Cleaning external viewfinder

How do you guys clean the plastic external viewfinder of dust-specks without scratching, leaving swirl marks or making more of a mess?

External viewfinder, what's that? The eyepiece? Or are you refering to the rear LCD?

Where you put your eye.

If the rocket air doesn't remedy it then I use a very poofy paint brush (looks similar to one of those ladies make-up brushes, available at arts & craft stores) that results in a very gentle and light brushing action. This brush is also good for removing the dust from bodies and lenses plus those rubber focusing and zoom rings that snag all kinds of stuff.

Strange! I just did both of my cameras yesterday.

Remove the rubber eyecup.

Blast with Rocket Blower until you are tired.

Remove the rest with q-tip style thingie that comes with lens cleaners and lens cleaning liquid. Repeat until fed up.

Leave the rest there.

Under no circumstances look at the viewfinder while pointing at a bright light with no lens on. You have been warned!

I removed about 95 percent of the crud (a lot of sticky stuff) in 20 minutes. It took me 2 1/2 hours to find the eyecup!

MakisM1 wrote in post #17544219
Remove the rubber eyecup.
…
It took me 2 1/2 hours to find the eyecup!

^ two very important things to keep in mind!

after taking it off and replacing with the light blocker thing, I've gone days without the rubber eye cup due to putting it "somewhere i couldn't forget".


but i find that if i don't wear my dollar store reading glasses i can't see the filth and muck on the eyepiece. ignorance is bliss.

Rocket blower, and lens pen, for me.

I have a correction lens mounted on top of the eyepiece. Keeps the dirt away from the eyepiece. The correction lens can of course be removed for cleaning.

Q tip & cleaning fluid.

What makes you think it's plastic? The viewfinder is an optical system.

Clean it as you would the surface of a multicoated lens. I use a rocket blower, followed by lens solution on microfibre cloth if necessary. I've used a blunt wooden cooking skewer behind the cloth to push it into the edges and corners.

I've never heard it called an external viewfinder before.

I clean the viewfinder by taking my glove off and putting the tip of my pinky finger on the viewfinder glass. I then smear my pinky fingertip across the surface of the glass. This removes the heavy condensation that forms when I accidentally breathe on the viewfinder. I would leave the glove on for this, except that the finger with the glove on it is too big to get down onto the surface of the glass, hence I take the glove off.

I've never seen any reason to clean anything else off of it, as dust or grease on it does not bother me in the least. Heck, I don't even see or notice that stuff.

Blower

i use a bellows... blows everything across the room