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Alternative uses for sensor cleaning fluids etc


M9reno

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If there's one thing I learned from the M9 corrosion debacle is that sensor cleaning, though in theory and (eventually) practice a simple procedure that any user can perform, can have unforeseen and costly repercussions down the line.

 

Since last December I have had an M240 in part exchange for my M9. I have not cleaned its sensor and plan to leave all such future cleaning to the good people at Leica Mayfair, programmed once or twice a year to coincide with my odd trip down to the metropolis.

 

My reasoning is that If my sensor is ever damaged, and only Leica technicians have ever cleaned the sensor, this fact can at least be used as a strong moral argument for redress.

 

I take last year's blame-the-customer-for-the-broken-sensor email as a shot across our collective bows.

 

But apologies... To cut this long story short, I am retiring my small store of sensor cleaning equipment and liquids, which I used on the M9. Now to my question (which really pertains to film, which I am now using a lot more):

 

Can sensor cleaning stuff be put to worthwhile alternative use in a darkroom? Could Eclipse or Visible Dust fluid be used to clean, say, a dirty negative? Or an Arctic Butterfly be put to good use in fighting film dust? Or a sensor loupe be used in spotting film?

 

Otherwise, this stuff will go in the junk pile, sad to say.

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I take last year's blame-the-customer-for-the-broken-sensor email as a shot across our collective bows.

 

So you think Leica and their dealer network are geared up to clean well over 100,000 M9 sensors three or four times a year for free? If they were serious, instead of accident prone and inept in their announcements, it is the sort of news even more worrying than just having a new sensor, because you'd never be able to use your camera if you lived anywhere other than the pampered few.

 

As regards your old cleaning fluid, its a cleaning fluid, so maybe the outside of the camera could be cleaned with it?

 

Steve

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So you think Leica and their dealer network are geared up to clean well over 100,000 M9 sensors three or four times a year for free? If they were serious, instead of accident prone and inept in their announcements, it is the sort of news even more worrying than just having a new sensor, because you'd never be able to use your camera if you lived anywhere other than the pampered few.

 

Thanks Steve, but whether they offer cleaning for free or not, I'll never touch another Leica sensor and stand to be blamed for damaging it.

 

To dust-strewn places like the Turksih outback, were I'd worry about not being able to have my sensor cleaned like the pampered few, I bring... film!

 

At the moment the best thing I can think of cleaning with a methanol swab is the glass cover of the negative mount on my enlarger. Or lenses (though I try never to clean those).

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Do you also get a cup of coffee while you wait :D;)

 

It would really be something though if Leica didn't support all those photographers so often featured in LFI who are 'out there' in the big world. But back to cleaning fluid, probably cleaning glasses, cleaning gunk off the TV remote, soaking a Compur shutter in to get it working again, lens cleaning, and if it's possible to set it on fire, well the world of arson is your oyster!

 

 

Steve

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I would be interested in knowing how you could possibly prove that you personally or another technician other than Leica had never cleaned your sensor. The days of the L seal are over, regrettably.

 

IF Leica ever asked that question, I'd turn it around and ask them to prove that I *had* touched the sensor, especially if I were remembered as a frequent customer of the Store's sensor-cleaning service.

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IF Leica ever asked that question, I'd turn it around and ask them to prove that I *had* touched the sensor, especially if I were remembered as a frequent customer of the Store's sensor-cleaning service.

 

Indeed you could but this is along the lines of the Nikon "impact damage" not covered by warranty.

I do hope you never have to reach that point but the reluctant start that Leica made to accepting this situation will take some clawing back in customer confidence that they will.

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I share your misgivings fully. That's why, although the M has undeniable usefulness for me, I feel little inclination to run unnecessary risks, including cleaning its sensor. I accepted and invested in the trade-up as the less poor choice, the other being to keep my corroded M9 and wait for a 'permanent solution'. As far as it goes this was a fair outcome, but Leica will have to do a lot more to sell me another digital camera.

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