Crack!

[lars_bergquist]

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Now it has happened to me -- one corner of the covering glass cracked spontaneously. No touching, no cleaning. Why does this happen? How many others have experienced this?

 

And now I shall have to go without my M9 for maybe two months -- #@©*! Fortunately, the guaranty is still valid.

 

The old man from the Age of Glass Plate Negatives, who did not think this would happen to him again

[chris_tribble]

#@©*! indeed. Sympathy .

 

Lars - any idea what batch yours was in? As an early adopter I'm going to start looking at my black one carefully. re Cleaning, it's only needed Visible Dust dry brush cleaning, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed..

 

Hope they can turn it round quickly.

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[Rolo]

Now it has happened to me -- one corner of the covering glass cracked spontaneously.

 

Sad news Lars.

[DFV]

Can you post details of what exactly happened? If you did not clean it, could it be an outside impact? Sudden temperature change? Could it be the lens? Maybe it happened when you cleaned it before and you just did not notice?

 

I would like to avoid following in your steps... My condolences anyway.

Edited July 13, 2010 by DFV

[adan]

First, my sympathies. It is not nice knowing this can still happen.

 

Stephan Daniels came on the forum last fall when the first instances popped up, and it was my impression Leica was on top of the problem. So are cracking sensors just a flawed early-production batch (that may show up from time to time for years to come, like hazing in 90 Tele-Elmarit-Ms?) - or a continuing problem even in recently-built bodies?

 

Not that it matters from our point of view, but I do wonder what the cause is. One ham-handed assembly person, or a batch of weak glass, or the theory about adhesive with the wrong co-efficient of expansion? Or something else?

[zlatkob]

Lars, that truly sucks. I hope they can fix it quickly. Now we have one more reason to chimp while working: did that last shot get ruined by a crack on the cover glass? Also, makes me wonder whether there is any hardcore testing of beta cameras to discover such problems early, rather than well into production.

[elgenper]

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... Now we have one more reason to chimp while working: did that last shot get ruined by a crack on the cover glass?......

 

OK, and if it DID crack at the last shot, what then? If you stop shooting, you´ll miss, and if you keep on, you´ll have some retouching to do... While this is certainly disturbing, getting paranoid about it doesn´t help much.

 

Lars, my sympathies, and hoping you´ll get it back real soon.

 

Can´t help wondering if the almost insufferable heat we have in Stockholm right now could have anything to do with it? My M9 is still intact, but I´m on the verge of cracking up myself...

[Glider]

Lars,

 

I am very sorry to read of your misfortune. My black M9 had the same problem, delivered to me in the US in early November 2009 and spontaneously cracking for no apparent reason by the end of March 2010. I'm happy to report that Leica NJ replaced the sensor quickly and did a fine job, with some assistance from Solms. I am sure that you ultimately will be treated well.

 

I wish we were afforded some explanation as to why the cracks occurred, and whether or not we're still at risk with our replacement sensors. Such is technology... and I suppose in some way that this is part of the price we pay for such fine images.

 

Best of luck!

-= Jon =-

[Knorp]

Now it has happened to me -- one corner of the covering glass cracked spontaneously. No touching, no cleaning. Why does this happen? How many others have experienced this?

 

And now I shall have to go without my M9 for maybe two months -- #@©*! Fortunately, the guaranty is still valid.

 

The old man from the Age of Glass Plate Negatives, who did not think this would happen to him again

 

I'm very sorry, Lars. I know the feeling, although my M9 got the crack right out of the box.

Fortunately Leica is quite keen to get it sorted pretty fast. I had my camera back in 5 days.

So there's hope.

 

All the best.

[zlatkob]

OK, and if it DID crack at the last shot, what then? If you stop shooting, you´ll miss, and if you keep on, you´ll have some retouching to do... While this is certainly disturbing, getting paranoid about it doesn´t help much.

