Cleaning an M8 sensor - horror story

Was looking for a miracle cure, and I got by for a few months.

I can say, I had the camera in for cleaning and back to Leica for the -- whatever it was greasy stuff-- on the sensor.

Am Googling Visible Dust's Arctic Butterfly, and if it is a porn site, will let you know.

Careful compressed gas, well, it rearranged some of the tiny pieces of lint.

I am reading in the tea leaves that a lesson in cleaning is in my future.

I normally leave cleaning inside of things to pros, the ones who can afford to fix it again if it is damaged?

Regards, any miracles can be reported ASAP.

John
 
JohnTF said:
Was looking for a miracle cure, and I got by for a few months.

I can say, I had the camera in for cleaning and back to Leica for the -- whatever it was greasy stuff-- on the sensor.

Am Googling Visible Dust's Arctic Butterfly, and if it is a porn site, will let you know.

Careful compressed gas, well, it rearranged some of the tiny pieces of lint.

I am reading in the tea leaves that a lesson in cleaning is in my future.

I normally leave cleaning inside of things to pros, the ones who can afford to fix it again if it is damaged?

Regards, any miracles can be reported ASAP.

John
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NEVER!!!! compressed gas. Unless you like horror stories of course...
The Giotto Rocket blower is fine.
 
Visible Dust's "Arctic Butterfly" is all I used (on the M8) and all I will use now on my D700's. I think only the most stubborn of "dust" particles would require a wet cleaning method (Copperhhill method which I've used since the Canon 10D).

Cheers,
Dave
 
jaapv said:
NEVER!!!! compressed gas. Unless you like horror stories of course...
The Giotto Rocket blower is fine.
Click to expand...


Appreciate the warning, can is almost empty, pressure low, and held at a distance, calculated risk. Was looking for the bulb blower I normally have in the bag.

John
 
dcsang said:
Visible Dust's "Arctic Butterfly" is all I used (on the M8) and all I will use now on my D700's. I think only the most stubborn of "dust" particles would require a wet cleaning method (Copperhhill method which I've used since the Canon 10D).

Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...

Am looking to order one, am not going to tell you what I thought the first time I saw one, -- well, I will,-- I did not get it right away that you turn off the spin cycle before you clean the sensor. ;)

Thought it was expensive, but if it does the job, I can save that in gas to the shop.

And if it works, it works.

Thanks, John
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
We haven't had a run of polls in a while. Perhaps we should have a poll to see if we should have a poll on this? :angel:
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I love polls, can we pleeaaasssseeee do a poll? I don't think we've done a M8 poll in-a-while.

Kiu
I'll be happy with a poll for a poll also :)
 
I agree

I agree

I have a couple of miniscule dust specs that can be seen at 200% crops shooting the sky at f16, but not visible at f11 or wider apertures.

Since I rarely shoot at smaller than 5.6, I'm going to not worry about the specs but continue to regularly check.

If I did any cleaning, I'd use the Rocket blower first, which usually does fine on the dlsrs. I do have a bunch of pads, proper spatula (for M8 and Nikon) from the DSLR setup.


IdeaDog said:
I find that cleaning a sensor involves several sessions of cleaning and testing for results. You might save yourself a little money and time waiting if you try again to clean it yourself.

Yes, you don't want to ruin the heart of your M8. But if you use a proper cleaning tool (that doesn't scratch it or make it worse) you can certainly do it yourself. It's really just a matter of (verrry carefully) cleaning a little piece of glass.

I learned to clean my own sensors after a repair shop returned a 30D with a "cleaned sensor" that was full of spots.

I clean my M8 periodically with no problems. I find it to be a pretty leaky camera. (Incidentally, my R-D1 never needed cleaning.) Condensation from going into and out of cold may exacerbate the problem of spots on the sensor. So you may have to have to learn to clean your M8 eventually.

To test whether the sensor has spots, shoot one or two pictures of something like bright sky at f/22. (I take two shots of a light table. Two shots with the camera moved slightly ensures that I'm not just seeing a spot on the light table.) View the shots on your monitor, and it will be easy to tell if there are spots on the sensor. If there are, clean them and test again.

If you don't usually do shooting at f/22, you needn't really worry about spots. They won't show up when the lens is wide open.
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DACha above gives you wonderful advice. Go back a read it again and again.

Prevention is better than cure. I do a precautionary blow out after each outing before any dust has a chance to migrate to the sensor. Do not open the shutter unless you know there is dust there already.
 
Got the arctic butterfly, seems to do the trick for dust, had to use it twice though and overpaid for one, best price seemed to be from them directly.

And, I had a piece of lint that showed at a number of settings, actually all of them, was sharper stopped down. ;-)

I have a dealer, Campus Camera in Kent, who will clean it for me for nada, but it is about an hour each way driving. Still, an option when needed.


Regards, John
 
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What will the "Butterfly" do that the Rocket Blower and microtools E2 with proper size wand and swabs won't do?
 
I'll throw in yet another Arctic Butterfly recommendation. After a shoot in the desert with several lens changes (damn my insistence on primes), I really knew how invaluable it was. It is simple to use, just about idiot proof, and has yet to fail me when removing dust and other particular accumulations.

Oil, of course, is another story.
 
Wiyum said:
I'll throw in yet another Arctic Butterfly recommendation. After a shoot in the desert with several lens changes (damn my insistence on primes), I really knew how invaluable it was. It is simple to use, just about idiot proof, and has yet to fail me when removing dust and other particular accumulations.

Oil, of course, is another story.
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Idiot proof, you mean you turn it off before you insert it into the camera. ;-)

Also, I ended up paying the same for the non light one as the new one with an led. It removed dust that blowing did not.

John
 
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