A few weeks back Roger and I visited with Josh and David down at Dale Labs. Roger was picking up his new 30mm lens for the S2 and as long as we were there I asked Josh to clean the sensor on my M9 with his Rocket Blower (misplaced mine). Josh gave it a few puffs but to no avail. Apparently it was something sticky that required a wet cleaning which, ever since Mark Gowin’s unfortunate incident with the S2, both he and I were reluctant to do. So off it went to a local shop (Southern) that specializes in this. A day or so later the shop called to say that the sensor could not be cleaned…that it was “pitted” and looked like it had been sandblasted. Scary description about something that I knew I hadn’t caused…at least not intentionally. Didn’t even have a thought about what might have caused this and concerned that it could be a costly repair. So, off to Leica NJ, for evaluation and repair. Josh followed up for me on a daily basis but it took Leica a few days to get to my camera. Couple of days later my camera shows up at Dale (unannounced) in perfect condition. No indication from Leica of what was wrong…only a Test Certificate saying it’s up to factory specs. No charge for the repair despite the camera being out of warranty. I thought I’d share this story for two reasons. First, nobody I spoke to ever had this problem, nor have I seen it written about on the internet. Secondly, Leica should be commended publicly for standing behind it’s products for a repair to an out of warranty item. I read a study a while ago which concluded that people are 10x more likely to voice complaints about a product than praise. So here’s one for the good side of things. Thanks David, Josh and Leica.
“Pitted sensor” wow Josh, that is one strong Rocket blower! 😉 Or it must be from one of those gorgeous models burning a hole in your sensor, David.
I agree that Leica has been very good, no EXTREMELY good at service of late. My S2 AF was out of calibration and was confirmed by my S2 rep Ben Ross, a week later a UPS shipping label came my way and all of my lenses and body went back to Solms for a calibration and check. It came back in perfect shape and no charge for the service. Never had that with Nikon, Hasselblad or Canon for any out of warranty repairs even when I was with NPS.
Leica has answered the call and improved the customer service experience in my view.
Must have been the rocket blower but just in case I’ve stopped cleaning my sensors with the gas station tire pumps. As for my models… they’re more likely to melt the lens;)
I know that heart sinking feeling of realizing there is a problem with your sensor. It’s even worse when you are the one that caused it. It will be a long time (if ever) before I will wet clean my S2 sensor again. I am glad your experience turned out so well.
I use the Panasonic EW-DJ10A for sensor cleaning. It reduces the chance for scratching by moistening as it pushes the dust away.
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