That's why I wrote "mostly" Mike. And indeed image forming reflections can come frome everywhere in an optical system. Two things however: reflections from non flat surfaces rapidly defocus and end up in general glare effects, and the "deeper"the reflection originates in an optical system, the less image creating it is. "Dancing" fireflies (most frequently seen) from candlelights, streetlights,... definitely come from the front suface of the (moving) OIS prism reflecting back onto a flat surface in front (filter). The spherically curved front element on the VX defocuses the back reflected rays and doesnt generate firelflies on itself.

$30 sounds very reasonable to me. I'll ask my local Sony rep and see what happens.

Just to keep you updated, Sony Thailand did the mould cleaning for me. I was without the camera for a couple of weeks and they charged me 963 baht (23 dollars). All seem fine and the mould is gone, although there is a very tiny speck of something left down inside the lens that doesn't seem to show up on video. Generally I'm happy and glad I didn't go the DIY route.

Thank You Nick. Very promising.