Hi all, I'm sure all the *istD owners out there know about dust on the sensor. I do, particularly as it shows up worst when using small apertures like I do most of the time.
The first time I got dust I sent the camera to CR Kennedy (Pentax Australia or close enough). They cleaned it over night for AU$50 - I delivered it and picked it up. The next time I got dust I thought to clean it off with a blower bulb. I started off with a small amount of dust and ended up with HUGH!!!! amounts of dust deposited by the blower. I eventually managed to blow it off again but still had dust. CR Kennedy said I would have to leave the camera with them for 4 days. The dust wasn't so bad so I put up with it rather than not have the camera. I did talk to them about their cleaning techniques. They blow the sensor clean using dry nitrogen and only touch the sensor if absolutely necessary. I'm pricing a nitrogen blowing setup at the moment - the regulator is the most expensive at AU$170 and I'm trying to find a cheaper one before I spend the money. I also ordered a sensor swipe http://www.pbase.com/image/15473243 , Pec pads and Eclipse fluid. It finally arrived last night. I got out a dirty microscope slide to do some testing on - I'm not going to test on my *istD! the slide is dirty and has gunk on it and I swipe it with the sensor swipe with a Pecpad on it and 3 drops of Eclipse. the slide is now smeared with gunk, but cleaner and I admit that this is probably not a fair test as if the sensor was THAT dirty I would be sending it off for a service. I clean the slide, dry it and sprinkle some dust on it and test again - swipe, swipe. Dust is gone and it's looking good. Tonight I try it on the *istD - test shot, swipe, swipe, test shot. Some of the dust is gone, but I can see a couple of smears on the sensor. Rewrap the swipe and go again - swipe, swipe, test shot. Smears are nearly gone and so is nearly all the dust - rewrap, swipe, swipe, test shot. Look around test shot - 1 small speck in an out of the way place. I'm keeping this speck and calling it Gerald after a friend who was a minor annoyance but did no real harm and I'll get rid of it next time I need to clean. With a bit more practice at keeping the sensor swipe flat on the sensor I think it will work fine for cleaning, but I'll add the nitrogen to my cleaning arsenal as I prefer not to have to touch the sensor if I don't have to. I'm not sure what is in the Eclipse fluid, but it's not just methanol. It doesn't appear to have any negative effects on the AA filter. Now on Saturday I hope to do some nice photos of Sarah. Leon http://www.bluering.org.au http://www.bluering.org.au/leon
