Stefan Daniel has responded to concerns regarding the corrosion issue on the IR filter cover glass of CCD sensor Leica cameras (M9, M-E, Monochrom) by issuing this statement:
“We have been closely following debates on the CCD sensor issue in forums and blogs and take the opinions and criticism we read very seriously. For us, it is important that we offer only technically faultless products. We are therefore particularly sorry if the imaging quality of your camera should be adversely affected by corrosion effects on the IR filter cover glass. We would also like to express our sincerest regrets to all customers who may have encountered this problem.
We have now identified the problem and are currently concentrating our efforts on finding a permanent technical solution. Our response to this problem is a full goodwill arrangement offering free replacement of affected CCD sensors. This goodwill arrangement applies regardless of the age of the camera and also covers sensors that have already been replaced in the past. Customers who have already been charged for the replacement of a sensor affected by this problem will receive a refund.
The effect does not affect the CMOS sensor of the Leica M (Typ 240). Should you, as an M customer, be considering an upgrade from your camera to a Leica M or M-P (Typ 240), Customer Care would be pleased to make you an attractive offer following a check of your camera and under consideration of the model and its age.
We have posted the details of the problem and the terms and conditions of our goodwill arrangement in the News section of our corporate Web site at Important Information Concerning the CCD Sensors // Global // About Leica News // Leica News // World of Leica – Leica Camera AG an have provided a link to the currently available Leica M Monochrom and M-E models. We will also be notifying our distributors regarding the new terms and conditions.
We are aware that Leica’s reputation for superior quality and endurance was the driving factor for your decision for Leica. We profoundly regret that we have been unable to completely fulfil our promise to you and our own standards from the outset. We are now making every effort to find a permanent and satisfactory technical solution for this problem and hope that our goodwill arrangement is able to rebuild and maintain your trust in the Leica brand!
Best regards,
Stefan Daniel
Director
Product Management Photo”
Prosophos 
I guess that the M8.2 is not affected by this problem, I hope!
Peter, I love the CCD sensor; however, I have had real technical problems with it, i.e. two sensors replaced albeit under “goodwill” and at no cost to me. The first sensor was replaced because it was cracked and the second because of this corrosion problem. If Leica doesn’t come up with a technical solution to the corrosion problem, then the CCD sensor is doomed if it isn’t already. Really too bad.
I think we will have to give Leica some time to get to the solution. I am sure that they are thinking about it and in their scope.
Peter.
Let’s be positive! Could this worrying affair now be be turned into an opportunity.? Now that leica and its suppliers have been forced to focus on the nature of the problem and as a result, will produce the large quantities of CCD sensors they will need, then perhaps they would see how close they might be producing the enhanced CCD you have asked for. I think your campaign has new legs?
My campaign never stopped:
http://photographsbypeter.com/2013/11/16/an-open-letter-to-leica/ 😉
Of course it didn’t, but their objections to further investment in CCD technology no longer apply. Their supplier will have to do further work, and could turn out a higher spec device in the process.
Oh, I totally understand. And listen, I’ll take it (a new CCD sensor) anyway I can get it!
Of course Kodak Imaging who created the sensor got bought by Truesense Imaging , who in turn were acquisitioned by On Semiconductor this year, a US headquartered company specialising in.!!!..well specialising I’m not sure applies, Automotive, Communications, Medical, Military, their key goal is to reduce energy usage in the world and make everything more energy efficient. Sadly for us, I believe CMOS is more energy efficient then CCD, more inportantly the KAF18500 sensor used in the M9 is labeled as NEW on their list of sensors!!None of this bodes well.
Would Leica even consider taking this back in house (the sensor manufacturing that is?). I’d doubt it. Just to keep a few thousand hard core photographers happy.
Sadly I tend to agree with your view Adam!!
There is no way a small company like Leica could ever dream of getting into the business of manufacturing sensors… that’s a job best left to much larger entities. Truthfully, I wouldn’t even want a “Leica made” sensor… Leica excels in lenses and rangefinders, not electronics.
I just want an updated CCD sensor in a future Leica M model.
Many people keep telling me, like you Andrew, that Leica is not interested in CCD anymore. I actually believe that to be true.
But… what if the demand was there? I see more and more people coming to realize what I said was true: CCD is superior.
Is it so fantastic to believe that Leica, in the face of increasing demand, may change their mind? Especially since, as I point out in my “Open Letter to Leica” (http://photographsbypeter.com/2013/11/16/an-open-letter-to-leica/) a state-of-the-art CCD sensor would help differentiate them from the other (CMOS) players in the marketplace.
At this point, if I knew I could use my M-E and M8 for a long time, I would be satisfied. I really don’t need/want anything more, other than knowing that if my camera(s) fail, there is a worthy successor. The M240 isn’t it.
—Peter.
