Strange patterns on shots with brand new lens

[A Sharma]

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All, 

I have an M9 and just yesterday bought a brand new Summilux 35mm (pre 2022) version. For some reason, I am finding a few shots (not all) produce these strange circles. Anybody have any experience with this? I am concerned I got a lens with some dust inside or something. Before that I have used a summicron 50mm and had no such issues. 

Thanks

Ananth

 

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[weinlamm]

Sorry, but that‘s your sensor. 🤔Not the lens. 
 

I had the same with my Kodak DCS. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by weinlamm

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[LocalHero1953]

Looks like sensor 'corrosion' - a known problem with the M9. Unless you bought the M9 recently and can return it, there is not much you can do, and it is likely to get worse. There are third party solutions, but I don't know how effective or costly they are.

[250swb]

Wet clean your sensor, it's got a lot of dust on it anyway but somebody may have sneezed on it. Typically dust and things on the sensor show up if you are stopped down at a small aperture because it causes a directional shadow. If it is wide open the dust doesn't cast a shadow. So given you say the strange marks only appear in a few photos for the sake of ruling out as many variables as possible cleaning the sensor (and not with a Rocket Blower) would make sense.

[jaapv]

This is a weird snowflake pattern  
Cleaning the sensor is indeed the first step to take, and I hope it clears the issue, but it does look a lot like sensor corrosion.
As said above, I’d it is corrosion it is progressive and can only be repaired more or less by a few non-Leica facilities. 

having said that the regularity of the pattern is inexplicable. 

[weinlamm]

Like I said - I had the same with my Kodak DCS. They had nearly the same sensor like the M9. 

This is from 2012 - should be some time before the word 'corrosion' came up. 

 

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I think your sensor is 'broken'. Leica doesn't fix it anymore... 

Sorry. 

 

[jgeenen]

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Spots on the lens rarely produce visible effects on the sensor - because they are heavily out of focus (they obviously will affect sharpness, contrast or reflexes). The patterns you show must therefore be very close to the sensor and should be visible on all images. Sensor dirt or corrosion are the most probable issues here. Your sample image seems to be a large crop. How do those patterns look in "real" size?

[pegelli]

If it's sensor corrosion and wet cleaning doesn't help the part that acually corrodes is not the sensor itself but the cover glass. A well known issue with the M9.

Leica doesn't fix it anymore, but Kolari (a US based company) still can replace the cover glass with good results: https://kolarivision.com/product/leica_m9_repair/

[Photoworks]

you should try shooting more at 1.4, the corrosion is less noticeable.

 

My understanding is that Kolari does fix them, but you never get the same colors that you were getting with the leica.

[frame-it]

5 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

My understanding is that Kolari does fix them, but you never get the same colors that you were getting with the leica.

how does that happen if all they change is the sensor cover glass?

aren't the microlenses on the Sensor surface under the cover glass?

[TomB_tx]

41 minutes ago, frame-it said:

ren't the microlenses on the Sensor surface under the cover glass?

Yes, but the cover glass also functions as a filter, removing Infrared, etc. A different glass has slightly different characteristics, but I've seen good results from the Kolari mod.