Sensor dust out of the box, clean it my self or?

L

Landberg

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Hi!

I bought a new M-E 2 weeks ago, there is some dust on the sensor, i tried to blow it away with a "sensor blower" but it dont go away. I have only used one lens. Should i buy som sensorcleaning swabs or just send it back? Does anyone clean the Leica M sensor DIY?
 
Dear Landberg,

I clean all my sensors with an Eyelead sensor cleaner. I haven't broken anything nor caused any problems with any camera on which I used it.

I realize that some people are a bit squeamish when it comes to touching a digital camera sensor and I can respect that, but I simply cannot spend $ 75.00 to $ 100.00 to have someone else do the same thing I can do by myself.

I recommend the Eyelead cleaner with no reservations.

Regards,

Tim Murphy
 
Sounds a spot of grease or oil if it won't blow away which means it will need wet cleaning ... and if you're not confident in doing that I'd send it back.

How did you become aware of the spots? ... generally you'll only see them at small apertures.
 
Keith said:
Sounds a spot of grease or oil if it won't blow away which means it will need wet cleaning ... and if you're not confident in doing that I'd send it back.

How did you become aware of the spots? ... generally you'll only see them at small apertures.
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I mostly shoot at f/16. What kind of wet cleaning do i use?
 
Most people I know clean their sensors themselves.

From the M digital FAQ on LUF:

Question: There are spots on my images, especially at small apertures.


This is sensor dirt. All digital cameras with interchangeable lenses have this problem, but an M9 is particularly prone, because there is no mirror as extra barrier and the lack of an AA filter makes the dirt more visible.

One should prevent dust from entering the camera as much as possible. There are a number of strategies.
1. Avoid changing lenses more than necessary.
2. Change lenses in as much of a dust-free environment as possible
3. Keep the rear end of the lens as clean as possible
4. Change the lens with the camera mouth facing downwards
5. (This may be a myth) Switch off the camera before changing lenses.

But dust will come on the sensor anyway.
Consult the manual to find the sensor cleaning item in the menu and use a FULLY charged battery. Before opening the shutter blow out the camera (using a bulb blower, not compressed air or your mouth!) to dislodge any loose dust.

If the dust on the sensor is loose one can blow off the sensor using a good bulb blower, (Rocket Blower by Giotto for instance) with the camera mouth facing downwards.

If that does not clear the problem there are sensor brushes like the Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust that are quite effective or the little vacuum cleaner by Green Clean. At this stage the use of a Sensor Loupe can be very helpful.

If spots on the sensor persist you are dealing with stuck dirt like pollen or oil spots and need to revert to wet cleaning. There are numerous threads on the subject. The Visible Dust products are highly recommended or the Green Clean wet-and-dry method.
Use a proper solvent for grease if you think you are dealing with oil etc. (Visible Dust Smear Away or Dust-Aid Sensor Clean (my preference)

Open the shutter for cleaning and blow it once again with a bulb blower or vacuum clean it, to remove any loose particles which might be dragged across the sensor and cause scratches.

Although the M9 is full frame and there are size 1 sensor swabs on the market, I prefer using the swabs for 1.3 sensors (and APS-C swabs for the M8)
Take a clean swab, put on three small drops of Sensor Cleaning Fluid and in two sweeps, top and bottow go to one side - do not over-press!!- and sweep back again, using the other side of the swab automatically.
Or, using the wet-and-dry system, swab with the wet sponge and dry with a couple of sweeps with the dry swab. Don't let the fluid spill over the edge of the sensor too much - there are electronic connections there.

That is all - close the shutter and test the camera by taking an unfocussed image of an evenly lit surface at the smallest aperture.

In the unlikely case it is needed, repeat.

There are other cleaning systems, such as stamping tools. I find them quite effective, as long as there are no greasy spots on the sensor.
Just stamp, don't rub. They are a bit scary as one pulls the cover glass. Leica Customer Service seem to be quite happy using them, so they should be safe.
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There are also sensor cleaning services or Leica Customer Service, but those are expensive and will keep the camera for a while. They may also not be readily available if one is travelling. Sensor cleaning is something any owner should be able to do himself.

If you are fairly certain your spots are oil or grease, it may be wise to omit the step with the Arctic Butterfly, as it may become contaminated by the grease. In case that happens it can be cleaned with the special fluid provided.
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jaapv said:
Most people I know clean their sensors themselves.

