Do you clean your own sensor?

[maidenfan84]

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Just curious how many people clean their own sensor with the CL or T cameras? Seems quick and easy, much faster than sending it in to Leica!

[Patrick1955]

Of course- I clean the sensors on both my CL and my M10-R, as well as adjusting the rangefinder alignment on the M.  Use the damn things and don't treat them as so fragile. So many YouTube tutorials out there if nervous.

[LocalHero1953]

I have neither of those cameras now, but I did, and I now clean the sensor of the SL2-S as well. Most of the time the rocket blower does it. It’sa long time since I had to use the Arctic butterfly, let alone a wet clean. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by LocalHero1953

[frame-it]

46 minutes ago, maidenfan84 said:

Just curious how many people clean their own sensor with the CL or T cameras? Seems quick and easy, much faster than sending it in to Leica!

easy to do, anyway one is cleaning the sensor cover glass, not the sensor directly.

[maidenfan84]

Thank you for the encouragement! I’ll go ahead and give it a try then. I’m looking in the TL2 menu and not seeing anything about a cleaning mode, so I’m guessing just power off the camera and take off the lens? 

[Guytou]

Hello,

I also clean the sensor of my CL with sticks and cleaning solution, but not very often. The procedure is simple and it is enough to act delicately.
But the rocket bulb blower already does a lot of the cleaning.

Guytou

[jaapv]

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To me this sounds like “ do you wash your own feet?”  
Of course. What would you do if you get a dirty sensor when traveling and you only have your camera-bearer with you and not your camera-cleaner? 

[frame-it]

15 minutes ago, Guytou said:

Hello,

I also clean the sensor of my CL with sticks and cleaning solution, but not very often. The procedure is simple and it is enough to act delicately.
But the rocket bulb blower already does a lot of the cleaning.

Guytou

depends on how often you change lenses, in my case its a different lens everyday

so sensor cleaning multiple cameras once a week

[old vintage manual focus lenses LOVE to pull in dust]

[jaapv]

I normally use a blower followed by a gel stick Eyelead for Sony I rarely wet clean only with hard to remove spots and once every half year to remove haze from the air.There is an extensive post on sensor cleaning in the M FAQ. 

[Guytou]

The cleaning kit is sold in a small pouch that does not take up space in the suitcase...
I also very often take a very small device for travel (type D-Lux)

Guytou

[swatch]

On 5/17/2023 at 6:16 PM, jaapv said:

gel stick Eyelead for Sony

Hi Jaapv, would there be sticky residue on the sensor which attracts even more dust? 

[jaapv]

Never. Residue is next to impossible. The trick to protect the sensor cover glass (although I never heard of any damage, it is for peace of mind) is not to attempt to swipe just push and wobble off - no straight pulling. Use the sticky paper! 

It can happen in rare cases that oil spots on the sensor smear. In that case you have to use Smear Away to wet clean the sensor ( which you should have done in the first place) and clean the gel stick with Isopropyl Alcohol or similar. 

[LawrenceCAm2027]

Of course I do, I use Sensor Swabs Kit by Photographic Solutions to clean my sensor. This is my favorite product on cleaning my camera sensor. A very reliable kit and recommended by professionals. If you want to clean your sensor I recommend it

[LocalHero1953]

3 hours ago, LawrenceCAm2027 said:

Of course I do, I use Sensor Swabs Kit by Photographic Solutions to clean my sensor. This is my favorite product on cleaning my camera sensor. A very reliable kit and recommended by professionals. If you want to clean your sensor I recommend it

Do you have any connection with that product or Photographic Solutions?

[Gregm61]

I don’t and second the recommendation. I’ve been using those swabs and eclipse fluid on my M body sensors for 9 years and the same swabs on the CL since I purchased it new in 2020. 

Swipe across on the full frame sensors and up/down on the aps-c sensor of the CL.

[AdjusterBrett]

Your first time is a bit un-nerving - now it's almost a reflex.  Don't buy the cheapest cleaning kit (chinesium), read a few reviews or take from those here - once you do it a few times - you will not need a Nitro under the tongue after that first, and about the third or fourth you will be laughing at your own fears.  We have all been there.

Sending back - can be a painful experience in both time and money.