Please forgive me for pointing this out, but the DA 55-300mm can be had for just under £250 brand new...

Methylated spirits is not pure alcohol.

It's mainly ethanol mixed with a bit of methanol (to make it poisonous and thus less attractive to tramps who want to drink it), purple dye and bitters (to make it taste bad). This is all done to make it so you don't have to a) Have a license to purchase it and b) so the government can not tax it as alcohol. Imagine how much a bottle of ethanol would cost if they charged your normal tax for booze on it...

As a result of those impurities it is not great for cleaning optics as it will leave smears on the glass. I suspect whatever you cleaned with the methylated spirits is not wrecked (unless you soaked it and something underneath got damaged), but rather is just covered in smears. Clean it with some real pure alcohol (eclipse fluid if you have to...) and it should go away easily.

I'm pretty sure the eclipse fluid is just pure methanol or ethanol - though pure alcohol or is not always easy to get hold of. My Mum happens to work in the chemistry industry

I didn't have anything else to try out, so yeah a cotton bud Perhaps a cotton bud wrapped in silk would be better as there would be no loose fibres then. But I'm happy and now have a more than adequate second shooter for relatively little money - especially once I sell the kit lens.

Well tonight I did what many would consider a cardinal sin or pure stupidity.

I cleaned the "sensor" - by which we all mean the anti-alias filter in front of the sensor, using a cotton bud and some pure methanol.

I soaked the cotton bud in methanol then left it 10 minutes to evaporate. I then proceeded to wipe the glass in very small strokes being careful not to re-wipe with the same section of cotton bud. The many dust spots which were there disappeared and now the small aperture, white photograph (as described above) came out clear of dust specs.

I would definitely do this again, but will look for something to use other than a cotton bud as there is the potential for very small cotton fibres to come off and remain on the sensor. Ideally a microfibre or piece of silk on a stick would be used.

Incidentally, this was on an *ist DS which I just picked up on eBay for £50 with an 18-55 It was sold as spares/repair and I fixed it, so I was happy to take this gamble on cleaning the sensor - which was filthy! With something other than a cotton bud I think I would have a go at doing this on my K7 if it ever needed it but so far it's been crystal clear

I accept no responsibility for the wellbeing of your camera if you decide to try this out. I'm just relaying my experience

Is all of this sold now? Interested in the holster...

As title really, after one of those two lenses, or something very similar.

Let me know what you've got!

I think as I'm a new user, I may not be able to send/receive PMs...