Please Help! Advice on Cleaning Mirror and Prism/Sensor on Nikon FE?

[BlurbleBarry]

Hey all!

I recently purchased a used Nikon FE and am loving it so far. Unfortunately, however, I made a big mistake yesterday: while switching lenses, I noticed a black particle on the mirror. Not knowing much at all about the cleaning process, I just grabbed a piece of lens cleaning paper and attempted to dab it off. In the process, I knocked some gunk off of the interior of the camera and it got all over the mirror and prism (or whatever the screen on the top of the interior is). All I have tried is using dry q-tips so far, but have since read that it is a big no-go to touch the mirror. Looking closely at the mirror and prism and comparing the surface gunk to what I see in the viewfinder, it appears as if there are some particles behind. the prism (or at least just not on the surface of it or the mirror). I just ordered a cleaning kit (Amazon.com : Professional Cleaning Set for DSLR Cameras (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony) - Includes: Purosol All Natural Lens Cleaner 1 oz. Bottle + Lens Cleaning Pen + Lens Brush + Air Blower Cleaner + 50 Sheets Lens Tissue Paper + 3 Pack Oversize and O), but don't know how I should go about using it as all the instructional videos I've found deal with cleaning the sensor on DSLR cameras. Am I screwed or can the camera be saved? The cost to ship it to get repaired is more than the cost of me buying a new one...Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
Zack

 

[manaheim]

FYI I deleted your second post. Not sure if it was intentional, but please don't dual-post. Thanks and good luck.

 

[Designer]

A little hand-operated bulb blower should get those particles out. Spots in your viewfinder are annoying, but they won't affect the image. That is why sensor cleaning is featured in those videos.

 

[Derrel]

35mm cameras get junk inside the camera after years. Firstr off-the MIRROR does NOT, I repeat, does NOT need to be cleaned. Ever. As in--ev-er. As in 40,50 years, ever.

OTOH, the viewfindfer screen is removeable in many cameras, with a small latch on the front of the frame. You usually use tweezers, or a special set of tweezers that is sold with new viewfinder screens. If there is crud on top of the viewfinder screen, take the screen out and clean it. Otherwise, learn to deal with the dust specks in the viewfinder, like we almost all did in the film days.

Changing Focusing Screens in the Nikon FM/FE/FA