What the specialist press recorded
- DPReview, 10 Dec 2014 — “A growing number of Leica users are reporting white spots” on M9 / M9-P / Monochrom / M-E; Kodak 18MP CCD + Schott S8612 cover glass; later update that Leica would replace free regardless of age.
- PetaPixel, 12 Sep 2020 — after Leica ended replacement: LDP LLC opened a failed M9, measured the ICF/cover glass, and wrote that Leica/Kodak used uncoated Schott BG-type glass. “All those BG and UG types of glasses are susceptible to oxidization.” Estimated ~180,000 M9 bodies at ~$8,000.
- Kolari Vision still sells an M9 corrosion repair (BG39 / corrosion-proof glass) with a lifetime no-corrosion guarantee in customer reports — because official replacement ended.
- Morten Albek summarises three Leica campaigns: same sensor; then a still-vulnerable iteration; then a late-2015 non-corroding generation (CCD ID 15/16 in owner lore).
- Reddit r/Leica 2023 — “that is by far the worst corrosion I’ve ever seen”; “Gotta show this to everyone who claims that the M9 is still worth buying”; “Leica stopped replacing sensors years ago.”
- L-Camera-Forum 2025 — owners still sending bodies to Kolari (now also EU/Slovenia) after Wetzlar already replaced a sensor years earlier and corrosion returned on the same sensor family.
Why this belongs next to orders 1058152 / 1105973
HQ told this customer that purchase proof was “not acknowledgeable” and that CCD production had stopped. The public owner record shows: (1) the failure mode is generic to the CCD cover glass, not a one-off mishandling story; (2) Leica itself ran multi-year free then paid replacement programmes, which only makes sense if the defect was acknowledged at population scale; (3) when official parts ended, a cottage industry of glass swaps appeared. The complainant’s unanswered question is why a customer who engaged Wetzlar in 2015 and 2019 is left with auto-replies and an upgrade brochure.
Forum usernames remain as they appear on the captured pages. We do not speak for those owners; we exhibit that they exist.