black spot

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James
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Just noticed about an hour ago while looking through the viewfinder on my 40d there seems to be a small black spot on the bottom right hand side :gag:


I changed lenses but it is still there, so I am presuming its on the mirror, I have tried the cleaning sensor a few times but it aint budging.
Now i dont want to start mucking about trying to clean this without asking you guys :thumbs: what would be the best and safest way to get this off..

I took a couple of pics of a clear blue sky but could not see the spot viewing in the lcd screen.
It may not affect my pics its just really annoying and I feel flawed if you know what I mean :D
Any advice would be greatfully recieved ;)
 
Quick question from me. If you assumed this dirt was on the mirror why did you then go ahead and clean your sensor? Apologies if you just typed it out wrong but this confused me a little.

It's a common thing in most cameras really. Just a bit of dust/dirt/debris in the viewfinder. Nothing much you can do about it without dismantling your camera or sending it in for what is essentially a waste of money. As you have seen it won't be on your images so really thee is nothing wrong. I have the same thing with my camera, it was annoying at first but now I just tune it out and dont even notice it any more.

Tom N.
 
i would imagain this is dust on your mirror of focus screen.
#Simple fix just clean them.
 
If the cack is on the mirror or focus screen, don't clean them (apart from trying a gentle blow with a blower - a strong blow could send it into the area above the screen which will be far harder to shift), they're very delicate (the mirror is a first surface mirror - the coating is on the side you can see and isn't very thick and the focus screen is also easy to damage - find X-sitra's thread [she ended up with a new camera]). I'm afraid you'll either have to live with it (the spots do get less distracting, eventually!) or get the camera professionally seen to.
 
Quick question from me. If you assumed this dirt was on the mirror why did you then go ahead and clean your sensor? Apologies if you just typed it out wrong but this confused me a little.


Sorry I meant switching on the camera to activate the sensor cleaning of the mirror..

I was assuming this spot was on the mirror :thinking:
 
Sorry I meant switching on the camera to activate the sensor cleaning of the mirror..

I was assuming this spot was on the mirror :thinking:

Sorry if I have read this wrong, but are you under the impression that switching the menu 'sensor cleaning' on, cleans the sensor?
 
no call me mr thickie but I was thinking it cleaned the mirror:D this is getting to complicated for me ...
 
If the dirt is clear and sharp, it will be sitting on the focusing screen, just above the mirror. If it's a more blurry blob, it is probably on the mirror near the focusing screen, or possibly on top of the focusing screen inside the prism.

You probably just have to get used to this kind of thing. You can perhaps move it with a blower, but it doesn't affect anything and while you can see it, at least you know it's not on the sensor.
 
If you have a removable screen (some cameras have) then you can take it out and give it a gentle brush with something like an Arctic Butterfly sensor brush or a very clean lens brush.
Often it's just a case of repeatedly using a blower with the camera pointing down until the dust is dislodged out of the camera - don't point the end of the blower right into the lens-throat, but leave it a good 5cm outside the body while directing puffs in towards the mirror and screen.

Keep the camera switched off to reduce static charge while you do all this otherwise you'll just suck more dust in.

At least we no longer have small bugs living off the gelatin fragments in our viewfinders...lol
Used to occasionally see tiny things crawl across the focussing screens...
 
Thanks Hoppy UK and Arkady :thumbs:

Thats just the answer i was looking for have tried blowing the mirror gently but that did not work ..will try a more detailed blow if you know what i mean..
and let you know how a get on :thumbs::thumbs:
 
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