I wouldn't even consider working around the fault. I appreciate it's a pain to send back a camera - I've already done it six times.

Photo at f6.3 There is a blob just to the left of the London Eye and just below half way up. I first thought it was a snowflake:




Crop. It is clearly visible between two pods:




Plain paintwork f36, full size.




Crop. Note also the arc of marks above:




It is definitely the same mark it is in the exact same location and is reproduced in the same place when the camera is moved. It is less noticeable at lower f stops but becomes very apparent the higher the ISO. This looks identical to the marks reported on the other forum.