[Leica] M8 cleaning mystery ("But English *is* their native language")

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

Brian:  Welcome to "Adventures in Technical Writing."

I just an Arctic Butterfly myself.  With revised instructions, (v 1.1?) 
that warn you, in red, not to touch the brush to the sensor while the brush 
is spinning.

Your instruction #4 is hopeless. What the Senator. . . er, the instruction 
*means* is that you spin the brush to induce a static charge on the 
brush.  Then you turn off the motor and use the charged brush to attract 
the dust particles to it.  Don't touch the sensor with the brush while the 
motor is running.

The new instructions were probably written after someone realized that the 
hapless user might misunderstand Instruction #4, use the brush like a 
motorized shoe buffer, and then call tech support to ask why all his 
pictures look like they were taken through frosted glass.  Followed by a 
call to his attorney.  Instruction #4 was supposed convey that information, 
but could be "misconscrewed," as Archie Bunker used to say.

As the manual to a 1980s monitor I once owned said, "Keep off the capacity 
transformable or magnetic."  Now, there's a maxim we can all live by.   :-)

--Peter

At 02:30 PM 9/1/2007 -0700, you wrote:
>My M8 sensor needs to be cleaned. I bought a cleaning kit from Visible 
>Dust. It includes a gizmo that spins the cleaning brush with a battery 
>operated motor. Sensor Brush SD.
>
>Below I have transcribed the entire list of instructions. I am completely 
>utterly baffled by Instruction #4, and I wonder if any of you has any idea 
>what I should do.
>----------------------------
>Sensor Brush SD Instructions:
>
>1. Requires 2 "AAA" batteries. Use high quality batteries for best 
>performance. Remove the batteries before traveling on an airplane.
>
>2. Do not use on camera chamber or parts other than the sensor, otherwise 
>you will smear the sensor.
>
>3. Keep both the device and brush in stable vertical position as much as 
>possible.
>
>4. DO NOT use the brush on the sensor while attached to the device.