Dirt in viewfinder

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nidding

Senior Member
Hey.
Today, after messing a bit with a reverse macro ring, I noticed some dirt on my viewfinder. Just a little black dot.
It doesn't show up in the photos or on the LCD, so I'm assuming it's on the mirror or the focus screen. I've tried blowing the dirt of with a rocket blower and have wiped the focus screen with a q-tip with some lense cleaning liquid on it (was this a bad idea?). Both without luck.
I think I can see the dust on the mirror, but am not sure if this is really it. In the viewfinder it's on the edge, but on the mirror it looks to be in the center. Also, if it were on the mirror, wouldn't it be very out of focus?

Any advise on how to get the dirt out would be greatly appreciated as the camera is new, and I would hate to have to send it in for cleaning :)
 
N

nickt

Senior Member
I can't help you with the dust, but I ruined a focus screen back in the film days with a q-tip. It was dry and I just lightly swiped the screen to get a visible piece of dust off and it might as well have been sandpaper. The cleaning fluid may have saved you from scratching it or maybe Nikon has tougher material than my old Canon. I wouldn't touch the mirror either. It is a front surface thin-film type mirror, very easy to ruin it.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
nidding said:
Hey.
Today, after messing a bit with a reverse macro ring, I noticed some dirt on my viewfinder. Just a little black dot.
It doesn't show up in the photos or on the LCD, so I'm assuming it's on the mirror or the focus screen. I've tried blowing the dirt of with a rocket blower and have wiped the focus screen with a q-tip with some lense cleaning liquid on it (was this a bad idea?). Both without luck.
I think I can see the dust on the mirror, but am not sure if this is really it. In the viewfinder it's on the edge, but on the mirror it looks to be in the center. Also, if it were on the mirror, wouldn't it be very out of focus?

Any advise on how to get the dirt out would be greatly appreciated as the camera is new, and I would hate to have to send it in for cleaning :)
Click to expand...

I doubt you would be able to see dust on the mirror in the viewfinder. Most of the time, the dust you see in the viewfinder is stuck under the focusing screen. If your gentle enough, it usually can be brushed out or blown out. You can use a vacuum cleaner small nozzle close to the lens mount to get the dust outside the camera's chamber. It is important to get it out the cavity because otherwise it could end up stuck to the sensor when the mirror goes up and the shutter opens.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
nidding said:
What could I use to clean the focus screen, then? :)
Click to expand...

Any clean soft brush. Have a look at artist material stores they have a very nice selection of brushes. I'd be real surprised if an artist brush used carefully would damage a piece of glass.
 
N

nidding

Senior Member
After reading a bit more on the subject, I must say I'm getting a little cold feet. As nickt says above, people have scratched it with q-tips and Tiber cloth. Do you have any personal experience using brushes? :)

I know the focusing screen is an easily replaceable part, but being a student and Christmas coming up, I'd much prefer not to have to change it right now ;)
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
nidding said:
After reading a bit more on the subject, I must say I'm getting a little cold feet. As nickt says above, people have scratched it with q-tips and Tiber cloth. Do you have any personal experience using brushes? :)

I know the focusing screen is an easily replaceable part, but being a student and Christmas coming up, I'd much prefer not to have to change it right now ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, I have. I have used the retractable lens brush to remove dust from under the focusing screen and it did not hurt it at all. I've also replaced my focusing screens in my D7000 and D700 so I could manually focus my old faithful Ai and Ais lenses. A brush is not as abrasive as a Q-tip. And some people might put to much pressure on a Q-tip where with the brush you can't until the metal part comes into contact with the glass. If you'd push that hard on a brush, then yes, you could scratch the glass.
 
N

nidding

Senior Member
Okay. Thanks for the replies :)
Obviously I can scratch the screen with a brush. What I meant was if I probably would scratch it by messing with it.
But I see your point. And if you've both actually done it with good results, I see no reason why I shouldn't as well. Just need to put on the boots to warm up those cold feet of mine.
@Marcel: I think I will put in a new screen for manual focus as well at some point. As I'm on the lookout for MF lenses as well. They're easy enough to change, right?
 
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Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
nidding said:
Okay. Thanks for the replies :)
Obviously I can scratch the screen with a brush. What I meant was if I probably would scratch it by messing with it.
But I see your point. And if you've both actually done it with good results, I see no reason why I shouldn't as well. Just need to put on the boots to warm up those cold feet of mine.
@Marcel: I think I will put in a new screen for manual focus as well at some point. As I'm on the lookout for MF lenses as well. They're easy enough to change, right?
Click to expand...

You could scratch the screen with the brush but that would be misusing the brush since you are not supposed to use the metal part of the brush... :)
 
N

nidding

Senior Member
After a go with the brush and another inspection of the screen, I think I have found a little chip of the screen missing, which then looks like dirt in the view finder. How the heck I managed to cause this damage is beyond me, but luckily it's in a spot where it's not too annoying.
Thanks for the help anyways. The brush didn't do any further damage, by the way, so your solution could have worked fine :)

Cheers
 
S

sailtastic

Senior Member
This is the same issue I have had on my 3100, although I have a circular blurry spot right on the centre focus dot. I toyed with the idea of sending the camera back to Nikon as its under warranty, but have heard some horror stories regarding the 3rd party repairer Nikon use in the UK. I have the returns label printed off but havent plucked up the courage to send it.
And after all the the smudge is not on the sensor so doesnt effect my pics, its just irritating to see it when looking through the viewfinder.
 
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