Mark or dust in viewfinder

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insomniac

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Hi there,

When I look through the viewfinder I see a small small mark below one of the focal points, which probably is some dust.

I tried looking through the viewfinder with the lens off and I can still see the mark. However, it doesn't appear on any photos at all, the images are completely clean.

Researching this problem it looks like there may be some dust on the mirror and not on the sensor.

I'm going on holiday at the end of the week and am keen to resolve this problem since it's a bit annoying to see in the viewfinder even though it's affecting the results. So my choices:
1. Ignore it for now, and consider servicing it later
2. Try cleaning the mirror myself
3. Take it to an authorised dealer to take care of the problem

I would appreciate any suggestions/advice on what to do.

Thank you.
 
I'd try the use of a ''Rocket Blower'', beyond that it would be option 3 for me.
 
It could be on the mirror but more likely, in my experience to be on the focusing screen, either way a Rocket Blower should shift it.
Just hold the camera upside down with the lens removed and have a good blow inside, it helps if you can put the camera on a tripod.
Once you have blown it out leave it for a while for the dust to settle and then give it another blow. While you are waiting you can give the rear element of your lenses a good blow as well as they can introduce dust into the camera, do the lenses away from the camera though :)
 
Suvv said:
It could be on the mirror but more likely, in my experience to be on the focusing screen, either way a Rocket Blower should shift it.
Click to expand...

Wow, what can I say? Thank you so much!

A quick use of the tripod and Rocket Blower fixed the problem and possibly saved me north of 50 squids. Much appreciated.
 
insomniac said:
Wow, what can I say? Thank you so much!

A quick use of the tripod and Rocket Blower fixed the problem and possibly saved me north of 50 squids. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

:clap: I'm glad that it worked, it's one of the things you have to put up with when you have changeable lenses.
I know that some people don't like using a Rocket blower to clean the sensor because it just shifts dust around. I have found that blowing out the mirror box a few times, and leaving it a while between blows, before raising the mirror and blowing the sensor helps. The actual mirror is surface coated so any physical cleaning is risky, as the mirror gets slapped out of the way every time that you take a photo it is not often that dust stays on it - pollen is another story!
The other thing, as I mentioned in my first post, is keeping the rear element of lenses clean, any dust on them and it goes straight into the mirror box!
 
Last edited:
I didn't raise the mirror and clean the sensor, since the photographs were absolutely fine. Just thought I'd err on the side of caution this time round.
 
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