Crud in my camera

Scurra · Aug 28, 2004

I have recently noticed that I appear to have collected some dust and hairs on the mirrored section inside the body of my Canon E0S 3000v I can only assume they got there while I was changing lens.

My main problem is they are appearing on my viewfinder and I'm not entirely sure how best to get rid of them... any thoughts?

LizM · Aug 28, 2004

Good luck - I've never found a good way to get rid of them. I usually wind up using my shirt tail and cussing under my breath.

Scurra · Aug 28, 2004

Damn the shirt tail idea seems to be making matters worse....

amyliz · Aug 28, 2004

Have you tried some canned air? I had some crap inside my camera and that seemed to work pretty well for me.

LizM · Aug 28, 2004

I never said the shirt tail was a GOOD idea!

Seriously, try a lint free shammy or eyeglass lens cleaner cloth.

Good Luck!

Alison · Aug 28, 2004

amyliz said:
Have you tried some canned air? I had some crap inside my camera and that seemed to work pretty well for me.

That's my weapon of choice as well.

Varthlokkur · Aug 28, 2004

be very careful. Mirrors scratch easy. Go get a fine blower brush at your camera store. Use it. be also careful about caned air. You can trash your mirror and sensor.

fadingaway1986 · Aug 28, 2004

I have the same problem (mines 3000N)... It pisses me off - but I have learnt to live with it... It's only on the viewfinder... I actually worked out exactly where... And I managed to move it one day... but it just stuck to another part of my viewfinder - so i gave up.. I don't really notice it now.

DocFrankenstein · Aug 29, 2004

Don't you ever touch the mirror.

If it's really bad, use a blower. Other than that don't ever clean it.

Scurra · Aug 29, 2004

lint free lens cloth did the trick.....

I can see clearly now the dust has gone

LizM · Aug 29, 2004

Yeah!!!!

Artemis · Aug 29, 2004

Dont do it again...I did and my mirror is scratched to hell...I think

photo girl · Aug 30, 2004

I used to clean camera at a photo studio. It is simple to do but you have to be very careful and precise. We used a lens cleaning cloth that was on then end of a q-tip with a a drop of cleaning fluid. We would just wipe accros the mirror very gently with each side of the cleaning cloth. This helped a lot with dust and any other crud that would get in.

ksmattfish · Aug 30, 2004

DocFrankenstein said:
Don't you ever touch the mirror.

If it's really bad, use a blower. Other than that don't ever clean it.

I second this. Dust on the mirror may be annoying, but it doesn't affect your photos. It will be impossible to keep the mirror dust free, and the more you clean it the more likely you will damage it.

Also watch out for canned air. These can be so powerful that they can blow the mirror out of whack. Use a squeeze bulb blower.