Spot on viewfinder

[swiftaw]

I have a Digital Rebel XT, and as I was talking a photo today, I noticed there was a dirt spot on the view finder. I cleaned the view finder, and the lens but the spot remained.

My next task was to see if the spot shows up on the photos. I turns out that it does not.

So, here's the question. Where could the spot be, and do I need to care if it doesn't impact the photos. (Other than the fact it is irritating to look at)

 

[compuwar]

I have a Digital Rebel XT, and as I was talking a photo today, I noticed there was a dirt spot on the view finder. I cleaned the view finder, and the lens but the spot remained.

My next task was to see if the spot shows up on the photos. I turns out that it does not.

So, here's the question. Where could the spot be, and do I need to care if it doesn't impact the photos. (Other than the fact it is irritating to look at)

It's probably on your mirror, clean the mirror _very_ carefully and then check again.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

If it's not on the mirror, then it's in the penta-mirror assembly or on the focusing screen. If that's the case you are better off to leave it alone or have a professional camera repair shop clean it for you.

SLC

 

[Kebabselector]

I had a dead bug on the inside of my focus screen for a while. Turned out it was really easy to remove (5D anyway).

 

[termina3]

It's probably on your mirror, clean the mirror _very_ carefully and then check again.

eeek! you could make it worse doing this… I'd feel more comfortable paying a pro $20-50 to do it. Of course, your call. Your hand may be less jumpy than mine.

 

[scotthayes]

I have a Digital Rebel XT, and as I was talking a photo today, I noticed there was a dirt spot on the view finder. I cleaned the view finder, and the lens but the spot remained.

My next task was to see if the spot shows up on the photos. I turns out that it does not.

So, here's the question. Where could the spot be, and do I need to care if it doesn't impact the photos. (Other than the fact it is irritating to look at)

I've what looks like a little hair in the view finder of my 400d (XTi) it also fails to show up on pictures, so I just ignore it.

 

[timnosenzo]

eeek! you could make it worse doing this… I'd feel more comfortable paying a pro $20-50 to do it. Of course, your call. Your hand may be less jumpy than mine.

Agreed, the mirror is super easy to scratch. I'd use a rocket blower inside the mirror box and point it up towards the viewfinder to see if you can get rid of it, but other than that is if really bothers you I'd send it out to get cleaned. I've given up trying to keep spots out of my cameras viewfinder, and honestly I don't even see them anymore.

This is what a rocket blower is, BTW:

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

I had a dead bug on the inside of my focus screen for a while. Turned out it was really easy to remove (5D anyway).

I've also had good luck removing debris from my K10D's focusing screen, but these two cameras are designed for that. As far as I know, the XT and XTi aren't designed to have their focusing screens removed by the user, and on top of all that they would be considerably smaller than either the K10D or EOS 5D's focusing screen.

SLC