Hi everyone, thanks for your concerns and help; my fault! tried Lightroom 3 and elements, and no sign of the dreaded smear or blooming as put, i would never have thought it; another learning curve and thanks very much for your patience.I did upgrade the camera just a short while after purchasing, to upgrade 11 but i think there is another one out now, upgrade 12; but i think it is only coordinates for sat nav, but i'll check it out; just shows you can't be too careful hey! A big worry off my mind anyway. Chris, i see you have the 17-70 F4 lens; how do you rate it, all round i mean because i think every lens has for and against! It works fine on my K5, but on the GX10, it's a bit slow on the A/F side, and i've cleaned the contacts etc, but otherwise fine. it is the SDM model. thanks again everyone and bye for now Geoff.

hi john, yes i'm useing picasa with windows, i get the stripes on both raw & jpg, but i'll try lightroom 3 and elements 9 of which i have both, i havn't tried raw + jpg, so i will try that also, your right it's elimination of certain factors. thanks for the help john and i'll come back to you later,as i've quite a bit on today, Geoff.PS i use picassa for quickness, but ithink i'll have to get out of the habit!!

Hi john, yes i am shooting in Raw DNG but i have converted to JPG and same results, nothing that easy hey!I think you could be right-- the sensor,it's not on the display at all, only when i download , do the narrow stripes appear, along the top in (portrait) and on the right hand side in (landscape) modes. I have just emailed Pentax with the information, so i am hoping for favourable results hey; thanks again john, bye the way i'm from darlington of all places! on the map at the moment, football or not! We get throu to scarborough quite regular in the summer months (joke) we have a static near whitby so we are quite central when there. thanks for the help and nice to be in touch. Geoff.

Hi everyone out there. I'm Geoff, I'm a new starter and still learning,as we do, i have bought a Pentax K5 quite recently, Cracking camera, truly unbelievable performance, but a problem i think is blooming or a thin band of stripes above and below the photograph negative, i've tried different lenses, with the same results, like a fringing, but off the photograph. I've got a naughty feeling it could be the sensor! i would be oblidged if anyone had an answer or a theory, it is still under warranty, but the issue is, does it need fixing, ps I Have a Samsung GX10, same stable as the K10, and not this issue. thanks for looking and for any returns would be appreciated. thanks again [u]Geoff.