Dirty Prism (Canon Elan 7)

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Hi all

During the weekned I was taking some pics with my Canon Elan 7 in a very dusty evironment. Every now and then I gave the lens a blow and brush to keep it clean, but after a while I saw some spots in the viewfinder.

The front of the lens was clean so I took it off, cleaned the back and the mirror but the affensive particles could still be seen.

Thing is, my prism is really dirty and I don't know how to clean it... I tried the blowing brush but the specs were too firmly attached.

Should I try harder with the brush?
Should I use some lens cleaning solution?
Lens cleaning paper?
????

Thanks!

 

[jwkwd]

As long as your lenses are clean, it will have no effect on your images. I personally would use a Q-tip with a little cleaner on it and try to get off what I could get to. Remember I said " I " would do it that way. If you know it's inside the viewfinder, there is not a lot you can do about it, other than send it out for a cleaning.

 

[Zeabned]

Just yesterday, I detected a similarly offending particle in the viewfinder of my Canon Elan 7n. Upon inspection of the lens, etc., I determined that the speck was on the prism. Now this may be counterintuitive, but I took a battery operated blower contraption that I bought at my supermarket (oh the shame!) and turning the camera upside down I pointed the nozzle up and turned on the contraption. When next I looked throught the prism, no particle. The contraption I used blows an air stream that is effective, but gentler than the burst spewed from the pressurized air can types, and does not contain any foamy or liquid matter like those cans have. The brand is Innodesk. Worked for me.

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Thanks for the tips. I might try it with the q-tips, but I tihnk I'll cover them with the tissue I got in my cleaning kit...