Sensor Cleaning

Cleaning the sensor of the M8 is a basic process and required of all owners.

There are a number of web resources which will be listed at the end of this article, however we will go over the basis here. Although there are a number of different techniques that many would recommend, this page is intended to describe a basic process which seems to work. Remember that there is no specific method recommended by Leica and they endorse no specific set of tools or materials.

How do I know that my sensor is dirty?

Dust leaves sharper shadows when imaged at small apertures, so add a lens to your camera and set it to its minimum aperture. Take a picture of the sky or of a white lcd screen. <image of a dirty sensor>

Where on the sensor surface is the dust located

If the camera is held with the sensor facing you and with its top up, then the dust particle you are chasing is located on the same side as it appears on your test shot but flipped vertically. This is not as weird as it sounds since a lens turns an image both upside down and left to right, but since you are facing the sensor you have flipped it left to right once more. This is as one might view the ground glass of a view camera from a point inside the bellows.

Level one - the huff and puff

Materials Required:

Rubber bulb blower such as Giotto's Rocket Blower

Point tip of the blower close to but away from the sensor surface then squeeze sharply. Be careful not to touch the surface of the sensor with the tip of the blower as it may transfer contaminants onto the sensor surface.

Level two - dry cleaning

Materials required:

Sensor brush

Level three - wet cleaning

Materials required:

Visible Dust Ultra MXD-100 (green) 1.3x sensor swabs

Eclipse E2

Links to vendor web sites

The vendors below are referenced in this article but are not endorsed in any particular way.
Giotto's maker of the "Rocket Blower"
Photographic Solutionsmaker of "Eclipse E2"
Visible Dustmaker of sensor brushes,swabs, and other sensor stuff
--Rwfreund 18:23, 26 August 2007 (CEST)