@nipper: You don't say how you contacted Clifton Cameras or what you said. I contacted them by email politely explaining my sensor markings and asking their advice and they telephoned me less than an hour later. I found them to be just as willing to help as SRS have been with others in this thread. IF you find your problem is not dust I am sure you will find Clifton Cameras supportive.

@Adventura: A personal opinion is not to be confused with a statement of fact to be argued. A personal opinion is just a personal opinion - regardless of who's it is. None is more valid than any other.

'Not many' was also the answer I was given, so it may be that it is what all retailers have been asked to say by Pentax. I gave my supplier the option to try a professional clean of the sensor but he basically said their was little point and that all K5s considered by owners to have sensor blemishes (call them what you will) are to be sent to Johnsons for checking. Perhaps Johnsons might find some that clean up OK but there is no need for the owners to have red faces. A wet sensor clean of a brand new DSLR should not be necessary.

Jim

This is just one of several good reasons why Pentax needs to issue a formal statement ASAP. Perhaps that should also be by email or letter to every registered K5 purchaser? Canon dealt with it this way but however it is done Pentax have a responsibility to their K5 customers.

A shame. Presumably they cannot now count on your future custom. How short-sighted of them.

Absolutely!

Rapid response and good communication would have been the best method of damage limitation. Now, not only are 'K5 sensor problems' all over the Internet but also splashed across Amateur Photographer. Surely a statement from Pentax is overdue (other than we're looking into it).

Having spoken to my K5 retailer, he is following the same procedure as SRS which he says is the way he has been instructed by Pentax. He will collect my camera, send it to Johnsons for checking and if the sensor faults are verified a 'clean' replacement K5 will be sent from Belgium. He believes total turn-around should be less than a week. He has asked me to hang on to the present K5 until 4 Jan, which I am happy to do. Like Chris Harland, he is responding with the professionalism you would hope of a Pentax Pro Centre. Credit to them. BTW he said that Pentax has identified the source of the problem and all K5s now coming off the production line have clean sensors, which is good news for those who have delayed their purchase. Hold on - the K5 is definitely worth the wait!

Jim

We can all see the dilemna manufacturers face when products are identified as possibly having a common fault. No doubt there are boardroom arguments between the marketing bods knowing the disadvantage of a tarnished image and the accountants fretting about recall costs. The recent Toyota brakes farce is a typical example but they eventually had to relent and recall. At least no-one is likely to die as the result of a blemished sensor but, just the same, it should not happen and a general recall to have cameras checked by the Pro Centres might ultimately be Pentax's wisest decision. In terms of Pentax's future, they simply can't afford disgruntled customers. They need to restore confidence in the K5 as being what it is - by far the best camera currently available at that price.

Oh crikey, I seem to have managed to get myself completely misunderstood (not a good start on the forum). I'm not suggesting for one moment that sensor issues are, under any circumstances, acceptable and something that can be lived with. I want something done as much as all other disappointed K5 purchasers. My comments were made in the context of previous posts regarding the percentage of affected cameras - my concern being that many owners who might not yet have discovered problems may make the percentage a lot higher than seems to have been officially accepted.

@SmutjeUK: I had certainly not intended to poo-poo the issue and hope it didn't come over that way. My point was simply that many K5 users may have sensor blemishes but be unaware. It depends how they use their camera and how large they print or view.

As a newbie here I hope you won't mind me adding a comment regarding '% faulty'.

Photographing a white sheet at f22 and then viewing it @ 100% is not something most owners of a new camera would naturally do. I certainly wouldn't have done, were it not for reading the two threads on this forum. It might have been a long time before I noticed the couple of very small blemishes, which only really show at the smallest apertures @ 50%+ crop. In anything other than a plain background they are lost and I don't have a macro lens that would tend to accentuate them. It is quite possible that many K5 owners (and owners of other cameras) have sensor marks but are blissfully unaware, particularly as none seem to show up in Dust Alert. The question is, will Pentax issue a general alert to K5 owners as Canon did some time ago when they had oil on sensor issues?

@Monobod Thanks for the advice. I am in the UK and bought the K5 from a Pentax Pro Centre so I would expect them to adopt the same admirably professional approach to the issue as Chris Harland of SRS has on this forum. I am delighted with every aspect of the K5 so would not be interested in any alternative and I'm pretty confident that this hiccup can be satisfactorily resolved.

Although this issue is naturally of concern to K5 owners I am personally a little disappointed that people on several forums feel the need to make a lot of noise about it in the belief that it will prompt Pentax into action. Nikon and Canon have had sensor issues in the past and have addressed them. No doubt Pentax will do the same and quite likely they already have measures under way acting on feedback from their Pro Centres.