Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]As detailed before, I had a LOT of dust on my M8 sensor.... enough that I was really bummed out. I bought the Arctic Butterfly, and the sensor cleaning wipes from B+H. It was my last chance to learn how to clean it before I sent it off to Leica for cleaning, if I failed. First I take a reference picture. Nice dust, I says to myself... I notice that the sensor looks like it has a fingerprint on it..... which considering I know the sensor was clean when I got it new, means I screwed up somewhere and my finger brushed against the sensor. So I take out the Butterfly thing and go to it.... I figure no point in using a swab against the sensor if I had dust on it... and maybe then scratched something with that dust. Take another picture.... no change. Looks like the dust is not the real problem.... I take out swab #1 and put on the liquid.... let it soak in ( directions ) and proceed to wipe once from each side of the swab across the sensor. ( Note: the swab is the 1.3x type, but to be honest, it appears to be wider than I would think) Take picture.....Now I have smears across the sensor, ( IOW, it is getting worse......) Nothing to lose... swab #2.... This time I take a couple of swipes from each side, and notice that the fingerprint is slowly going away..... and the smear seems a lot better.... Test # 3 shows the dust to be much improved, and the smearing is considerably better..... I am on the right track.... Swab #3, same swipes across the sensor..... to the point that I can not see any residue on the sensor... Test #4 shows a couple of dust spots that seem not to want to move, get smaller, or otherwise be affected by my work..... I am at 1:1 to my desktop LCD, so I can track the 4 pictures, and note that the dust is just plain the same across all the shots.... So I go to move around the image to see what else is rotten when I notice that the spots of dust are NOT moving... Seems as though my monitor had some crud on it, and THAT was part of the problem of immovable dust spots..... Sensor is really clean now, and I am happy..... Learning experience... clean your monitor screen before you clean your sensor..... Second message... I think it was Nathan that stated his dust removal did not work with the Arctic Butterfly, but the swabs worked wonderfully.... I think my experience this time duplicated his findings.....greasy fingerprints are like that......real dust is not. Thanks for all the experiences, tips, support, and kick in the behind from all of you.....it really did help.... Frank Filippone red735i at earthlink.net