nyphoto01 Posted September 5, 2011 Share #1 Posted September 5, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Help, I just noticed some dark circles in my M9 images, does anyone know what might be the cause of these? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 5, 2011 Posted September 5, 2011 Hi nyphoto01, Take a look here Dark circles in M9 images??. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
pop Posted September 5, 2011 Share #2 Posted September 5, 2011 Dust on your sensor. Your sensor needs cleaning. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted September 5, 2011 Share #3 Posted September 5, 2011 As Philipp says, it's dust. You need to clean your sensor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted September 5, 2011 Share #4 Posted September 5, 2011 There is an answer to an FAQ which covers this http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/130720-m9-faqs-frequently-asked-questions-answers.html#post1382788 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted September 5, 2011 Share #5 Posted September 5, 2011 Sometimes circles as large as those are due to oily flakes of skin which have since detached themselves from the sensor coverglass. The oil diffuses out from the particle and when the particle detaches it leaves behind an almost perfectly circular patch of oil. If this is the cause, "wet" cleaning is needed to remove it. A way to check if it's dust or oil is to take two pictures at different apertures with auto exposure. If the size of the spot reduces and becomes sharper/darker compared to the rest of the image as the lens is stopped down then it's dust. If it remains virtually the same size and brightness then it's oil. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 5, 2011 Share #6 Posted September 5, 2011 It is clearly oil, splashed from the shutter or surrounding mechanism, or dust. Follow the wet cleaning guides, don't waste your time thinking you can shortcut the outcome with an air blower and luck. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdriceman Posted September 6, 2011 Share #7 Posted September 6, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) It is clearly oil, splashed from the shutter or surrounding mechanism, or dust. Follow the wet cleaning guides, don't waste your time thinking you can shortcut the outcome with an air blower and luck. Steve Almost certainly the case especially if it is a fairly new M9. It happened to mine within the first 1000 actuations. A quick wet-clean and you will be back in business. Although I still periodically have to clean the sensor, I haven't had big oil splotches since then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 6, 2011 Share #8 Posted September 6, 2011 It is clearly oil, splashed from the shutter or surrounding mechanism, or dust. Follow the wet cleaning guides, don't waste your time thinking you can shortcut the outcome with an air blower and luck. Steve Yes - but still the air blower or vacuum cleaner will have to come first. Try to get as many loose particles off before you wetclean; a scratch by dragging something hard across your sensor should be avoided. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 6, 2011 Share #9 Posted September 6, 2011 This isn't oil on the sensor it's just dust or dirt. . With respect to your experience, but oil or grease is a well understood contaminent with new cameras. If you safely treat whatever is causing the spots as a combination of oil and dust then a wet clean gets rid of both oil and dust. But if you only treat it as dust in the first few months of the cameras life then you can end up making a bigger mess of things. For instance if you assume its only dust then using an Arctic Butterfly brush will spread the oil, and contaminate the brush if there is oil present. If you use a sticky pad system like Dust Aid , it won't remove the oil, it will simply spread it and contaminate the pad. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 7, 2011 Share #10 Posted September 7, 2011 Wow all my cameras are contaminated with oil then - now that's a first!!! I am devastated by your sarcasm But I'm not going to recommend anything other than a 'better safe than sorry' approach, sorry if that irks you. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 7, 2011 Share #11 Posted September 7, 2011 I clean my sensors under a surgical microscope, and Steve is right about the oil spots; they are pretty little domes that shimmer in colors. I doubt, however, that the culprit is the shutter. It seems more likely that the focussing mechanism of the (new?) lens causes them. In my observation a considerable part the gunk on te sensor is human debris, like broken-off pieces of eyelash and skin particles. Sticky dirt is often pollen and in not too frequent cases oil as mentioned above. The ones to be wary of, as those are the ones that scratch sensors are the "rocks" i.e. grains of sand, that can better be blown off by a Rocket Blower or (my preferred method) removed by the Green Clean vacuum cleaner. If using a blower, hold the camera mouth pointing downwards, as otherwise they will just drop onto the sensor again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 7, 2011 Share #12 Posted September 7, 2011 About the prevalence in Leica, if I am right and oilspots come from the lens, an SLR (probably with internal AF focussing) and a mirror is not likely to suffer of those, whereas a rangefinder is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 7, 2011 Share #13 Posted September 7, 2011 Not just focal length - telecentricity too. And there you have another difference. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustafasoleiman Posted September 7, 2011 Share #14 Posted September 7, 2011 Maybe the OP's is just working his new M9 way too hard... I do get black circles around my eyes too when I am very tired... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philinflash Posted September 10, 2011 Share #15 Posted September 10, 2011 Wow all my cameras are contaminated with oil then - now that's a first!!! Judging from my recent microscopic examination of my sensor that I thought was pretty clean, I would guess that they are a great deal dirtier than you imagine, as I found out. I just bought an electronic telescope principally for getting a better look at my sensor. With 200x, it is just amazing what you can see on the sensor surface. I got a 2.0MP USB digital Endoscope/Microscope - Oasis Scientific Inc and it seems to be near perfect for peering into the camera inards. You can snap single shots or movies. By moving the camera under the scope in movie mode, I got a horrifying panning view of all the stuff on the sensor. I would attach the file but I am too embarrassed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted September 11, 2011 Share #16 Posted September 11, 2011 It is clearly oil, splashed from the shutter or surrounding mechanism, or dust. Leica claims that it is not possible for the shutter to sling oil, unless the user got it in there somehow. It looks just too round to be dust. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holybasil Posted September 11, 2011 Share #17 Posted September 11, 2011 Leica claims that it is not possible for the shutter to sling oil, unless the user got it in there somehow. It looks just too round to be dust. Regardless of what it is, a wet sensor cleaning is needed to get rid of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 11, 2011 Share #18 Posted September 11, 2011 Leica claims that it is not possible for the shutter to sling oil, unless the user got it in there somehow. It looks just too round to be dust. No, Leica said they didn't oil the shutter. Which means the shutter they buy from Copal is lubricated by Copal, not Leica. In strict terms Leica are absolutely right, they don't oil the shutter, which for them sidesteps the fact that oil, or some other oily gunge is, or can be, splashed onto the sensor. A case in point. Up until my M9 going back to Leica for a new sensor (cracked), it was somehow or other throwing off an oily residue onto the sensor. If I cleaned it with a wet clean, and followed it up with an Arctic Butterfly brush, the brush would drag oil back onto the sensor if a few of the fine bristles went outside of the sensor area. But when I got it back from Leica with a new sensor there was no oil to drag back onto the sensor, the camera had been cleaned up. I tried it, I poked my Arctic Butterfly around the very furthest edges of the sensor and well beyond, and it brough back no oil. Which says to me that in the initial stages of an M9's life oil is part of the cleaning game. After a while the oil stops getting splashed, but it lurks around the edges. I had the interior of my camera 'cleaned' as part of a general recall, but I wouldn't rule out the same oily gunge being present in any that hasn't needed such a radical repair by Solms. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted September 12, 2011 Share #19 Posted September 12, 2011 I would be tempted to call such conspicuous spots my image-signature and let an editor fix it. I did that in the early Seventies with a Bronica S which left a distinct, little semicircle light leak in the lower left corner of the frame. But I really don't care so much as you all do. A good image will survive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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