Insects (dead) in the viewfinder of an*ist

Hi, I have a *ist, whci suddely showed a dark speck in the viewfinder when I was covering an event recently.
Today, I thought I'd take a look, see if I could see where the mark was, and how to clean it. Lokking through the lens mount aperture, I could see the dark speck on the top side of the focussing screen. Looking through the viewfinder, I looked closely at the speck, and realised it was a slim insect, legs, antenae, the lot. I gave the camera a slight tap, and to my amazement, found I now had two flies in the viewfinder. Where would these insects come from? I'm sure they must have been in there from new, so the camera will have to go back. However, the focussing screen looks like it might unclip. Does it? Has anybody else had this problem?

It is possible to get insects inside cameras that live of scraps og gelatin (film) and the like, but you're pretty unlucky to find one in a new camera. I agree with what you say - take it back and get an uninfested replacement!

Cameras can be fumigated, but I'm not sure how exactly one would go about it. After fumigation I would guess that it would need "airing" for some time to avoid affecting the film.

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Best regards, John

I took the camera back to the retailer, a small independent shop, and the manager had a look, and thought, like me, that the focussing screen looked as though it was clipped in. I wasn't prepared to risk trying to get the screen out, but the manager was.

This is useful knowledge. The focussing screen on the *ist unclips quite readily, and is fully removable.