Video seems like an existential threat to CCD (so, it wasn’t just the “radio store”). That, and the level of the issue Leica seem to face the CCD problems, and any sensible board would look at this and ask “how soon can we exit CCD”? In no way do I mean that as a jibe to your letter, Peter. But I haven’t seen a new CCD camera in a while, and meanwhile the new S is now CMOS also. Leica – if any camera manufacturer at all – might consider CCD for a dedicated following of photography-only enthusiasts, but only if they think there will be continuity of supply of high grade CCD sensors well into the future. I think it is ominous that Leica are providing two solutions here – replacement sensor, or an “upgrade” to a CMOS M.
I hope for you, and for other CCD M enthusiasts that this letter from Leica in the very least results in a long term supply of good CCD sensors for existing Ms, but I also hope, as Lucerne wrote above, that it might lead to an improved CCD that in turn might lead to an improved CCD M camera.
In the meantime, we can also hope that the near future might also deliver a CMOS camera to pass the Peter test! If there is a CMOS camera that leads you to say “yes, this is the look I have been waiting for”, then chances are quite a few of us will follow!
Sony A7s sensor…Nikon Df sensor… Not CCD though could be possible solutions!!
The A7S sensor in the M240 body would probably be enough to win me over… unless they stick the M9 sensor in the M240 body 🙂 .
It is a uncomfortable feeling owning a camera who’s sensor let’s say can be prone to problems, and most likely discontinued, I think that’s the reason I made the jump from the M8 to the M240. ( I enjoy my hobby and don’t like that feeling)
A M9p was in my sights but that sensor issue did not sit right.
My 2 cents worth on which is best is fairly simple, if you are a portrait photographer like Peter the M9 ME wins (we can see that by his excellent workflow) but if you are a jetty on a beach, padlock on a gate, old tractor on a farm, landscapish or to be honest shoot anything type of photographer like me, well thaving used both I now lean towards the M240, and that feeling of having a solid reliable work of art in my hand is special.
I totally understand. That’s the reason I owned an M240 (twice). But just like all of the CMOS sensor cameras I’ve tried to date, I couldn’t quite coax what I wanted out of it. The sensor in the Sony A7S came the closest to the CCD look however.
CCD, CMOS technical’s.
Kudos to Peter as his eye’s does not lie. CCD looks more analog because, at the pixel level at least that’s what it is.
Output of the CCD sensors are analog and converted to digital off chip, The result is that the area occupied by each pixel is wholly dedicated to the capture of light. While that of the CMOS sensors are digital. CMOS sensors have their own charge to voltage conversion system, signal amplification and noise elimination system. This reduces the area in each pixel that is dedicated to collecting light.
This is why CMOS sensors have been found to be inferior to CCD sensors in low light conditions.
What I hear you cry, I thought that was the advantage of CMOS. Well no, all of the higher ISO properties are a result of amplifying the signal. Of course on chip processing allows for less lag and enables Live view, CCD can capture video, just not project it real time. In a Leica that would not be a problem as I’d use the optical view finer even for video anyhow (I know a lot of you do not desire video).
The other then live view benefit is CMOS are cheaper to produce and because the signal is travelling a shorter distance less power hungry. The phone manufacturers previously used CCD as the chip was thinner because the processor sits away from it. What they are pushing the industry to do is provide thinner CMOS chips that will give them longer battery life. Screens for mobiles run into the tens of millions and are the Nevada for Semi Conductor companies.
On a positive side note, CCD sensors are still being developed for Scientific Imaging and Medical Imaging and as recently as November, electronic multiplication technology carried over from CMOS development has been applied to the off chip processor for CCD to radically improve low light capabilities, not just over previous CCD but over CMOS also. So where ultimate quality is concerned CCD still rules. And ultimate quality is what Leica should stand for. (A conflict for Leica however is their desire to produce a wholly European M and CCD Development resides mainly in the US).
Thanks for the very informative post Adam.
There are many who still claim that M240 images can be made to look like M9 images. They cannot… especially when you use the files as I do.
Just to add, the corosion element is not caused by the actual CCD sensor, but the infa red filter placed over it. I don’t think it is made by the same company as the sensor. I think Leica is using this as a bit of a sales pitch for the CMOS M, as it probably users a differnt filter, and they have been a little economical with fully explaining the cause of the corrosion. Again though it points to Leica feeling they have a stronger hold on the full supply chain when the companies are based in Europe and closer to home.
I had an interesting conversation with an image sensor engineer once and he said about just the same as Adam.
CMOS sensors has come a long way because off cell phone development where price and power consumption is of big relevance, even more so than ultimate picture quality. I think it is fair to say that the camera industry want’s to boost theire margins more than
produce the ultimate in picture quality, the CMOS chips are deemed good enough for the main part of the market and most likely alot cheaper….It would be awesome if Leica (because they are small enough) made a new camera with a new CCD with the latest technology to really push the boundaries of how good picture quality it is possible to get out of a camera. The image sensor engineer was very clear on how and why the CCD are superior to the CMOS. And he explained it so well that it all made sense why one see something special in a CCD camera like the M9.
A very informative thread, thank you