. Advise needed. Cleaning the mirror

Took possession of a second hand k20D. Looking through the view finder shows a sizeable purplish dot in right hand corner and what looks like a rather 'noisy' pattern on the rest. I am assuming its the mirror because its the same with both lenses . The sensor check shows no dust at all. Advice on best way to clean it would be appreciated as I'm new to all the SLR magubbins.

Wont tell you the shop i ordered it from but I'm darned annoyed!

Best wishes

Hi Pete, have you got a lens fitted when looking through the view finder? If not the focus screen will look a bit fuzzy / noisy.
With regard to the spot why not take it back to the shop and ask them the rectify it, presumably it was sold to you with some kind of warranty?
Cheers

The best advice about cleaning mirrors is - don't. The whole mechanism can be put out of alignment very easily, after which all your images will be out of focus.

I would just take it back to the shop, get a refund and buy something else.

spoke to the shop, who said they had cleraned the camera , then retracted it when I told them what i had in the viewfinder. They are sending a courier round to pick the camera up and take it back. cheers gents.

a satisfactory conclusion welcome to the forum pete

thanks for the welcome sanders. thanks for all the advice. popped to a local camera shop and asked them about it. turned out it was dust on the prism. so all been sorted. five minutes after rectifying the problem the courier popped round to take the camera away so i was plelased to turn him away without the camera but with the company i bought it from still getting a bill for it.

maybe next time they check 2nd hand stuff before they sell it.

Again, many thanks.

PS: already having somme great fun with the camera and learning loads.

hmmm i have the same problem in the viewfinder (even without a lens), it's probably my fault as by trying to clean it i seem to have added some more!

it also seems to be on the rear side (where i put my eye, on the screen side) and not on the mirror (which is clean), any thought on how to clean it? (it seems to be in between the 2 pieces of glass as changes with the eye focus thingy (dont know how it's called!)).

might need a professional to look at it, any good address in london?

thanks!

Same issue here on my K20D...a small black dot has appeared recently. Fortunately it has no effect on photographs so I'm leaving it well alone !!

Simon

The K20D is market as dust and waterproof so if it's truly in the prism housing you should be able to get it cleaned under warranty.

I'm not sure about this Stefan, to be honest though I'd rather not send the camera to the service centre unless absolutely necessary and as it has no effect on photos I'll live with it

thanks for the idea though

Simon

Hmmm, apart from when it has a gaping hole in the body when changing lenses.

Sharply defined spots visible through the viewfinder are nearly always due to dust on one or both sides of the focusing screen, or on the pentaprism or pentamirror behind it.

This can be removed if you wish by flipping the focusing screen down (on models where that's possible).

Blow with blower, or hover a statically charged brush over it. (I know not everyone agrees with using a blower, but it works for me, albeit requiring a few attempts sometimes).

Dust on the main mirror is rarely very obvious unless there's a lot or the particles are large. Mirror finishes are not as delicate as they used to be, but still never wipe one with a cloth.

Is this possible on the K20D ?

Yes, same procedure as for the K10D:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqZCjT-jr1s

This demonstrates removing the screen as well, but for cleaning you don't have go that far. Other tweezers or even a screwdriver can be used to release the catch if you don't have the proper tweezers.

Yes but when you look at this forum you see many that complain they are even dirtier after they tried to clean it

So my advice is leave it alone or get it cleaned by a professional.