Dirty Sensor

[fotografr]

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Can somebody tell me how to clean this?

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[carl_valiquet]

You must wait till Spring. Regards. Carl.

[fotografr]

16 minutes ago, carl_valiquet said:

You must wait till Spring. Regards. Carl.

That's a good answer, Carl. Cheers. Brent

[Jeff S]

With a shovel?

Jeff

[rpsawin]

From personal experience it must be done: Very carefully

                                                                           By a qualified technician

                                                                           Sent to Leica

 

Best of luck.

[dkCambridgeshire]

6 minutes ago, rpsawin said:

From personal experience it must be done: Very carefully

                                                                           By a qualified technician

                                                                           Sent to Leica

 

Best of luck.

It's a relatively easy DIY job to clean a sensor glass and it's the GLASS which is cleaned – not the sensor. Ideally use an illuminated loupe to view the sensor glass dust / soiling. Apply e.g., a tiny drop of ECLIPSE Optic Cleaning Fluid to a proprietary sensor cleaning swab and whilst viewing the sensor glass with the loupe, gently wipe off the dust. Both swabs and fluid can be purchased online as can the loupe. Some people are wary about the possibility of "damaging the sensor" whilst cleaning the sensor glass but provided the swab is moist there is very little danger of damage. I also use an 'old' swab to carefully clean around the sensor glass. Contrary to some opinions, it's  OK to reuse a swab to clean the glass again when necessary. The swab can be cleaned and wiped if necessary and stored for reuse in its original foil sheath. Manufacturers suggest disposing of swabs after use but they're trying to increase swab sales. I've done hundreds of sensor cleans for my own an other photographers' sensor glasses - usually with reused swabs. Some photographers prefer to use a rubber bulb blower or compressed air before using the swab; I only use same if there is heavy sensor glass soiling visible.  

[fotografr]

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1 hour ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

It's a relatively easy DIY job to clean a sensor glass and it's the GLASS which is cleaned – not the sensor. Ideally use an illuminated loupe to view the sensor glass dust / soiling. Apply e.g., a tiny drop of ECLIPSE Optic Cleaning Fluid to a proprietary sensor cleaning swab and whilst viewing the sensor glass with the loupe, gently wipe off the dust. Both swabs and fluid can be purchased online as can the loupe. Some people are wary about the possibility of "damaging the sensor" whilst cleaning the sensor glass but provided the swab is moist there is very little danger of damage. I also use an 'old' swab to carefully clean around the sensor glass. Contrary to some opinions, it's  OK to reuse a swab to clean the glass again when necessary. The swab can be cleaned and wiped if necessary and stored for reuse in its original foil sheath. Manufacturers suggest disposing of swabs after use but they're trying to increase swab sales. I've done hundreds of sensor cleans for my own an other photographers' sensor glasses - usually with reused swabs. Some photographers prefer to use a rubber bulb blower or compressed air before using the swab; I only use same if there is heavy sensor glass soiling visible.  

Yes, spot on (no pun intended). I've also always cleaned my own sensor glass covers. They are nowhere near as fragile as most people think. I got some adhesive goo on the sensor cover of my first M8 (long story of how it happened). A cleaning solution just smeared the adhesive all over the sensor. Nothing I tried worked and I had finally just decided to bite the bullet and send the camera in for sensor replacement. First, I made a trip to the camera store, looked around for cleaning tools I hadn't tried, and then saw something called the Lens Pen. I bought one and headed home for one last try. Since I had already accepted that I'd have to replace the sensor, I started applying more and more pressure with the pen, which has a felt-like triangular shaped tip. I was certain the glass was going to break, but it didn't. Slowly, the adhesive started to come off as I worked the pen around the surface. After about 15 minutes of very significant pressure with the tool, the sensor cover was completely spotless. I was absolutely amazed.. I used the camera for three more years and there was never any trace of damage to the sensor.

Edited November 20, 2022 by fotografr

[dkCambridgeshire]

51 minutes ago, fotografr said:

Yes, spot on (no pun intended). I've also always cleaned my own sensor glass covers. They are nowhere near as fragile as most people think. I got some adhesive goo on the sensor cover of my first M8 (long story of how it happened). A cleaning solution just smeared the adhesive all over the sensor. Nothing I tried worked and I had finally just decided to bite the bullet and send the camera in for sensor replacement. First, I made a trip to the camera store, looked around for cleaning tools I hadn't tried, and then saw something called the Lens Pen. I bought one and headed home for one last try. Since I had already accepted that I'd have to replace the sensor, I started applying more and more pressure with the pen, which has a felt-like triangular shaped tip. I was certain the glass was going to break, but it didn't. Slowly, the adhesive started to come off as I worked the pen around the surface. After about 15 minutes of very significant pressure with the tool, the sensor cover was absolutely spotless. I was absolutely amazed.. I used the camera for three more years and there was never any trace of damage to the sensor.

Very occasionally I've seen stubborn debris on sensor glasses which has been difficult to identify and does not remove easily using Eclipse fluid. By placing / sitting a supplementary loupe. e.g.,  jeweller's eyeglass loupe, on top of the 7x mag Visible Dust Sensor Loupe, the magnification can be doubled – albeit at closer loupe to sensor glass distance - whence the  gunge can be seen more clearly and thus 'attacked' with more confidence using the swab. I have not yet tried using a lens pen. There are proprietary 'sticky' sensor glass swabs which remove debris by 'picking up' dust etc via their sticky surface contact but I have not tried same after reading of 'accidents' when the glass was damaged. 

[fotografr]

17 minutes ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

Very occasionally I've seen stubborn debris on sensor glasses which has been difficult to identify and does not remove easily using Eclipse fluid. By placing / sitting a supplementary loupe. e.g.,  jeweller's eyeglass loupe, on top of the 7x mag Visible Dust Sensor Loupe, the magnification can be doubled – albeit at closer loupe to sensor glass distance - whence the  gunge can be seen more clearly and thus 'attacked' with more confidence using the swab. I have not yet tried using a lens pen. There are proprietary 'sticky' sensor glass swabs which remove debris by 'picking up' dust etc via their sticky surface contact but I have not tried same after reading of 'accidents' when the glass was damaged. 

Lens Pen now makes a product specifically for sensors and they call it Sensor Pen. Before using one I find it advisable to first use a blower and/or a swab to remove any grit. The pen is particularly useful for removing things like oil spots.

The sticky swab you referred to is what caused my problem with the adhesive on my sensor glass. The one I had was a post with a rectangular base onto which the user was to put pads. The pads had one very sticky side and one much less sticky. I got distracted while doing the cleaning and put the pad on upside down so when I tried to clean the sensor it stuck so hard I had trouble removing it. When I finally peeled it off the adhesive remained.

I should make it clear I am not referring to the product called "Eyelead." I use Eyelead regularly without any problems. 

Disclaimer: I have no proprietary interest in Lens Pen or Sensor Pen. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by fotografr

[overexposed]

in such cases i always utilze a flame thrower, it vaporizes the dust straight off the sensor surface

Edited November 22, 2022 by overexposed
better joke