 

Getting "paranoid" (or just being careful) does help because we can immediately switch to a different camera and keep on shooting. If we recognize the problem right away, we may even have time to retake the photo (or series of photos) with the other camera. Depending on where the crack occurs and how many photos it affects, the retouching can be an easy task or a very difficult one.

[Rick]

Which corner? It seems like it is always the top left of pictures posted, I think.

[Guest trond]

Dear Lars,

 

This is really bad news, my greatest sympaties!

 

I work with integrated circuit design and production.

 

Usually, when a silicon chip is larger than 15-20 mm on the side, several different packaging problems, related to temperature stress can occur.

 

The sensor on the M9 is, as we know, 24 by 36 mm.

 

This is a very large silicon chip!

 

On top of all, a glass layer (the IR filter) is bonded to the front of the sensor chip, making this a four layer sandwich of different materials: The package material probably some kind of ceramic, the package lead frame (metal), the silicon chip, and finally the cover-glass.

 

This four layer structure is very sensitive to thermal stress.

 

The problem seems to me to be thermally induced since all examples so far shows the crack in one of the corners, where the temperature stress will be the greatest.

 

One big problem with rangefinder cameras is that sun light can easily enter into the lens if the user is not careful to always keep the lens cap on when not shooting.

 

History is full of sad stories with shutter curtains with burned holes in them!

 

Leica has partly alleviated this problem by the white/gray metering pattern directly behind the focal point of the lens, which will bring down the temperature considerably.

 

I am quite sure that if the sun is let to shine through the lens for some extended time, heat build up can be so high that the senor cover-glass will crack, even if there is no hole burned in the shutter curtain.

 

I always keep the lens cap on my M9 while waking around in bright sunlight, only removing the cap when shooting.

 

I am curious to know if people that have experienced a cracked sensor, can comment on the conditions when the crack occurred, and if it can be due to excessive heating from sunlight through the lens.

 

Best regards

 

Trond

Edited July 13, 2010 by trond

[becker]

# 12 very interesting thanks for Your diskurs.

[elgenper]

Getting "paranoid" (or just being careful) does help because we can immediately switch to a different camera and keep on shooting....

 

OK, I see, if you do have another camera with you (out of the question for me, considering the cost of another M9...). Still, constant chimping destroys the rhythm of shooting, for me at least. I´d rather take the loss of a series of images in the possible but unlikely event of a crack than constantly stopping and worrying.

 

But then, I never shoot weddings or similar "absolutely must deliver" situations. I suppose those who do HAVE to stop and worry all the time....

[jaapv]

Trond's analysis is valid, but I disagree about the gradual heat build-up he describes as a possible cause. It seems more logical that the thermic cycling (CCDs heat up quite a bit during exposing) is the cause of the cracking, with the root cause being the bonding adhesive layer.

[zlatkob]

OK, I see, if you do have another camera with you (out of the question for me, considering the cost of another M9...). (

 

Having another camera doesn't have to be expensive; it doesn't have to me an M9. I agree with you about too much chimping. But with any camera, I would rather discover a problem earlier rather than later. Discovering a major problem after several hundred photos would really stink.

[Rick]

Trond's analysis is valid, but I disagree about the gradual heat build-up he describes as a possible cause. It seems more logical that the thermic cycling (CCDs heat up quite a bit during exposing) is the cause of the cracking, with the root cause being the bonding adhesive layer.

 

I suspect the same. I even think it may be the cause of the coffee ring since it is the same size and location of the edge of the sensor.

[Nicoleica]

Also, makes me wonder whether there is any hardcore testing of beta cameras to discover such problems early, rather than well into production.

 

Actually, I think that early adopters of both the M8 & M9, are the hardcore beta testers.

[Nicoleica]

Lars, I'm sorry to hear that your sensor has cracked, and I send you my wishes for a speedy resolution of the problem.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[olwick]

May I ask how you noticed the crack? Was it visible in the photos?