[Leica] Re: M8 Sensor Cleaning

[robert.rose at mac.com (Robert Rose)]

Jesse,

I think that you have a blob that is not coming off with air.  If the  
blub doesn't work, then it is stuck.  I don't recommend canned air of  
any sort, since I think the possibility (even remote) of some  
propellant hitting the sensor would not be a good thing, and I think  
that the strong air just blows the dust around the box.

You could certainly try the brush method (Arctic Butterfly, etc.),  
but I have a hunch that it will just push the blob around.

I use the Eclipse method, www.photosol.com, and it works fine for  
me.  Make sure you get the right size brush for the M8 size sensor.   
After I cleaned the sensor, I used the brush to swab out the rest of  
the sensor box area (then you throw the brush away).

I change my lenses often.  Before a shoot I just blow/brush off the  
rear element of the lenses I intend to use.  You do need to  
periodically look at a "sky" shot of blank wall to make sure that no  
crud is on the sensor, however.

The sensor seems to be much "harder" than we think.  In other words,  
once you clean a sensor you will get a feel for how much pressure to  
use and how much fluid to use.  You might try a practice run on a  
piece of glass to give yourself confidence, and get a feel for the  
brush.  I found that if I did not use enough fluid, there were  
streaks left on the sensor.  Relax, don't panic, and just clean the  
sensor again, and the streaks disappear.  Or, get an old digital slr  
and practice on that.  I clean up a D100 before I launched into the M8.

I think you will be fine.

Bob Rose





Robert Rose
robert.rose@mac.com
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty  
when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom  
are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded  
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious  
encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.   
Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. US (1928)

On Jul 8, 2007, at 12:24 PM, Jesse Hellman wrote:

> Hi,
>
> This has been discussed before but it becomes more pertinent to us  
> all as problems develop: sensor cleaning. After blobs appeared in  
> sky and background I got a Giotto bulb and used it to gently blow  
> into the upside down body (yes, sensor exposed). No luck. Then I  
> tried a harder blast. One big blob of something that won't budge.  
> So, I got out my trusty darkroom 5.5 power NPC loupe and after  
> unscrewing it could see that there were other blobs as well. More  
> Giotto, still no movement in the blobs.
>
> The Giotto is new, and I squeezed it hard a few times away from the  
> camera to be sure there would be nothing it would deposit on the  
> sensor.
>
> So, is the next step an Arctic Butterfly, and if that fails a wet  
> cleaning with Visible Dust Sensor Clean using their swabs?
>
> For Leica not to advise how to do it seems wrong. You can't send  
> your camera to Solms (yes, that's what it says and I live in  
> Maryland! New Jersey is a lot closer) because of a little dust.
>
> But there seems to be nothing more fearful than the possibility of  
> damaging that sensor. For instance, how strongly can you use the  
> Giotto to blow the air? What is the experience with other methods?
>
> I saw Frank suggested turning off the camera when changing lenses.  
> Sounds like good advice.
>
> thanks for any help!
>
> Jesse