Marks on Sensor

I've had my M11P for 12 months now, and enjoy it immensely. I found it was accumulating marks on the photos, independent of lens used, meaning marks on the sensor. Some I cleared up with a bulb blower, but some remained.

They were translucent and circular, and I've read this results from oil coming off the shutter.

The local camera people weren't game to clean the sensor, so I wasn't either. It could have been an expensive mistake. So I drove to the big city and had it professionally done. Perfect result.

A week later, and during a photo shoot, it developed another defect suspicious of an oil droplet. No lens changes since the clean. It's easily treated in Photoshop or Camera RAW, but annoying it happens. If it is oil from the shutter, there's nothing I can do about it, and it's out of warranty. I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Has anyone else had this problem?



View attachment 059a7885a74e46f5bb8073289f117f34.jpg

Just clean it.

I see kits which look like squeegees. Do you just carefully wipe over the sensor with one?

John Roy said:

I see kits which look like squeegees. Do you just carefully wipe over the sensor with one?

Click to expand...

Looks like just dust to me. It happens. If a blower bulb doesn’t get it out the wet kits like you posted work well. For the most part cleaning the sensor is no more fragile than cleaning a lens. The biggest difference is a scratch in the sensor will show up in photos where on a lens it won’t.

I frequently blow out the sensor box with the shutter closed which helps keep the sensor clean.

PS: blow gently on the shutter blades.
--
... Mike
... https://www.flickr.com/photos/198581502@N02/

John Roy said:

I've had my M11P for 12 months now, and enjoy it immensely. I found it was accumulating marks on the photos, independent of lens used, meaning marks on the sensor. Some I cleared up with a bulb blower, but some remained.

They were translucent and circular, and I've read this results from oil coming off the shutter.

Click to expand...

I had some shutter spatter with my M10 Mono when it was new, resulting in multiple wet cleanings. Funny enough, since that initial period the Mono's sensor has needed the least air blasting of my digi-Ms and no further wet cleaning.

I do like to give my M sensors a preventive air-blasting treatment every two or three lens changes. (I never carry multiple lenses when I'm out & about so there are no changes "in the field.") Because of this I rarely need to remove schmutz in post.

-Dave-

Just live with it, otherwise you risk being consumed with sensor cleaning OCD

Thank you all for the advice