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IR-absorbing cover glass broken for second time!


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Welcome to the forum!

 

Why don't you make your case to Leica CS in Solms.

I cannot believe you are stuck with that bill.

 

I once sent in a non-functional D40 to Nikon on my last day of warranty.

The camera came back as good as new - no charge.

 

Also, there is a promise by Leica that cracked sensor will be replaced - free of charge IIRC.

 

Good luck.

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a.A cracked sensor is not the sensor but the IR cover glass.

b.It does not create " bubble like anomaly"

c. Replacing a sensor+motherboard cannot cost as much as 2000 $, considerably less

d. Cleaning your sensor in an accepted manner does not invalidate your warranty, nor does it damage the sensor.

e.There is an official undertaking by Leica in this forum to relace any cracked sensor for free.

 

 

 

Dear Friends of the Leica M9, Thanks a lot for reporting the broken sensor cover glasses in the forum. We have registered some very few cases and are actually evaluating the root cause together with our suppliers. In any case, if such a problem may occur to you, Leica will replace the camera or the sensor free of charge in our very best delays.

 

Stefan Daniel, Leica Camera AG

 

.

Michael Reid , Apr 22, 2012; 01:36 a.m. (edit )

 

Please be aware of Leica M9. On April 9th 2012 I discovered to my horror that I had a cracked infrared sensor. This created a bubble like anomaly in the sky of my photographs. I travel a lot and had not used this particular camera for some time. The warranty expired on April 9th 2012. Coincidentally...! I took the camera in for repair at Schmidt Marketing (HK) Ltd. They refused to honour my two year warranty. My Leica M9 was originally purchased in New Zealand from Lacklands. Warranty is recognised worldwide, when one travels to foreign destinations. The cost for the repair US$2000 +. Frankly, I am disgusted with the way I was treated by the above.

 

Thinking it was dust and being duly worried I very lightly cleaned the sensor. This action of 15 seconds in durations disqualified me for making use of my warranty. MJR: mad:

 

In answer to your question... I would be very wary of cleaning the sensor if the camera is still in warranty. The sensor can be mistaken for the glass cover (greenish colour)

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In the duplicate thread, Kiwireid mentioned cleaning the sensor cover glass with cotton wool. Cotton wool is definitely not recommended for any optical surface.

 

Dry cotton wool could create very fine scratches and of course any grit or particles not removed first could cause larger scratches. Much worse is using a finger to rub any material across the surface. This can easily fracture the very thin cover glass.

Notes:

• As far as possible, both inspection and cleaning of

the sensor should be performed in a dustfree

environment

to prevent further soiling.

• An 8x or 10x magnifying glass is very useful for the

inspection and after cleaning.

• Lightly adhering dust can be blown off the sensor

cover glass using clean and, if necessary ionized

gases such as air or nitrogen. It makes sense to use

a (rubber) bellows with no brush for this purpose. Special,

low pressure cleaning sprays such as „Tetenal

Antidust Professional“ can also be used

in line with their specified usage.

• If the particles cannot be removed from the sensor

in this way, please refer the matter to your Leica

Information Service (address: see p. 177).

 

• If the battery capacity falls to less than 4

0% while

the shutter is open, a warning message

ntion

Battery low Switch off camera

will appear in the

monitor. At the same time a sustained beep tone

will sound, which continues until the camera is switched

off. Switching the camera off will cause the shutter

to be closed again. Be absolutely sure in this case

that the shutter widow is clear, i.e. that no object

can obstruct the closing movement of the shutter,

otherwise damage may occur!

Important:

• Leica Camera AG accepts no liability whatsoever

for damage caused by the user when cleaning the

sensor.

• Do not attempt to blow dust particles off the sensor

cover glass using your mouth; even tiny droplets of

saliva can cause marks that are difficult to remove.

• Compressed air cleaners with high gas pressure

may not be used as they can also cause damage.

• Take care to avoid touching the sensor surface with

any hard objects during inspection and cleaning.

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I hadn't seen that, Geof. Cottonwool?:eek: And dry?:eek: I'm sure the coating is covered in scratches, and it is no more than logical that Schmidt will not extend guaranty on this. He has probably been polishing in circles, and the "Bubble-like" alledged fracture is infact is most likely a deep scratch.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest jvansmit
Michael Reid , Apr 22, 2012; 01:36 a.m. (edit )

 

Please be aware of Leica M9. On April 9th 2012 I discovered to my horror that I had a cracked infrared sensor. This created a bubble like anomaly in the sky of my photographs. I travel a lot and had not used this particular camera for some time. The warranty expired on April 9th 2012. Coincidentally...! I took the camera in for repair at Schmidt Marketing (HK) Ltd. They refused to honour my two year warranty. My Leica M9 was originally purchased in New Zealand from Lacklands. Warranty is recognised worldwide, when one travels to foreign destinations. The cost for the repair US$2000 +. Frankly, I am disgusted with the way I was treated by the above.

 

)

 

I'm ticked off at Schmidt Marketing HK too. I took my M9 into them today as neither the date/time or menu control wheel are working. Schmidt said that the warranty is void since there's a very shallow dent on the top plate and the edge of the bottom plate is slightly dented too. I freely admit that my M9 is looking shabby (very brassed and half the M9 white lettering fallen out) as I use it in quite rough conditions but fail to see how that would cause the faults enough to void the warranty. I spent an hour insisting that they send it back to the factory and let Leica make the warrany call.

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  • 1 year later...

My good friend from the Leica Club here in Korea had his IR filter on the detector of his M9-P break on the first day of his trip to Iceland last week. He lost all the opportunities to take pictures with the camera and his 21mm f2.8 ASP lens. He was so disappointed!

 

Is this related to serial numbers? Are some camera batches more susceptible to this problem. In case they are his serial number is in the batch starting with 4206XXX. How common is this a problem. He was not able to take any pictures as the crack was through the middle of the filter and blocked that area completely!

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  • 3 years later...

Hello

I have a very little IR filter break on my M9/Monochrom V1 in the corner of CCD.

Did Leica already change free such CCD break?

Have you any link to Leica official web site that recognise this problem?

 

Do you think it is possible to ask Leica remove IR filter in order to have full-spectrum-Monochrom?

 

Thanks

J.Ph.

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Well, search the forum. It is a free replacement and AFAIK that policy has not been revoked.

Contact Leica (Wetzlar) and ask. It might be wise to wait a while before sending it in though, Leica is rather overtaxed by sensor replacements right now.

 

 

Stefan Daniel said

Dear M9 Users,

Please let me update you on the broken cover glass situation. We at Leica are aware of the issue and the current reported isolated instances are a very low proportion of the cameras delivered.
Our colleagues both in R&D and QA are investigating and have not yet determined a root cause, nor it was possible to provoke a sensor to crack in our labs (temperature shock, heat, cold, humidity, mechanical bending etc.).
Cameras found to have this fault are having the sensor assembly replaced as a priority (free of charge of course) and our Customer Service will complete the repair in the shortest delays possible.

With my best regards,

Stefan Daniel, Leica Camera AG

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