Dust specks on sonsor

[Imagery]

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I have had my SL for almost a year and have not seen any spots in the images. When I put my M mount and a pinhole body cap on, I could see dust all over the image area. I could even see some in the viewfinder. I know that the pinhole will show dust in images where with lens, nothing I have noticed. Many of the spots were round with like a halo around. Looks like small moisture specks. I used my buld Rocket blower on the sensor and that's all I've tried. I just wondered if I should have the sensor cleaned or not worry about it since it's not a problem with lenses.

[thighslapper]

Take a picture of a well lit white wall (or other uniformly white/grey subject out of focus) and at the smallest aperture you normally use....... for me I only rarely use > f11, so I try f16

 

Check the image. If you can't see anything much in Lightroom or the image at 100%  then forget about it.

 

If you use f22 or any other methods (as above) even the most microscopic particles will show up even though with magnification you can't even spot them on the sensor. 

 

Like cleaning the house ..... it has to be clean enough so your mother-in-law can't spot anything ...... not sterile and completely spotless like an operating theatre ..... 

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[Imagery]

I think it is Alright, I am very careful when changing lenses etc to keep dust from getting on sensor. I might have seen the same dust spots when it was brand new but I never put the pinhole body cap on. I don't use the pinhole that much, it just concerned me that somehow that much dust was obviously on the sensor. I don't want to ever have to use a swab to clean the sensor..I was thinking about getting something like the visibledust Artic Butterfly and a good LED loupe. If it ever gets to the point that spots show up in images from lens, I would probably just send it to Leica to be cleaned and serviced.

[ramarren]

Before I use a zone plate or pinhole on any digital camera, I dust off the sensor with a blower bulb. There's a world of difference in how much dust shows up at f/5.6 or f/22 vs f/47, f/136, and f/259. A blower bulb doesn't get all of it, but reduces it such that only the big lumps are left.

 

Since the dust doesn't move, I then spot one frame in Lightroom and apply those edits to all the frames I made ... Dust gone. 

Edited September 12, 2017 by ramarren