An expensive cleaning mistake !

[BigBlueDodge]

Well, I've had my 20D for close to a year now. Recently it had picked up a couple of specs of dust in the viewfinder. Well, one night it bothered me enough that I dissassembled the camera to clean out the focusing screen and viewfinder screen behind it. Well, big mistake because it only got worse. I used a light sable brush to lightly dust off the dust specs. That part worked great. However, as soon as I went to re-assemble the screens, new specs of dust would fall back on them. I repeated the process numerous times, and I just couldn't get it to where the dust would be completely gone. Well, looking closer, it appears what I thought was dust was in fact a small scratch that I evidentally put there.

Long story short, I sent it off to Canon this mornign to have the focus screen and viewfinder screens replaced. This was just a boneheaded mistake on my part. I'm not having too much luck with camera gear lately. My 20D is now at Canon. My Sigma 120-300 is at Sigma. And I just got a Sigma 1.4x TC that I had to have replaced.......*sigh*. All I have in my bag is the Canon 24-70L, Tokina 12-24 and Canon 50 1.4. I'm scared to touch any of them as I fear I'lll screw them up as well :)


Anyway, just thought I'd warn everyone that if you see dust in the viewfinder, don't get brave like I did. Most likely you'll just make it worse than it already is.

Hopefully in a couple of short weeks I'll have my 20D back in my hands. In a way, it did give me an excuse to send the 20D in. I'm coming up on 1 yr ownership, and the warranty is about to be out. I want Canon to give it the once over, and check it out to make sure its in tip top condition.

[ssim]

Ouch. That even hurts to read it. Whatever possessed you to take your camera apart.

I've never let dust in the viewfinder get the best of me. I seem to have a couple of spots in each of my bodies. I can get rid of them with a rocket blower but they come back pretty quickly. As long as my images are coming back clean without dust bunnies I leave it be.

[Tsmith]

The ones that get on the focusing screen can be tuff to get.

[BigBlueDodge]

Whatever possessed you to take your camera apart

Well, its just me being daring and over-confident. Okay, the truth is that I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to my gear. Its has to be PERFECT or it just drives me nutty!

Actually, the process is VERY simple to get to these screens. I just got careless in handling the screens, and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. I'm not too concerned about it though. I'm sure Canon will take care of me. I just hate being without a camera.

[hudsonch]

Opening up a viewfinder is risky. Even if you can do this in a dust free lab, how can you make sure that the prism, the focusing screen and the mirror are aligned up to the factory standard when you re-assemble it back? Similarily, dis-assembling a lens by one self to clean up the dust inside will usually do more harm than good.

For DSLR, the only situation you should concern is dust particles on the sensor.

[BigBlueDodge]

I didn't open up the viewfinder part, per se. Anyone who has installed a Hoada focusing screen knows exactly what I did. The prism and all the internals were left alone.

[85lesabre]

Ouch!!!!! someone's not sleeping at night.

[BigBlueDodge]

Well, my 20D was mailed off to Canon on Monday of this week, and yesterday (Friday) I got the email saying that they had received it and were going to fix it free of charge !! Kudo's to Canon NJ Service Center. When I sent it in I asked them to replace both the focusing screen and the viewfinder screen (name made up by me. Its the plastic lens behind the focusing screen), clean the sensor, and give it a checkup to make sure everything looks good. I hope to have her back by next week. The flowers are really starting to bloom down here in Texas and I want to get some pictures of my girls in them before the hot weather sets in.

[ed rader]

Well, its just me being daring and over-confident. Okay, the truth is that I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to my gear. Its has to be PERFECT or it just drives me nutty!

Actually, the process is VERY simple to get to these screens. I just got careless in handling the screens, and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. I'm not too concerned about it though. I'm sure Canon will take care of me. I just hate being without a camera.

wow. save this post and re-read it after you get your camera back. it's filled with irony. and remember that insanity is repeating the same behavior expecting different results :confused: .

ed rader

[defordphoto]

Focus screens and mirrors are both hands off. Way too risky to mess them up and pricey to fix. You're real lucky Canon is footing the bill on this one BBD.

[BigBlueDodge]

Oh I know. I was pretty much expecting to get hit with a bill. I'm not sure how much those screens run (although I can't imagine it would be to much as they are simply plastic), but I already had some money set aside for the repairs.

Little things like this ensures that a Canon DSLR will be my next camera after this 20D. 1/2 of the purchase is in the product, and the 1/2 of the purchase is how the company treats you after the sale. In my book Canon has excelled in both, and will keep me as a customer.

[22littlereasons]

My focussing screen has had flecks of dusk on it for months now. The first little while it bothered me immensely, but after a time I got over it. As long as the pics I took didn't have the dust flecks on them I was Ok with it. But there is always the little voice in the back of myh mind telling me to do something about it. Then I read something like this and the little voice is scared away for another few months.

[lorandh]

You *can* actually replace the focusing screen yourself (they go for about $15), but like everyone else said it's very risky. It's a nice gesture from Canon that they'll be doing the maintenance for free though, BBD.