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how dirty is your sensor?


marius

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sorry to bring up a tired subject. this is an m8 after about one thousand exposures, used in pretty dust free environments generally. a few of these are annoyingly visible. i've used a giotto rocket on this — but it does not help, so i guess i'll need a full sensor clean.

 

dirtysensor.jpg

 

what are your experiences with this? are your sensors this dirty?

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I suspect most of us have had this problem. I solved it, though it took many attempts with Eclipse solution and swabs. Nerve racking, yes, but the only realistic solution. It does get better after several good wet cleanings and require less effort.

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A question about Eclipse and Eclipse 2.

After reading the caveat about using the original solution on tin oxide coatings, I wanted to buy Eclipse 2 on my local dealer ( where I bought the M8). They have only Eclipse 1 and use it to clean all sensors -tin oxide coated or not. According to their technician not a problem at all.!

Anyone here using "old" Eclipse on the M8 ?

Just in case, I ordered a flask of Eclipse 2 online..

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THis is very realistic dust if you enhance contrast the way you did.

When and how often do you have to clean is the question...... well it depends on what you shoot .... if you use the camera a lot for landscape ....lenses stopped down with a lot of sky included you might have to clean more often than a streetshooter.

 

I use my M8 on a dayly base for almost a year now and so far cleaned it twice (using Eclipse 1). Forget the blowers ... they will not work!

I have an arctic butterfly from visible dust but did not use it so far ... i know wet cleanig works ... it worked with all my cameras so far.

Do not let a bit of dust spoil the fun .... there is always the healing brush ...... ;)

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A question about Eclipse and Eclipse 2.

After reading the caveat about using the original solution on tin oxide coatings, I wanted to buy Eclipse 2 on my local dealer ( where I bought the M8). They have only Eclipse 1 and use it to clean all sensors -tin oxide coated or not. According to their technician not a problem at all.!

Anyone here using "old" Eclipse on the M8 ?

Just in case, I ordered a flask of Eclipse 2 online..

 

To my knowledge the only problems that have been reported are with the Canon 5D.

The 5D uses a coating on the front, lens, side of the cover glass and Eclipse 1 can dissolve it.

In any event I switched to E2 for the Leica M8 but I still use E1 for my Nikon. That is until I run out of it.

 

Oh and when I first viewed your post the image didn't show up. When I finished this post it did show. I have never seen a sensor so dirty.

Make sure you do a REALLY GOOD blowing off of the sensor, shutter area and the inside of the lens mount, holding the camera lens mount down, before you touch the sensor with anything.

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My M8 came with resident crud pre-installed. After 7 wet cleans with E2 am down to about 2 resistant spots--at least I know where to find them for re-touching--I'd even miss them if they were gone...

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I think that there is too much sensitivity about wet cleaning sensors. When digital cameras were first introduced the manufacturers information about sensor cleaning was so negative that a whole generation of shooters became paranoid about the issue. When the manufacturers became overwhelmed with cleaning people's sensors all of a sudden it became O.K. to do it yourself.

 

Regular cleaning of sensors is absolutely required so it makes sense to learn how to do it correctly. Visible dust has some good tutorials on their site to show the "how to." I have no idea how people get away with going three months without a cleaning unless they basically stick one l lens on the body and leave it. If you change lenses on a frequent basis, even going through the procedure of shutting the camera down before changing lenses will not fully prevent dust intrusion. And there is nothing worse than coming back from a month's travels to find you have several thousand images which require massive use of the healing brush to make acceptable.

 

I find Eclipse 2 and Visible Dust Sensor Swabs, in conjunction with the Visible Dust Sensor loupe to be invaluable aids to getting the job done quickly and effectively.

 

I have no affiliation with either of these companies (or any other for that matter). I just find they work really well. I am sure there are other products which also work well but I don't have any experience with them. YMMV

 

Woody Spedden

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Clean it.

Use E2, Eclipse is bad and will make you blind :-)

or use 91% isopropyl

 

apply three drops to each side of your swab

 

Use visible dust 1.3x green swabs, or Number 1 sensor swabs

 

learn to do it well.You might have to swab more than once as well as perhaps blowing in between swabbings.

-bob

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sorry to bring up a tired subject. this is an m8 after about one thousand exposures, used in pretty dust free environments generally. a few of these are annoyingly visible. i've used a giotto rocket on this — but it does not help, so i guess i'll need a full sensor clean.

 

dirtysensor.jpg

 

--> are your sensors this dirty?

Marius,

Yes, mine is that dirty as regards spots. But I assume your picture is showing an uneven lighted background, and there is not a wedge formed of dust going in to the left hand corner. :p

My surpise is that 90 mmF22 shows other dust than 50mmf16, the latter looks like having more small parts. But above F4 I see little of the small particles - it is invisible dust, thanks to the large sensor. And I have not enlarged yet above the 20/30 cm size.

 

A 'dust beauty contest' looks like a good idea!

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What I do is to set it up for Sensor Cleaning, press the shutter release and use my vacuum cleaner to pick all the particulates.

 

Then, I press my Giotto rocket a few times and all is fine again.

 

No need to use any wet ones.

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I have been using the Arctic Butterfly successfully with my DSLRs for a while.

 

Just recently I updated and bought a new VisibleDust Arctic Butterfly kit (type 724) which

is size x1.3 (sounds Leica size). Kit has the spinner brush and swabs, all size x1.3!

This kit is or my M8. :)

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Has anyone any direct experience, or heard of people damaging the sensor surface? Manufacturers info is always full of dire warnings while instructions with the cleaning kits usually carry a caveat on the lines of "user beware!"

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