From the M digital FAQ on LUF:
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Thanks! If Leica says that I will give it a go. I did clean my original canon 5d when it was new, no problem. But now I'm really scared:p. It will be okay I guess!;)
 
jaapv said:
In that case you are losing quality. Most lenses start having diffraction @ 5.6 or 8.0. Some (but very few) lenses are diffraction limited wide open
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I have not seen that great of a loss but I will try it out! Easier to zone focus at f/16.
 
You paid a lot of money for the rangefinder on your M-E. Use it!

Another one from the LUF FAQ:

The M9 works the same way as any rangefinder camera, the central patch in the viewfinder is your focusing tool.
It is important to look through the viewfinder in the optical axis. Looking into the camera skewed will result in inaccurate focus.

The first thing to do is to ascertain that you can see the rangefinder patch properly. A correct match between the rangefinder and your eye is even more important than it is using an SLR.
Leica sells corrective diopter lenses. Determining which one you need - if any- can be done by going to your optician and holding his try-out lenses between your eye and the viewfinder. The one that allows you to see the rangefinder patch and framelines sharply is the correct one. Order the nearest value from Leica. In a pinch you can use over-the-counter reading glasses for this test. If your eyes need special corrections, you can use your spectacles, provided you can see clearly at 2 metres distance ( the virtual distance of the rangefinder patch). Note that the background will be at background distance,so your eye should ideally be able to accomodate over the distance differential. However, there is some tolerance here.

For special cases there are viewfinder magnifiers. They can help, especially with longer and fast lenses and they can give confidence, but they can also be not very useful; they cannot correct errors in the focusing mechanism or your eye, in fact they magnify them.
Also, one loses contrast and brightness.
Leica offers a 1.25x one and a 1.4x. These need diopter correction like the camera, but often of a different value than the camera viewfinder.

There are also third-party magnifiers, sold by Japan Exposures, that include a variable diopter correction. 1.15x and 1.35x. For patent reasons they cannot be sold in the USA and Germany for use on a Leica camera, but they can be purchased for use on for instance a rifle scope.
Basically, for an experienced user, magnifiers are not needed and will only lower contrast and brightness, but many users do like and use them.

Once the viewfinder is corrected optimally, there are three methods of focusing, in ascending order of difficulty aka training.

1. The broken line method. Look for a vertical line in the image and bring it together in the rangefinder patch to be continuous.

2. The coincidence method. Look for a pattern in the image and bring it together to coincide. This may lead to errors with repeating patterns.

3. The contrast method. Once you have focus by method 1. or 2. a small adjustment will cause the rangefinder patch to "jump" into optimum contrast. At that point you have the most precise focussing adjustment.

Side remarks:

If you try focusing on a subject emitting polarized light like a reflection it may happen that the polarizing effect of the prism system in the rangefinder will blot out the contrast in the rangefinder patch, making focusing difficult. In that case rotate the camera 90 degrees to focus.
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Wet clean is so easy.

Bunch of videos on youtube will show you. I do it the way most techs do: sensor swabs and 99% isopropyl. Amazon has a bunch of different sized swabs. I use the full frame ones, and the "corner swabs".

The more you watch others do it in the videos the more you will relax about it. Some very famous sensor cleaners in asia just use isopropyl and cotton swabs.

The main thing is to take your time. You might have to go through several swabs (the special ones) before you have it cleaned and dried properly.
 
I envy people who can properly clean their own sensors.

In my city a camera shop cleans sensors for about $75.

Before I used cameras with self-cleaning sensors, I would have two bodies cleaned once a year.

Being ham-fisted and a thick-fingered, inept person, the only time I tried to clean a sensor myself I made a mess of things. Fortunately I did not scratch the cover glass. The tech at the local shop rescued me.
 
I went to the store where i bought the camera. They "cleaned" it. But now i have new spots and some of the old ones are still there:p What to do?
 
Well, more problems. Leica Danmark told me to send it of to germany for repair or sensor replacement.. They told me the repair time is about 3 weeks.
 
Wow, your sensor lasted a month before it needed replacement? I would demand a new camera, not sending what is basically new camera for repair. They dealer should just give you a new one. It is not acceptable for Leica to keep selling these cameras with these bad sensors, especially since they now have a fix for it.
 
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