Jump to content

Remote corrosion diagnosis by Leica


brainwashed

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The news from Leica regarding the end of the free sensor replacements had me worried. The M9 I bought last year showed no on obvious sign of corrosion yet, but the sensor was old enough fail at some point. I sent a DNG of the sky at high f-stop / focus to infinity to Leica customer care and they confirmed corrosion.

 

I myself could only see some small black specs that I would have disregarded as dust on any other camera, nothing at all like the huge white bubbles you see at some pictures.

 

They told me to expect a turnaround time of 6-8 weeks. Hope this helps someone else!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I think you tricked the stock answer out of Leica. They are unlikely to diagnose dust simply because it won't cover them from any later comeback. I've been watching a few threads on this recently and have read nothing that doesn't suggest the easy thing is for Leica to say it is corrosion and replace the sensor no matter what. With the modern digital products they are no longer aiming at fixing a component but replace it instead, and stubborn dust comes under that heading. But it begs the question, did you try to clean the sensor yourself?

Link to post
Share on other sites

They can give an indication based on a DNG, but can only give a definitive answer based on a physical inspection of the sensor. It is by no means 100% certain that corrosion will show up as haloed spots on the image. It can look like a small scratch, or "dust" spots in an early stage, so I am not surprised that they ask for the camera to be sent in just to make sure.

I also found that Leica's interpretation is quite liberal. A spot on my MM1 was seen as a "scratch" on first inspection, but when I queried the finding  they came back with a revised estimate within an hour after a second look.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Just cleaned the sensor with my rocket dust blaster.

 

Gesendet von meinem Pixel mit Tapatalk

That doesn't really count as cleaning. A simple wet clean would have been a definitive step to discover if you needed to send your camera away for two months.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Clean and check won't take two months. It used to be one week, maybe two now. If a sensor replacement is needed it wil be longer, of course.

If you live within a reasonable distance from Wetzlar, you could even try driving in.

Otherwise just call Leica and request a pickup.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...