Viewfinder dust

So, has anyone out there been successful at cleaning up their dusty 5D/1D/1Ds viewfinder? My rocket blower seems to have no effect at all. This problem was easy to ignore at first since there were only a couple of specs but now after only a couple of weeks there are over a dozen specs on my 5D's viewfinder. There has to be some way to get rid of this crap.

It's quite easy to clean if you take out the viewfinder screen.

Mark

Are you talking about outside or inside the camera? You can clean the outside of the eyepiece with a cotton bud.

Blower will make it worse...more dust specs are introduced by blowing at the viewfinder, at least this is my experience. How do you safely remove the screen? And what do you use to clear it?

No sweat cleaning the viewfinder. I send my cameras to Canon every 6 months and they clean them easily.

Mark: Do you think you could point me towards some sort of detailed tutorial with pictures on how to remove the viewfinder screen? A google search turned up nothing but an old tutorial from the dpreview forums with missing pictures. My 5D manual doesn't have any info on viewfinder screen removal either.

cineraceus wrote in post #3328626
Are you talking about outside or inside the camera? You can clean the outside of the eyepiece with a cotton bud.

Inside the camera and not on the mirror so the dust/dirt/whatever is probably on the focusing screen or somewhere in the pentaprism.

terriyaki wrote in post #3328805
Inside the camera and not on the mirror so the dust/dirt/whatever is probably on the focusing screen or somewhere in the pentaprism.

Don't do that with a cotton bud

It is not actually that difficult to get to the focusing screen on a 5D. You just take off the lens, and there is a little tab that you pull. Unfortunately though I couldn't find a copy of the instructions on the net...

terriyaki,
Here is a link I found that shows how to access and remove the focus screen. It should help you
Changing a Focus screen
On the first paragraph there is a link for a pdf file that shows how to remove the screen with pictures.

I had to take mine to a local camera repair shop. He told me the dust is more visible on the 5D, than on the 30D/XTi, because of the pentaprism? (I'm not sure if that's correct, but something like that).

The shop charges $12.00 for a sensor cleaning, so I had that done as well. There was no charge for removing the dust from the viewfinder.

The focusing screen is easier to get to on a 5D or 1 series. You just need to lift this tab, and it will flop down.

I can't say that I have ever tried cleaning it though...

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Mark_Cohran wrote in post #3328164
It's quite easy to clean if you take out the viewfinder screen.

Mark

Mark,

My new 30D came with a speck of something in the viewfinder. Do you think I should just wait after a year (or however long) before I get a little dust in the viewfinder and then just send it to Canon (or local repair shop) to have it cleaned? Dust and particles in the viewfinder is no big deal?

Dust in the viewfinder is no big deal. I don't know why people are so anal about a few specks. The dust in a viewfinder isn't going to show in the images and it isn't going to get stuck on the sensor, either. If it were going to get stuck on the sensor it would been on the sensor already, Use the camera and enjoy it. If by the end of a year you have accumulated the Sahara desert in the viewfinder that's the time to go have the viewfinder cleaned. Taking out the focusing screen and cleaning the viewfinder yourself is risking damage to the camera that won't be covered under warranty if something does get damaged. Why risk it for a speck or two now?

There is a set of plastic tweezers sold by Canon/Nikon for use in dropping that dap and removing screen. If using metal tweezers, warp some electrical tape over ends - focusing screen is SOFT platsic and will scratch. Also - just in case the tweezers come in contact with mirror, you won't scratch it. Clean gently and re-insert. This will get rid of what is on screen, but not all of it will reside on screen alone.

I wouldn't worry about cleaning the screen - that tab is there and alternate focusing screens are sold under assumption that user can change them. Becareful, use common sense and tool that is softer than material you are working with/around.

Blowing with blower into VF from OS just moves crap around and may get dust into VF. - in short all but useless.

FYI: Shot with a pro-owned 5D yesterday. Sensor was spotless, but VF looked like a cat's litter box. MFing would have been all but impossible there was so much junk -- large specks (dirt), slivers of metal shavings, dust particles and possibly something waving back at me....

Theory is that mfg crap left inside at factory and junk in mirror box gets blown into the VF area via its unsealed underside (on 5D). Thought was over-blown hokem until I saw this guy's 5D. No effect on IQ obviously, but would get real annoying after awhile.

As an aside - his 1D2 was 2x as old yet spotless on sensor and inside VF.

I can see some dust in viewfinder. And I can clearly see the dust is sticking on the plastic looking piece upon the leaning mirror. Since it is plastic kinda material, can I just stick a cloth the take the dust out. Blower doesn't work on that dust. Only think I am worried is to touch the mirror which is much more sensitive...

Galaxy99 wrote in post #3365357
I can see some dust in viewfinder. And I can clearly see the dust is sticking on the plastic looking piece upon the leaning mirror. Since it is plastic kinda material, can I just stick a cloth the take the dust out. Blower doesn't work on that dust. Only think I am worried is to touch the mirror which is much more sensitive...

I there is dust on the mirror, you won't see it in the viewfinder or on your images. If there is dust on the focusing screen (the plastic piece directly above the mirror, either blow it off with a blower, leave it there, or send it to Canon. It's quite easily marred if you touch it, so that will just make the problem work.

The mirror is front silvered and is pretty easily scratched as well - so I wouldn't be messing with that either.

Mark