sensor cleaning

[crow]

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I think it comes from the sensor. There are small circular, out of focus spots in all images taken, with different lenses and filters. I've got a cleaning kit, and I think I've done a good job cleaning the sensor of a Kodak DCS 14 n which I've sold. I compared photos before and after cleaning the Kodak and spots didn' t show up again. There is a special plastic flat one piece cleaning tool, around which a small special paper towel is fixed. The liquid is something like alcohol. I used some air manually, and turned the body with the sensor facing downwards so no dust or other particle entered the cavity by gravity, and waited a couple of seconds before each cleaning sessions. i tested the camera for spots after every cleaning. I had to repeat the process several times, as I didn't use any force, but each time was stronger than the previous one otherwise spots would never have disappeared. Should I repeat this cleaning the Leica sensor? Any one has experience on cleaning? The alcohol fluid, can pure alcohol be used or should it come from a camera cleaning kit? Sorry if this is the wrong category, I am sure the people from the forum will categorize it correctly, I apologize for the hassle caused.

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[jaapv]

Have a look at the FAQ thread.

[crow]

How old are you? I want to know how to address you.

 

OK, just found out what the FAQ are:

frequently asked questions.

Went to FAQ, typed sensor, nothing came up.

[sanyasi]

You seem to be using the tecniques that was recommended by the dealer of a leaf digital back. They gave me a similar plastic device that the cleaning paper is "wrapped" around.. He did say, blow clean first and 90% of the time it will solve the problem? He also advised against cleaning the sensor within an inch of its life.

 

I wouldn't use the plastic device with a leica because the sensor is recessed. It might be attached differently.

 

One thing is for sure: whoever comes up with the truly self-cleaning sensor will make a fortune.

[pop]

OK, just found out what the FAQ are:

 

The FAQ for the digital M cameras is here: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-type-240/308500-leica-m8-m8-2-m9-m9p.html

 

You address Jaapv as "Jaap". You can address myself either as "Philipp" or as "pop", just as you wish.

[crow]

 

Is this an ironic way of saying don't touch the sensor?

Plastic is more elastic than metal. Since wrapped with a special paper towel, the plastic stops to be plastic, just has the elasticity but texture of something softer-paper.

You may be correct as far as having to stay away from the sensor because it is recessed or any other reason. This is why I am asking. Kodak is the producer of this M8 sensor if I am correct,so other than the AAF missing I don't understand how the M8 sensor differs-other than the 1.3x- from the Kodak DCS 14n which I've cleaned successfully. Again, I am asking,

someone out there who knows the job. Thanks though.

Philip,

you're older than me, even if I disagree with you I can't talk to you in the same way I will with a member younger or same age as me. This of course doesn't mean that I would be talking in a disrespectful way to some one younger compared to someone older. Just means that in my mind, sometimes it is better not to say all things thought to a person. I can't change, its the way I grew up, older people need more respect, that is all. I think Jaap can speak for him self, and don't put me opposite you, I don't feel i have something that parts us. Just age is a factor which means what it means to me as explained. I am a good person. Older people I respect regardless of motives and beliefs. Thanks for the tip.

[Berth]

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You seem to be using the tecniques that was recommended by the dealer of a leaf digital back. They gave me a similar plastic device that the cleaning paper is "wrapped" around.. He did say, blow clean first and 90% of the time it will solve the problem? He also advised against cleaning the sensor within an inch of its life.

 

I wouldn't use the plastic device with a leica because the sensor is recessed. It might be attached differently.

 

One thing is for sure: whoever comes up with the truly self-cleaning sensor will make a fortune.

 

The sensor on my Canon 5DII never needed a separate cleaning in the 5 years I owned it. The automatic self-cleaning when you turned it off apparently worked.

 

My M-E? Needed a cleaning after 2 months, the first time I did it myself successfully, just a bit of dust. The 2nd time, 2 months later, there was oil and I ended up smearing it so I took it to a professional. $65 lighter, clean again. Yes, I'd pay a bit more for a Leica that had an effective self-cleaning system.

