Sensor Cleaning 001

[maggieo]

Oh thank goodness, I thought I was the only one having so much trouble keeping my M9 clean! I worked on it for at least an hour and a half last week and I never did get it entirely clean.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

The issue is oil residue, to which the M9 is prone. There is no other way to clean off the residue or spot except to send it to have it cleaned professionally, or DIY wet-cleaning.

I know, but so far I do not mind spotting the photos in Photoshop. Maybe when there are too many of them, I will finally decide to do it myself. I do not trust pro cleaning, I have always done a better job than Canon pro service when I still shot with DSLR.

 

[V-12]

I know, but so far I do not mind spotting the photos in Photoshop. Maybe when there are too many of them, I will finally decide to do it myself. I do not trust pro cleaning, I have always done a better job than Canon pro service when I still shot with DSLR.

A great idea when spots appear in the sky, easy to do. Less easy if you have a portrait or a closer subject than a landscape and the spots coincide with peoples eyes or fine detail. I don't think leaving them is a course of action that covers all your fellow photographers.

 

[Jim Evidon]

I don't have an M9, but the only sensor cleaner I've not heard bad things about (except the high price) is Visible Dust. I've used it without incidence on my NEX.

I've read many favorable things about the arctic butterfly set:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ust_4051342_1_Arctic_Butterfly_724_Super.html

I have used the Arctic Butterfly with satisfactory results for several years.
I doubt if it will help your oil spot problems, but for dust it is excellent when combined with my sensor scope or similar magnified sensor loupe.
It is a dry cleaning remedy and the static electricity produced by the preliminary spinning step draws the dust like a magnet. All my cameras including my M8 have clean sensors.
I gave up wet solutions a long time ago since it frequently left the sensor surface worse off.

But I have to wonder about you M9 users who have had oil spots on the sensor since new. Why didn't you immediately send your M9's back to Leica to remedy what is obviously a manufacturing defect probably resulting from sloppy assembly? The new Nikon D800 is rumored to have the same problem. Nikon sloppiness is unacceptable, but revered Leica's precision hand assembly having the same problem? Unglaublich!!

 

[raid]

Don't use that. Get a proprietary sensor cleaning fluid, like Dust-Aid Sensor Clean.
You need to order swabs anyway. Don't even think of using cotton buds. Those are for cleaning your ears, they will leave fluff all over your sensor.

A few weeks ago I bought two kits based on reommendations.

 

[jaapv]

Both Nikon and Leica use Copal shutters, like most camera makers. There may always be a few oil drops splattering from a new shutter. If one wants to send a camera in for such a banal thing as cleaning a sensor, Leica will happily clean it, most probably free of charge if it is a new camera. But it will have to go from the dealer to the importer through customs through customs again, a quick turnaround in Solms and back through the whole rigmarole once more. Three weeks if you are lucky. Ten minutes if you give it a swipe yourself. To me that is a no-brainer.

I have used the Arctic Butterfly with satisfactory results for several years.
I doubt if it will help your oil spot problems, but for dust it is excellent when combined with my sensor scope or similar magnified sensor loupe.
It is a dry cleaning remedy and the static electricity produced by the preliminary spinning step draws the dust like a magnet. All my cameras including my M8 have clean sensors.
I gave up wet solutions a long time ago since it frequently left the sensor surface worse off.

But I have to wonder about you M9 users who have had oil spots on the sensor since new. Why didn't you immediately send your M9's back to Leica to remedy what is obviously a manufacturing defect probably resulting from sloppy assembly? The new Nikon D800 is rumored to have the same problem. Nikon sloppiness is unacceptable, but revered Leica's precision hand assembly having the same problem? Unglaublich!!

 

[porktaco]

I've been using Copper Hill kits for the last 8 years or so.
http://www.copperhillimages.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=3&=SID#MOREINFO

Works great. You may be hesitant the first time you clean a sensor, but it's a piece of cake and nothing to worry about.

that's what i do, though i try to do it as infrequently as possible

 

[Scheelings]

I use the Visible Dust fluids and swabs on my M8. Works perfectly, I need to do about two to ten cleanups per year depending on luck.

I second that. It's very easy and I found it had better results than the Arctic butterfly.

 

[gfspencer]

I use the Visible Dust fluids and swabs on my M8. Works perfectly, I need to do about two to ten cleanups per year depending on luck.

I use Visible Dust Sensor Cleaner and Visible Dust VDust Plus on my M8 and my Canon 7D.

 

[raid]

Sensor Cleaning 001

I started the process of attempting to clean the sensor of my M9 this morning. I set the 35mm Lux to f 16. We almost always have access to a blue sky here.

Stage 0: This is how it looked before I started this morning..

Stage 1: after using the "kit": I used the swab with some drops from the liquid, and I went from one side to the other. I did not use the air blower first, which may have been a mistake.

Things look worse now.

Stage 2: I went back and just used the Rocket Air Blower.

Stage 3: I used plenty of air blowing, followed by using a swab with liquid. This is where I now am.

I will start a new round of cleaning soon. I thought that such an illustration helps others here figure what NOT to do! 🙂
In all stages shown, I used the same image sizes for illustration.

 

[robklurfield]

Try an arctic butterfly.

 

[krötenblender]

Try an arctic butterfly.

I have the feeling, that the Arctic Butterfly works better in some regions of the world than others - maybe because of the climate and moisture of the dust on the sensor.

I had one and it did simply nothing for me. I tried it several times and never got the sensor really clean, so I sold it.

Since then I'm using a Giotto Rocket Blower first. If that isn't enough, I use sensor swaps one or two times. After that, my sensor always looks like new.

Maybe Arctic Butterfly is a good tool. But I had better success with these simple tools.

 

[raid]

I will do a second round of sensor swiping. I hope that it will help.
What is an "Arctic Butterfly" exactly?

 

[Lss]

What is an "Arctic Butterfly" exactly?

Based on the name I would expect something lighter than a "Tactical Nuclear Penguin".

 

[j j]

Arctic Butterfly is a brush on a motor.

What I find most effective with my SLR is the Sensor Klear pen. Use a rocket blower (or similar) followed by a gentle brush around the sensor with the pen and the dust vanishes.

 

[raid]

I got the sensor much cleaner than it used to be, but I will clean it again. Using the air blower seems to work wel. I will take a look at the Klear Pen.


Adorama sells such a pen for $8.95.

 

[Monochrom]

Hi i ended using one of my winsor & newton oil brushes with straight cut, this helped me to reach the corners of the sensor, the hairs are very soft since i use it to make the veladura on oil paintings...

All other kind of cleaning resulted in having little dust and other stuff like your second pic.

I don´t use blowing air...never worked for me...!

 

[raid]

Using a brush can also add dust spots.
It is maybe a sequential cleaning procedure in which step by step dust spots are removed, while trying not to redistribute new dust spots.

 

[Monochrom]

sequential cleaning :O, great term looks promising....as soon you´ve prefectioned it let us know!!!!

 

[maggieo]

Thanks for this thread, Raid. I'll be trying your methods as soon as my new blower arrives.