Leica I am in touch with the Leica AG CEO

Is there in any hope that Leica would include sensor dust reduction on their future bodies? I can't bear the thought of wet cleaning on my own, and the tech support from this side of the world is not as readily available as it should be.

Raid, not posting this for you to ask Leica CEO, but I'm confident you know a thing or two about this? Thanks!
 
Is there in any hope that Leica would include sensor dust reduction on their future bodies? I can't bear the thought of wet cleaning on my own, and the tech support from this side of the world is not as readily available as it should be.

You should see the message I got from a principal member here when I asked about the junk getting on my Monochrom sensor. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something to the effect that the Leica mechanism throws off a lot of stuff, even lubricant, and some ends up on the sensor. I'd think dust cleaning wouldn't help, and it didn't help mine.
 
There are two separate issues. M8/M9 shutters will throw some lubricant on the sensor during the first months of ownership. I don't know if the M240 family shutters still do this. Then there's the issue that sensors attract dust, and dust gets into the camera when we change lenses. Some cameras have a mechanism that vibrates the sensor each time you turn it on. This shakes the dust off and onto some sticky tape that holds it. This deals with the dust very effectively (and my Olympus EM-5 does it very well). But it wouldn't help with the lubricant slop at all.
 
Raid, you are absolutely right, the shutter lubricant spray "shouldn't" happen. But it does, or at least did with the M8/M9 shutter. In 2007, I spent a very scary evening cleaning oil spots off my almost-new M8 sensor in a motel just outside Yellowstone National Park. Fortunately, I did it right. I wish I had not had to do it.

And I do wish that Leica would provide some way for the user to map out hot pixels themselves, rather than us having to send the camera to Leica. Almost every other camera manufacturer does.

But there are wishes, and there's reality. If we love shooting with Leica digital Ms, we have to put up with that reality. Leica doesn't have the resources of Japan, Inc., and I understand that. But I wish they would understand that many Leica owners who actually shoot pictures can't afford to upgrade to a new $8000 camera just to fix things that never should have happened in the first place. We don't all have the resources of their target demographic (he said, politely) :) At least, the sensor delamination fix is a step in the right direction, and as a Monochrom owner, I'm very grateful for that.
 
RFF is planning a second round of questions/comments for the Leica CEO. I stopped worrying about sensor cleaning, and I take care of dust spots with PS if I see any.
 
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What it comes down to, in one respect: what is Leica?

There is a split personality. When it comes to the lenses, hat's off. They are small and they are great. I cannot ask for better.

When it comes to bodies.....they are posing, to some extent. The lenses are all business. The bodies are trying to be something and in that quest they have lost sight of the whole Leica raison d'etre.

The M6 is fantastic in the hand. The M9 is a brick. M240 worse. Those who tend to fall in love with their cameras will tell us: oh, I like it big. Any smaller I would not like it. Leica said when nex-5 was at it's heyday: we don't believe the lens should be bigger than body.

But put out a M6 footprint digital Leica, and it will fly off the shelves, because those are just rationalizations. Add a second EVF model even smaller and lighter. Make them both tough. Put a helicoid in the M mount for CF. Seal the light leaks. These are no brainer improvements if function is the guide for bodies, as it is with the glass. The lenses are in the class of scientific instruments. The bodies are like 2015 Ford Mustangs. More statement than car.
 
Hi Raid,

Here is a question for the Leica CEO, who should be able to find the answer pretty easily.

Most Leica lenses, and Canon LTM for that matter, are attributed to a particular lens designer, or perhaps he/she might be called a team leader. Mandler being the most famous, and Karbe another well known figure.

But some very famous modern lenses remain unattributed.
135/3.4 APO
18, 21, 24 SEM
21/1.4
24/2.8 asph
24/1.4
28/1.4
90/2 asph APO
Summarit 35/50/75/90

and there are others too.

I thought these also might just be Karbe designs which just did not have his name attached. But the 28 Cron is attributed to Michael Heiden. So there are different guys planning and leading teams on these lenses.

This is Leica history. I can immediately see the 1.5 Summarit of the 50s was by Otto Zimmermann. Yet I can't find who did my 90/2.5? Can we get this information, and would the CEO please encourage some documentation on the process---in general, no trade secrets needed--of the design of the various lenses?

This page lists many in the past, but is very sparse with current designers:
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Original_designers_of_Leica_products:

All I can find of Michael Heiden is a single quote:
""Therefore, the times in which there was the need of some designers through a five or ten years stint to create a new top-notch lens were behind, but in any case, with the use of modern computers and special computer programs and softwares, the work goes on being very arduous and tremendously difficult to implement, in such a way that a top-notch Leica lens needs a lot of months of intensive work to be designed. That was the case with the superb 28mm f/2 ASPH Summicron-M designed by Michael Heiden, which took him a very hard stint of six months."

We know the Leica team is strong. But it sure would be nice to know some of the players :)
 
There are two separate issues. M8/M9 shutters will throw some lubricant on the sensor during the first months of ownership. I don't know if the M240 family shutters still do this. Then there's the issue that sensors attract dust, and dust gets into the camera when we change lenses. Some cameras have a mechanism that vibrates the sensor each time you turn it on. This shakes the dust off and onto some sticky tape that holds it. This deals with the dust very effectively (and my Olympus EM-5 does it very well). But it wouldn't help with the lubricant slop at all.

Lubricant on sensors alarms me, yikes! Does it do it with new, 'straight out of the box' M240's or not? If it does then it sounds like a service as I wouldn't consider cleaning a new camera, especially oil residue.

Any definitive answers?
 
Hi,
These are very interesting questions indeed.
I will try to remember this for the next round of questions for the CEO.

Raid

Hi Raid,

Here is a question for the Leica CEO, who should be able to find the answer pretty easily.

Most Leica lenses, and Canon LTM for that matter, are attributed to a particular lens designer, or perhaps he/she might be called a team leader. Mandler being the most famous, and Karbe another well known figure.

But some very famous modern lenses remain unattributed.
135/3.4 APO
18, 21, 24 SEM
21/1.4
24/2.8 asph
24/1.4
28/1.4
90/2 asph APO
Summarit 35/50/75/90

and there are others too.

I thought these also might just be Karbe designs which just did not have his name attached. But the 28 Cron is attributed to Michael Heiden. So there are different guys planning and leading teams on these lenses.

This is Leica history. I can immediately see the 1.5 Summarit of the 50s was by Otto Zimmermann. Yet I can't find who did my 90/2.5? Can we get this information, and would the CEO please encourage some documentation on the process---in general, no trade secrets needed--of the design of the various lenses?

This page lists many in the past, but is very sparse with current designers:
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Original_designers_of_Leica_products:

All I can find of Michael Heiden is a single quote:
""Therefore, the times in which there was the need of some designers through a five or ten years stint to create a new top-notch lens were behind, but in any case, with the use of modern computers and special computer programs and softwares, the work goes on being very arduous and tremendously difficult to implement, in such a way that a top-notch Leica lens needs a lot of months of intensive work to be designed. That was the case with the superb 28mm f/2 ASPH Summicron-M designed by Michael Heiden, which took him a very hard stint of six months."

We know the Leica team is strong. But it sure would be nice to know some of the players :)
 
But some very famous modern lenses remain unattributed.
135/3.4 APO
18, 21, 24 SEM
21/1.4
24/2.8 asph
24/1.4
28/1.4
90/2 asph APO
Summarit 35/50/75/90
Elmar-M 50mm

We need to create a complete list .....
 
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