Removing dust from the sensor of your (Pentax) DSLR (sensor cleaning)

I doubt you'd damage your sensor unless you're really clumsy (they're rather more robust than most people imagine) … what I would worry about is damaging the SR mechanism or leaving any trace of adhesive on the sensor which will hold any future contamination rather more firmly!

Personally, any "dust-bunnies" I encounter soon scurry back to their burrows after a couple of puffs from an rubber-bulb air blower, but maybe our dust is less pernicious than yours

Pentax's Lollipop is very good if that fails use a swab.

I'll just nod my head along with other comments already made here, then add this:

The longer that you leave "dust" "schmutz" "detritus" or whatever you want to call it on your sensor, the harder it is to remove. Because over time, for many reasons (mostly humidity and heat and cold cycles, organic growth, whatever) it becomes more solidly attached, almost guaranteeing you will have to do a "wet cleaning" of your sensor, even beyond the sticky tape.

I used to be of the opinion to leave well enough alone, clone out spots until I couldn't stand it anymore and clean as a last resort, for fear of damaging the sensor or moving dust around and making it worse ... Not so much anymore.

After suffering the anxiety of my first and second wet cleanings (via a kit, of which there are many types out there, I'm not here to recommend one over another, they all work pretty good for me so far) I AM here to recommend the purchase of a high-pressure rubber bulb blower like the Giotto Rocket blower. (NOT COMPRESSED AIR CAN!!! Those can spit propellant and moisture!)

My habit has become to regularly blow out the sensor as a matter of routine on returning from an outdoor or potentially dusty outing before putting the camera away. (I usually just lock the mirror up, face the camera down and blow up into it and give the sensor a quick go-over) Take a quick stopped down shot at a flat low light source to look for obvious dirt and put it away for next time. This routine has seen to it that I haven't had to do a wet cleaning in a very long time (2yrs?)

I also recommend keeping the base/mount end of all your stored lenses clean. I don't want to get sidetracked into proper lens cleaning, that is another story and worthy of its own thread (not mine) suffice it to say, just don't push dust into your lens rear opening or seams while cleaning.

Preventatively, when changing lenses in the field, I'm very aware of not leaving the camera lens-less for any period of time longer than needed to just change the lens, and I do that with the mount facing downwind and away from water spray or whatever source of contamination I sense nearby (flowering plants do tend to make a lot of sticky pollen, stand clear and upwind with your back to the wind if you can...pollen on your sensor will happily ruin your wide angle vista's full of blue sky with the lens stopped down to F11 and look like UFO's, heh heh.)

Hope that helps, because that's all I got, heh heh. Have fun!