[sanyasi]

Is this an ironic way of saying don't touch the sensor?

Plastic is more elastic than metal. Since wrapped with a special paper towel, the plastic

 

Nope. He is saying: People drive themselves crazy trying to get every last speck of dust off the sensor and that it is not necessary. This tech was dealing with some pretty high end equipment and professional photographers and he is a pretty good photographer himself, so he has experience. I would have to agree. Blowing pretty much takes care of most problems. A speck may show up in a blue sky, but other than that, it isn't visible. To protect your sensor, I think you want to minimize contact with it, but that doesn't mean it may not need an occasional cleaning.

 

As for how to address people: I don't think people on this list are age conscious. This is the first time on this list that I have ever seen someone think in terms of addressing older people differently than younger people.

 

When I first started at a large corporate law firm, I addressed the 50 and 60 year old partners as Mr. _____ when I was introduced to them during my first week on the job. Everyone said, it's Fred, or Mike. Now that I am soon to be 60 and am on the other side so to speak, I know that I drove those people crazy. Showing deference to an older person might be appropriate when you have a chance encounter on the bus or the street, but when people are colleagues, it isn't necessary. But I commend you for trying to exercise some etiquette on the Internet--something that far more people should try.

 

Best regards

[crow]

Even though i know my stuff when it comes to painting, I am one for 26 years, I 'd be a little hesitant correcting someone much older than me, even if I am 100% wright. I could do with passing. So it isn't to do with "Mr or Mrs". I have met a lot of people due to my profession, being a teacher. Most of the times I've had people assault me, mostly verbally, they weren't kind at all in the language they used. On the other hand most of the times people used plural when they addressed me, they proved not only kind but also more able to handle even negative situations in a way that reduced rather than re enforced any negativity. I have disagreed with a couple of members in the forum. If I knew their age I may have not insisted on my views. life is too short and I am old enough to appreciate it and people, something few people do, at least where I live and work.

[pop]

It would be a very strange world where younger people do not exceed older people in learning things. After all, they started from a higher level by first learning things from the older people which they had learned the hard and slow way by making costly and stupid mistakes. Now it's the younger people's turn to make costly and stupid mistakes.

 

I take it as a kindness when younger people point out to me where I am mistaken. It's a continuous giving and taking. Won't you be proud when you start learning things from your pupils?

[crow]

Phil,

let's not hide behind our fingers.

Older generations, and I am talking up until the 90's learned photography in the darkroom. This is the best education there is and it is easier for them to master digital. On the other hand not all con temporary photographers do that. i don't even know if by "photographer" we mean the same thing now. I think not.

Older painters and sculptors knew how to draw. Every line they drew after 10 years of traditional practice, and I don't just mean figure based work, had the intensity of a dozen of drawings together. Musicians still do that as they go up and down the scale until fingers move on their own.

I operate like older painters, every time is like the first time.

The world is infinite, even Picasso, or Rembrandt could not say there wasn't anything more to learn because of this infinite situation which means that one life, or multiple lives like the Easterners believe is not enough to learn everything there is. Now, the only reason I can learn, and I do from kids, is because they are in touch, even if it is sporadically-fragmentally, with different aspects of something I know, or stuff that I haven't chosen to know, so it is new for me. In reality every moment comes along new stuff if you're there to get it.

I build space in my own way. I do this differently from my teachers, I am on my own, actually i tried to be and I was even when a student. When I say respect to the old I don't mean imitate them. I knew an old painter who in his 80's had seen my work, he was a figure painter like Picasso, he respected me, talked to me in plural, we only met twice, and respected me as if I was old as him. This is the kind of respect I mean, I respect you cause you're old, you do cause I am going to or already know things which are mine not yours, hence in the infinity of the world we're living and leaving, miles away from each other. This kind of respect. If you were in your 70's and a painter I wouldn't be speaking to you about stuff you've chosen not to approach cause you think they're not worth to do so. I wouldn't try to change your perspective or disagree with you more than one or two times. If you were younger and could see from the words you used that you re in the wrong direction I would try to show you what I think would be good for you, but again with out trying to force upon you anything, simply cause one needs to be mature enough to realize something new, it takes time.

