Sensor Issue - Straight line?

[wolfywho]

Hey guys,

I have a new (to me) Leica M-E (2300+ shutter actuations). I'm doing a few test shots and I noticed something odd. There is a straight line on every image I take with it, in the same spot, no matter which lens I use. I've attached some images to this message. I've circled the problem area in red (you may have to view full size to see). Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks in advance!

Imgae 1 - Full

Image 1 - 100% Crop

Image 1 - 200% Crop

Image 2 - Full

Image 2 - 100% Crop

Image 2 - 200% Crop

 

[coelacanth]

It's a dead/hot pixel. On Leica's CCD sensor, it shows up as a line, not as a single pixel dot. Leica can map it out, but you'll have to send the camera to them. I've seen a software made to fix this in post process, but it was available for Windows only so I've never tried. It is possible to fix somewhat easily in Photoshop even with some automations, but not always perfect and sometimes you need more manual retouching.

 

[flyingpalm]

Need to remap the sensor.

 

[wolfywho]

It's a dead/hot pixel. On Leica's CCD sensor, it shows up as a line, not as a single pixel dot. Leica can map it out, but you'll have to send the camera to them. I've seen a software made to fix this in post process, but it was available for Windows only so I've never tried. It is possible to fix somewhat easily in Photoshop even with some automations, but not always perfect and sometimes you need more manual retouching.

Thanks for your lightning fast reply. Does Leica charge a fee for that? I wonder how long it takes to get it back from them.

 

[nightfly]

Had that with my M9. When I sent it back for that, they ended up replacing the sensor. It wasn't causing the issue but I guess they determined that I needed the sensor replaced it anyway. Kept my camera a few months (they were short on sensors at the time) but now I have what amounts to a new camera. I think they replaced the covering also for some reason. No charge.

 

[Richard G]

I think I was charged around $120 (Australian) to have this done on my Monochrom.

 

[Doug]

Yes, column fault. It's said that this may result from exposure to cosmic rays (higher likelihood when traveling by air or outer space!). Leica will likely fix it for free, they have for me. For any service to the camera innards the covering has to come off and it's not reusable, but this shouldn't be necessary for addressing a column fault.

I found a column fault in both my M8 cameras last summer and sent them to Leica NJ through my nearest Leica Store. They're still not back... The store did some checking for me last week and found they had both gone to Wetzlar and the parts they were waiting for (sensors?) have just become available, so I should see them soon! I guess they had something more serious than a column fault...

In the meantime, photos you've taken recently will all show that line, most visible in darker toned areas. In the past I've made full-scale TIFF files from selected DNGs and used a photo editor to select everything to the left of the line and moved it rightward one pixel width, eliminating the line. A bother, but the line is gone without a trace. 🙂

 

[willie_901]

It seems more likely the OPs' problem is a rare, but permanent electronics failure unrelated to ionizing radiation.

I struggle to understand how only Kodak CCD photo-diode array technology is susceptible to irreversible cosmic-ray damage.

Cosmic ray damage to solid-state electronics is reversible. There are called soft failures. The most common effects occur in sold-state memory. Soft failures are highly angle dependent. There may be one known example were an aircraft experienced a temporary data system failure due to soft cosmic ray induced memory error.

The energy required for permanent failure involves rather high levels of exposure... high enough to kill you. Cosmic rays have extremely high energies, but the effective exposure time is extremely short. The total energy exposure is low.

For CCDs soft cosmic ray effects are reversible (see section 3.4 here. CCDs are used to detect cosmic rays (link) and a new CCD assembly is not required for each measurement.

CMOS sensors are also sensitive to cosmic rays as well. Again, the effects are reversible.

 

[Dektol Dan]

What he said and

What he said and

Those damn cosmic rays!

The way the sensor is read creates a line from one dead pixel forward. A remap will fix it, mine was free.

And it most common that the line will only be seen at a particular ISO setting (usually higher) and and shutter speed (usually faster).

Other major makers have had this problem as well.

 

[oftheherd]

Thanks for the links Willie_901. Who knew?

 

[jaapv]

It seems more likely the OPs' problem is a rare, but permanent electronics failure unrelated to ionizing radiation.

I struggle to understand how only Kodak CCD photo-diode array technology is susceptible to irreversible cosmic-ray damage.

Cosmic ray damage to solid-state electronics is reversible. There are called soft failures. The most common effects occur in sold-state memory. Soft failures are highly angle dependent. There may be one known example were an aircraft experienced a temporary data system failure due to soft cosmic ray induced memory error.

The energy required for permanent failure involves rather high levels of exposure... high enough to kill you. Cosmic rays have extremely high energies, but the effective exposure time is extremely short. The total energy exposure is low.

For CCDs soft cosmic ray effects are reversible (see section 3.4 here. CCDs are used to detect cosmic rays (link) and a new CCD assembly is not required for each measurement.

CMOS sensors are also sensitive to cosmic rays as well. Again, the effects are reversible.

It is proton damage and irreversible. Sony does not ship their cameras by air for this reason.

http://www.stsci.edu/instruments/acs/performance/cte_workgroup/papers/marshall.pdf

 

[Richard G]

Not sure why there are alarmist posts above. This is simple and fixable and common.

 

[willie_901]

I never heard of "proton damage" and can't even guess what it might.

Proton beam therapy is an advanced method of cancer treatment.