Dust on my M9 sensor already.

GMcD

GMcD

Established
Local time
3:08 PM
Joined
Aug 18, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Epsom UK
View My Gallery
I was a little disappointed to see sensor dust on my images from my new M9, after only a couple of days use, especially as I only used one lens.

My question is what is the best was to clean the sensor? Will jet-air do it?

Thanks for any advice.

Graham
 
I would suggest using a 'rocket' type blower rather than anything else. Being so new, your sensor is uinlikely to have anything stuck on it, so the debris should come off quite easily. The aerosol type of blower can be too harsh and many blow propellant onto the sensor, or so I've heard.
 
A lot of the M8's mine included actually had some 'oil' from the shutter initially. If the shutter is the same it might reasonably be the same issue and if so a blower brush will not shift it.
I used the "Green Clean" wet and dry sensor cleaner kit and the problem never recurred. generally for dust the Arctic Butterfly works nicely.

Best wishes

Richard
 
Like Richard says ... it's quite likely lubricant more than dust ... I had this issue with my M8 soon after buying it.

It will probably need wet cleaning for sure ... I found the lubricant very stubborn to remove and in fact it took two attempts before it was really clean!
 
I had an educational experience the other week with a camera repair guy who was showing me some examples of sensors he has cleaned. He shoots a frame of a lightbox at f/22 and then processes the file in some way that shows all the marks. I'm not sure what the processing was, I'm guessing it was something like contrast & sharpening, but it really shows up all the marks including some that were not visible on the initial frame. Some of these more subtle marks were rather soft & grey in appearance and according to the tech these were caused by people using rocket type air blowers to clean the sensor. He reckons they also blow some humid air in & this causes the extra marks. Might not be a problem if you are making small prints of for the Internet, but would be bad if you are printing big for an exhibition. Anyway it really opened my eyes to the complexity of this matter. funny thing is, i was planning to buy a rocket blower after I'd left his premises, but I think from now on I'll just give the digital camera to him for cleaning. I'm not sure how he cleans them but the after shots were spotless.
 
Lens Pen Sensor Klear

Lens Pen Sensor Klear

http://www.lenspen.com/403/377/

I use a combination of rocket blower and artic butterfly, but found the above product when looking for an alternative to wet cleaning - stubborn marks (grease?) on my 5D sensor. Its cheap (£15 from Jessops in the UK) and extremely easy to use. I found it significantly more effective than wet cleaning - removed dirt that two wet cleaning sessions couldn't deal with.
 
My M8, bought from the latest (at the time) serial number batch in late July of '07, never spritzed shutter oil on the sensor. After having the shutter upgrade last winter, likewise it has never spritzed shutter oil. I was under the impression that was one of the pleasures only M8 early-adopters were treated to (and maybe those who bought later but accepted early serial-numbered ones) and that Leica had rectified that design feature 🙂rolleyes🙂 by the second run. It would be bizarre if it re-emerged on the M9. So I would try the air bulb first, then if that didn't work (sometimes dust will cling due to static) a gentle flick...just a whisper of a touch...with a dry cleaning swab/pad. All before I would do a wet cleaning.

One of the things I was a little surprised not to see on the M9 was some kind of self-cleaning routine for the sensor. Even the cheap consumer dslr's nowadays seem to do that.
 
Last edited:
I'm curious...is this issue addressed in your users manual?

Best regards,

Bob
 
GMcD said:
I was a little disappointed to see sensor dust on my images from my new M9, after only a couple of days use, especially as I only used one lens.

My question is what is the best was to clean the sensor? Will jet-air do it?

Thanks for any advice.

Graham
Click to expand...

I was one of the M8 owners with some sort of greasy stuff on the sensor, virtually out of the box. I took it to my dealer who cleaned it a few times, eventually had Leica clean it and do something to it, (they were not horribly specific). My dealer cleans a lot of sensors.

I got some dust later, rocket did not remove it, bought the Arctic Butterfly (buy from their site), excellent investment.

So, if it has something stuck, I think your dealer owes you a cleaning or two, and if it is garden variety dust, Arctic Butterfly.

I do try to keep the lenses blown off before I mount them.

Regards, john
 
Actually a short trip back to the dealer (if they are near) is a very good idea!
If it is the shutter oil issue it really was not a big problem once done.

Oh and as a consultation fee we need to see some pictures!

Good luck

Richard
 
GMcD said:
I was a little disappointed to see sensor dust on my images from my new M9, after only a couple of days use, especially as I only used one lens.

My question is what is the best was to clean the sensor? Will jet-air do it?

Thanks for any advice.

Graham
Click to expand...

Contact your dealer. if its oil from the shutter, Leica should clean it.

find out what the Leica approved method of cleaning M9 sensors is.

don't rely upon guesses.

Stephen
 
if you go to luminous landscape and go to that video of the factory making the m9 you can see the tool they used to clean the sensors which makes a disturbing sound on the cover glass when in use.
 
I see those marks you got on there, seems more like dust to me but who knows. I use a visible dust sensor brush in my Canon's for years and they works a charm. Also if I may note the detail in the images seems a little sub par, dont know if that is flickr compression but seems like there is a lot of 100% detail missing from those shots.
 
A $7000 digital camera that doesn't have a built-in sensor cleaning (not a new technology by any means, my 5 years old Olympus E-300 has it).


Wow!
 
I think the foolproof method of having a dustless digital camera is to have a standing weekly order out for a new camera. I have repeatedly experienced that a new camera will work without a trace of dust on the sensor for about a week. So this will work for one week, 52 times a year.

Otherwise: learn how to dust the sensor. Easily described above in many posts ... But I still prefer option one above: less mess, and no worries ... and you get to know your UPS person quite well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom