Best liquid for Sensor cleaning on M10-R?

[wlaidlaw]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I know that my M240 was a real fuss pot when it came to wet cleaning the sensor. I tried various potions before settling on Visible Dust Smear Away. Now I am wholly cognisant that what one is buying is 99% profit margin for the maker and retailer but the damn stuff seems to work, when other liquids, like lab grade Ethyl alcohol, lab grade Isopropyl Alcohol, Eclipse and Visible Dust's own Sensor Clean just don't. Smear Away even removes the horrible blobs of sticky Wetzlar Goblin Snot, that Leica sensors seem to attract. The M8 and M9 sensors were far less fussy and the far cheaper Eclipse fluid or 100% lab grade Ethyl Alcohol worked just fine on them. My M10-R sensor seems to be staying somewhat cleaner, maybe down to lack of use with Covid lockdowns but it is time it had a clean. My bottle of Smear Away is way past its use by date and it is time that what little remains, is chucked. 

I would just be interested if others have successfully wet cleaned their M10-R sensor and if so what did they use? I have no idea if the surface coating of the M10-R sensor is the same as the M240 or not. Smear Away has also worked well on my SL and CL sensors, so it might be best to stick to what seems to be working, even if it is priced like the most exotic couturier perfume. 

Wilson

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Photoworks]

I use this one and works well. Since I travel often and this one is non flammable. I will take it with me on trips.

https://photosol.com/products/aeroclipse/

 

[LBJ2]

99.9% isopropyl alcohol. The very best for streakless sensor cleaning. 

[wlaidlaw]

99.99% IPA is not great at removing water soluble stains. I use IPA after using Visible Dust Smear Away. 

Wilson

[pedaes]

17 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

99.99% IPA is not great at removing water soluble stains. I use IPA after using Visible Dust Smear Away. 

Wilson

Why after Smear Away? 

[Herr Barnack]

@wlaidlaw   I don't have an M10R, but for my M-P 240 and M10 Mono I have always used Photographic Solutions Eclipse Optic Cleaning Solution and gotten very good results:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/127525-REG/Photographic_Solutions_EC_Eclipse_Optic_Lens_Cleaning.html

That is what I'd recommend.

 

Quote

...horrible blobs of sticky Wetzlar Goblin Snot...

Not sure what that is; my sensor collects normal dust specks that are floating in the atmosphere in my location (midwest USA).  I'm thinking these blobs may be related to the atmosphere in your area of the UK and/or France.  Perhaps airborne pollen?

 

[wlaidlaw]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

2 hours ago, pedaes said:

Why after Smear Away? 

If you look with a high power illuminated sensor magnifier, you can often see very faint lines running across the sensor, after whatever product Visible Dust use for Smear Away, evaporates. I find if I use lab grade 99.99% IPA after the Smear Away, it leaves the sensor 100% pristine. I usually find that it normally takes either 2 goes with Smear Away or 1 with Smear Away and 1 with IPA to get a sensor totally clean anyway, so as IPA much cheaper than the Smear Away liquid platinum, by doing it my way, I actually save money  I always use Visible Dust green swabs even though they are ridiculously over-priced (the profit margin must be enormous on them). Given that my M10-R cost over £7000, penny pinching on sensor swabs, seems particularly senseless, when I only usually clean each of the digital cameras I am currently using about 3 or 4 times a year. 

Where the M's were particularly bad on dust, was when I went on a classic car rally in a less developed country (Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar etc), usually much of it on dirt roads. Then I was having to clean my M (8, 9 or 240) every other day. I now use my SL for doing that and it stays totally clean inside, over a 2 week rally. The sealing on the SL is very good. The sealing on the CL is not bad but not quite as good as the SL and it does not have the ultrasonic sensor cleaning. of the SL. 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

2 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

@wlaidlaw

Not sure what that is; my sensor collects normal dust specks that are floating in the atmosphere in my location (midwest USA).  I'm thinking these blobs may be related to the atmosphere in your area of the UK and/or France.  Perhaps airborne pollen?

 

I think it was Jaap who examined the sensor blobs under his dental microscope but was unable to identify what they were. You can only see them with a magnifying sensor loupe, not with the naked eye. 

Wilson

[LBJ2]

After too many other products resulted in streaks, streaks and more streaks and more repeat cleanings after I cleaned,, I took the advice of the Leica cleaning technician we all saw in that Youtube video and tried 99.9%  isopropyl alcohol. Viola. It works very well, evaporates very quickly and cleans everything thats managed to stick on my sensor so far that didn’t get cleared away with a dry cleaning approach.

Whether you use some other high grade sensor safe cleaning liquid or not, I think the key is high grade, we want as little “other products” like water in the cleaning solution as possible for optimal streak free cleaning.

***One other note of experience that seems so to have cut down my wet sensor cleaning significantly, is to clean the lens mount and the camera mount regularly with something like a Zeiss Wipe. In my case it seems a barely visible amount of residue that collects on the lens mount was the source of most of my sensor specs a lesson I only had to learn four or five times 😃