This is the kind of respect I mean, and it includes a con text such as age, years and type of practice, vocabulary, the ability to read behind the lines regardless of how many different levels you can reach based on your intuition and knowledge, and of course the charisma of being able to learn quickly different stuff. I would judge some one positively if in our argument, even if we are totally different, one could maintain a level of respect for the other, especially towards an older person. I can't explain my self well using a couple of words. To subtract the essence out of all these I've written would take more time than putting down my thoughts the way I did. Hope it isn't tiring to read more than one paragraph.

Any way, would you know if the fluid needed to clean an oil free stain from a sensor is identical to pure alcohol or would this damage it?

[pop]

There is a great number of different kinds of alcohol. Isopropanol has been mentioned several times here in the forum as being the proper substance to use, in small amounts, as you presumably know, and in its purest form.

[crow]

Isopropanol I found cheap, and it is 99,5% pure.

It clearly states it is for cleaning.

My thought that since there are Greek people who produce their own liqueur using pure alcohol and dried fruits, that pure alcohol would be better than cleaning alcohol, but if you say isopropanol over pure alcohol, then I'll go by this.

[masjah]

Isopropanol I found cheap, and it is 99,5% pure.

It clearly states it is for cleaning.

My thought that since there are Greek people who produce their own liqueur using pure alcohol and dried fruits, that pure alcohol would be better than cleaning alcohol, but if you say isopropanol over pure alcohol, then I'll go by this.

 

One would sincerely hope that the "pure alcohol" used for making alcoholic drinks would be ethanol, not isopropanol. I have no idea whether ethanol might do damage compared with isopropanol, and I certainly wouldn't chance it.

 

PS: I'm an old fart.

[crow]

I have to find 99.9% isopropanol, not good in chemistry anyway.

[250swb]

Good grief, it's only a sensor, by some sensor cleaning fluid and clean it.

 

 

Steve

[jaapv]

I have to find 99.9% isopropanol, not good in chemistry anyway.

 

What is wrong with Eclipse or any of the other sensor cleaning fluids on the market?

 

99.9% Isopropanol won't stay 99.9% for any length of time, it is extremely hydrophilic and will absorb moisture from the air like a sponge.

[CalArts 99]

As Jaap says, Eclipse brand is recommended as a solvent for cleaning sensors (it's methanol.) The Methods - Cleaning Digital Cameras - D-SLR Sensor Cleaning.

 

Just be careful of course when using methanol due to its toxicity.

 

This site has lots of general info and isn't trying to sell you any specific products: Introduction - Cleaning Digital Cameras - D-SLR Sensor Cleaning.

 

It's from Fargo Industries which sells camera repair equipment and products to the repair and service industry. However, they have recently formed a relationship with a company that sells cleaning products and so they now have this disclaimer:

"TheDustPatrol.com - For the record, yes we now have a vested interest in a company providing supplies to the sensor cleaning industry. I have done my best to keep this from effecting the content of this site."

 

There is a company called Visible Dust which sells a lot of products but also "hides" under sites such as Sensorcleaning.com Main Page which is set up to look like it's non-commercial but is promoting its own products. Their products are perfectly good products, although my personal opinion is that they are overpriced and in general not that necessary.

 

Hopefully you'll get the info you're looking for. It's pretty basic (to clean a sensor) but it's also a commercial industry with a lot of companies trying to sell various products.

 

And if you're not that keen on using a wet method, there are also these products:

 

 

 

 

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[crow]

Already been using Eclipse. This is what I used on the Kodak sensor. It is getting close to the end. This is why I thought I'd search for something cheaper. Got you, everything you said guys.