So I did it. The anti-aliasing filter of my *istD finally got some sticky crud on it that the CO2 wouldn't blow off. I suspect that the stuff came out of the 24-90 I just bought from KEH, which came packed in styrofoam, always a problem with static. Add to that the highly charged CCD, and WHAMMO! Dust magnet.
I considered sending the whole unit to Dog knows where to get it looked at (Pentax Vancouver being out of business), but heard that it's $70 a shot. As the camera ages, this problem is bound to get worse, so I firured I'd better get conversant with the mthod right now. I looked at a couple of sites on the Web, and with fear in my heart, I resolved to clean the thing myself. I bought some Eclipse and some PecPads, and cut a Superstore card to be slightly less wide than the CCD. I wore powder-free latex gloves, changed the batteries and locked the shutter and mirror open, and went to work. The results are flawless. A few drops of Eclipse on the PecPad, wrapped around the credit card sliver, and one wipe in each direction (GENTLY!), and the crud is gone. I was certainly nervous about doing it, and I still wouldn't want to do this all the time, but it can be done without damage to the CCD. I've read that you should use the AC adapter for this kind of thing, but I don't have one, so I just used fresh NiMHs. I also considered buying the swabs specifically designed for CCDs, but they are $12 each. I know that's cheaper than a new CCD, but I'm just not willing to be held ranson like that. I read a few accounts of doing it this way, is I figured I'd go for it. As an aside, the place I phoned to get the supplies is probably the most pro-oriented shop in Vancouver, which seems to translate into the fact that they hold Pentax 35mm (or D-SLRs) in a certain amount of contempt. They asked me what I had - D1, D100, Canon monster, and I said, "Nope, Pentax." He made that scoffing noise: "Pfft! - one of those little star thingies, whatever they call 'em?" "Yup," said I. He asked, "You got dust on it already?" I said, "Yup." He said, "I didn't think those things had been out long enough to have dust on them."
