Will you mind the slightly scratch on sensor？

[Viktor Long]

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This may sound like an overly anxious person expressing his troubles... The case is that i have a Leica M8, bought in 2023, and use it for almost two years, I love this old digital camera. But in fact, there is a scratch below the edge of its sensor, which cannot be removed. If you look closely, it is a hair-like bright mark, which is shown as a short and thin black line in the photo, and there is a slight light leakage around the black line. I suspect that it may be a scratch that I accidentally made when I cleaned it, or it may have happened before I bought it.

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As a perfectionist, the scratches of the sensor are a frustrating tragedy. Although I have been using it for more than two years, I have taken it to many unforgettable places and taken a lot of excellent photos.

As far as I know, the protective glass of the Leica m8 sensor is quite thin. In the past, the maintenance policy was often to replace the whole sensor instead of replacing the glass alone. To this day, I believe that the sensor of Leica m8 is no longer available, so the cost of trying to repair or replace this small scratch may be huge, and I may not be able to afford it.

I often comfort myself: it's not a big deal. If you don't use f11 and don't shoot a large area of blue sky or white walls, it won't be visible. And even if there are no scratches, there are many dirty spots that are difficult to remove. But I still can't help thinking: if it could have been a perfect device...
 

Should it be a worry to me? Or I would better just use it? Will you mind the slightly scratch on sensor？

 

[otto.f]

I seldom  use F8 to F16, thus I seldom see dust or scratches. Anyway, dust and scratches can be repaired quite fast for a whole bunch of captures, and certainly for this little scratch. So I would accept this relatively small problem for an old camera with its own character of images.

[Viktor Long]

2 hours ago, otto.f said:

I seldom  use F8 to F16, thus I seldom see dust or scratches. Anyway, dust and scratches can be repaired quite fast for a whole bunch of captures, and certainly for this little scratch. So I would accept this relatively small problem for an old camera with its own character of images.

Thank you for your experience. It's true that it depends on how you view it. I just sometimes feel, "Oh, it's a pity, it's so good but not perfect!" What we need to do is to accept imperfections and avoid shortcomings.

[jaapv]

You can make an action in photoshop or Lightroom to remove this on pixel level with one click

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/web/edit-photos/apply-actions/edit-photos-with-quick-actions.html