How do you clean your MIRROR ?

OK, I can't find this specific topic with any meaningful replies. Yes - I'm talking about my Mirror, not my sensor or view finder window.

I have the Copperhill system for sensor cleaning (pec solution & pads). How do you clean your Mirror? I've already blow air over it (rocket blower). I just don't want to apply the pec solution to wipe it without some confidence that i won't harm the mirror.

thanks all.

Very, very carefully. Delicate mechanism and silvered surface (not behind glass like common mirrors) - some will do it themselves, many say let a pro/Canon do it. Found a good discussion of this here

IMO....Leave it alone. The dust won't affect your image quality.
Drives you nuts though doesn't it?

The Visible Dust people have a mirror brush that can be static-charged (like their sensor brushes) to pick up dust particles. Otherwise, I wouldn't wet-clean it because of the mechanical delicacy, but others may have a different take!

How do you know the dust is on your mirror and not on your viewfinder? Can you see it on your mirror when you take off your lens?

I cleaned mine, it was so dirty it was affecting AF. I used kodak lens tissue and kodak lens cleaning fluid, worked great.

I know cosworth did the same, he used kimwipes to great effect it seems.

Thanks for all your opinions on this matter. I will proceed slowly if I even decide to touch the mirror.. I'll dismantle it later today and give it a closer inspection.

OK ... I just took off my lens and with a "lit magnifier" I can see that there is visible dust/lint on my mirror. I'm a bit nervouse about using my rocket blower on it for fear of just moving the crud to my sensor. Maybe I should just get over it and leave it be. hmmm.

I don't think you'll move much onto the sensor and I'd go ahead and blow (man I hope the title fairy isn't around ). Remember the sensor is behind the shutter at this point, just be careful not to hit the tip of the blower into the mirror, do it in a clean place and after doing careful blowing close to mirror tip camera with lens opeing down and give some general all over blowing so dust comes out of body mostly.

Thanks Mark... I'll do precisely that.

I have always cleaned the mirror the same way I clean the sensor but apply less pressure. Have been doing that since my Canon A1 thirty years ago and the A1 mirror still looks fine.

Really? Just use the pec-2 solution (ala Copperhill method) ?? hmmmm... nervous nelly here based on a lot of the discussions going on. Is that how the CANON techs do it (wipe it with a solution & scratch-free cloth)? Unfortunately, CANON Service is 500 miles from here. Side question: If I screw up my mirror, what's it typically cost to replace it?)

Oh, (Mark), I just tried the rocket blower. Whatever is on the mirror is definitely stuck on. I also see small dust particles (using that magnifying glass thing I use for Sensor cleaning). The worse is that I have this horrible "hair-like lint thing" that is so obvious. I can't get it off the mirror by simply blowing it with the RB.

Cody21 wrote in post #5340997
.. If I screw up my mirror, what's it typically cost to replace it?)...

What’s to screw up? If your comfortable cleaning the sensor, it is easier to clean as you don’t have to worry about the shutter closing and such. About the only way to screw it up is to use too much fluid so that it drips every where or use too much pressure bending things out of alignment, or use a cleaning material that can scratch. A pec pad here is great. It is gentle enough to wipe the emulsion side of a negative which is way softer then the mirroring on the mirror.

Thanks for the wisdom John ... I'll give it a gentle try.

I would not use anything that would put more pressure on the mirror than a VERY lightly wadded sheet of lens tissue. The mechanisms that support and move the mirror are very delicate.

DO NOT use anything dry to wipe the mirror (use a little lens cleaner on the tissue), and DO NOT wipe without blowing off anything that will respond to a squeeze-bulb blower. To do either is a good recipe for scratching the mirror's surface.