erm... the mirror on my D600

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extra

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I have just had a moment of "I have had enough!" so I took the matter to my hands by cleaning the mirror very gently with a lens cloth to get rid of some marks on it (they have been there since day 1). Now moments of madness is over, I am beginning to think Oh ****, what if I scratch the mirror or have created some permanent damage. How do I test it? Focus and metering? Anything else?
 
I should say the mirror is visually fine. And it goes without saying I will not do it again, just had one of those moments...
 
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I have just done it, the pics look fine, but I am more worried about the focusing and metering as the mirror doesn't actually affect the image quality because it flips up before an image is taken. Or do you mean talking a pic to check the focus and meter reading?
 
The mirror wont affect either of these as it is mainly there to allow youbto see through the viewfinder
 
I am sure I have read somewhere that mirror isn't just a mirror. I could be totally wrong here but my understanding is that if the mirror is scratched the light could get in through the scratches or holes as the silver coating has came off and therefore affect the meter reading. A similar theory applies to auto focus that if a mirror is damaged or misaligned then it could affect the auto focus. I wonder if there is actually a more accurate way to check if I have messed up my camera. But I guess if the pics seems ok then there is nothing to really worry about...
 
Thedodo said:
The mirror wont affect either of these as it is mainly there to allow youbto see through the viewfinder
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You're way off the mark there Darrell, the mirror will affect both metering and AF.
The mirror is usually around 40% transmissive and the 40% that passes through the mirror is deflected down to the AF sensors by the sub-mirror behind it. The remaining 60% is reflected upwards into the penta-prism where the metering sensors are located. (from a Canon viewpoint at least)

Bob
 
extra said:
I am sure I have read somewhere that mirror isn't just a mirror. I could be totally wrong here but my understanding is that if the mirror is scratched the light could get in through the scratches or holes as the silver coating has came off and therefore affect the meter reading. A similar theory applies to auto focus that if a mirror is damaged or misaligned then it could affect the auto focus. I wonder if there is actually a more accurate way to check if I have messed up my camera. But I guess if the pics seems ok then there is nothing to really worry about...
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Isn't the coating usually underneath the glass? If yes, you'd have to scratch through the glass first to damage the coating.

If you'd scratch the glass, light might get reflected in the wrong direction, I don't know whether in the end that could affect the metering or AF. But I guess that would have to be massive scratches to affect the metering sufficiently for the effects to be visible in a photo.

You could check your mirror using a magnifier glass (loupe). There are loupes with built-in LED lights which should allow you to see the mirror's surface in sufficient detail. But if you used a microfibre cloth, I doubt that you could have scratched the mirror with it, unless you rubbed some hard particle around on the mirror's surface.

Misalignment of the mirror is more serious IMHO. Again I don't know whether and how severely this would affect the metering or the AF. I'd worry about excessive wear due to something not running within the specs anymore.

How much force did you actually apply when you cleaned the mirror?
 
the mirror is a front silver coating mirror. I have just sent the camera in for a sensor clean this morning as it's cursed by the D600 spot issue anyway and they said they would clean the mirror as well. Due to my very short sighted-ness mean that I can see things very clearly up close, I am pretty sure I have had a lucky esacpe with damaging the mirror, but NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!

Thanks guys.
 
Just don't touch the focus screen. That can be scratched by the microscopic stuff on your skin!
 
Canon Bob said:
You're way off the mark there Darrell, the mirror will affect both metering and AF.
The mirror is usually around 40% transmissive and the 40% that passes through the mirror is deflected down to the AF sensors by the sub-mirror behind it. The remaining 60% is reflected upwards into the penta-prism where the metering sensors are located. (from a Canon viewpoint at least)

Bob
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Ahh i stand corrected, cheers bob learn something everyday
 
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