I had exactly the same with my K5 the first time I cleaned it with my arctic butterfly. I think there must be some initial coating over the sensor. A clean with a cleaning swab cleaned it.

Little bit of front focusing in that first image Smeg...

SmegAlign... mmm don't think the name will catch on...

Glad your new camera is a lot better.

I have one that I'd be willing to part with. I never got rid of it when I sold my K20D. Make me a sensible offer.

Pentax have acknowledged the issue and have rectified the cameras. The date of Mike's camera was within the period that the K5's either had stains or that stains could appear. Newer cameras should have this issue sorted.

I don't understand why it would be the last nail in the lid for you? its an old issue that has been rectified....

Sorry to hear that Mike. I have been routinely checking mine and luckily I have none.

Have you used the video mode or Live view a lot? Just wondering why its appeared so much later. Hope you get it sorted a lot quicker this time.

I've got a Giottos 9351B Pro Tripod with a MH5011 Head which cost me around £100 and is an excellent tripod. It weighs in around 2kg but with it in its bag and over my shoulder I rarely notice it. I wanted something that could take my K5 with my 170-500 lens and not be too unstable...

Lovely shots.

Neil I use the 170-500 Sigma lens and its great to use on the K5. The Higher ISO speed (and less noise) means that I can push the ISO up to around 3200 or 6400 and handhold the lens shooting birds, etc. I don't think the AF is faster on this lens (smaller lens yes, but this is a big lens).

You also have the extra pixels which means cropping images down still retains lots of detail.

Hope this helps.

An Aletta DSLR Stabilizer... a handgrip with a stand... $149.95 U.S

I think I'll say that firmware 1.03 is actually a lot better than I originally thought. I have had to recalibrate my lens again (a couple are different from under 1.02 ), but I am now getting almost perfect focus in daylight AND low light.

I have even just had my K5 take a photo at -0.4EV.... Admittedly it didn't get focus first hit, I did have to force it to a second focus attempt but through the lens AND no green focus light I was damn impressed.

Anyway back to more playing with the camera tonight and tomorrow I think...