How do I clean inside/on the other side of the diopter?

[mickwhit]

Hi All,

Whilst I was recently trialling the new firmware (love it by the way) I noticed I had some possible "dust bunnies". I only noticed them from looking through the diopter.

I then cleaned the camera lens ‘obviously thinking that could be where the minute particles of fluff/dust are’. After I cleaned the lens thoroughly, the particles are still visible.

I took a picture, downloaded it to my PC and to my relief there are no particles what so ever. Perfect!

I then performed a dry clean of the mirror, sensor (mirror locked-stating the obvious) and the white screen inside the D70 under the flash which appears to be in-between the mirror and the diopter and cleaning those three components made no difference, the particles are still there.

I then noticed with no lens attached I could still see the particles whilst looking through the diopter. Ah Ha I thought, maybe clean the diopter. I removed the rubber eyecup and performed another dry clean. No difference! Particles still visible.

Hmmm. Not sure, so I performed a wet clean of the mirror, white screen (as explained poorly above) and the diopter and I still have no joy…Ahhhh! I must seek help from the guru’s on the forum!

I’m a clean freak, hate dust, especially around my camera. And it’s getting to me I know the resultant image is not affected but I really want these dust/fluff/foreign particles to ‘go away’.

I honestly believe that the dust/fluff/foreign particles are on the other side of the diopter glass (where the diopter meets the camera body).

My questions to the masses are:
- Has anyone else had a similar experience?
- If so how did you rectify the problem? and
- As a last resort, has anyone removed the diopter from the camera body previously to clean it properly?

I truly hope this can be rectified ‘at home’ as I fear it may have to go back to Maxwell’s for an extensive clean.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Mick.

[MattC]

Same here. I have dust in inaccessable places - probably behind the screen in the viewfinder. I tend to ignore it, but from what I understand it is gettable. It would probably mean removing the screen which is held in by a couple of clips.
Didn't Kristine (??) go through this a while back and needed to replace the screen after scratching it with a pair of tweasers?

Cheers

Matt

[gstark]

Mick,

There's lots of places where dust can sit within your camera, and on the inside of your eyepiece, or on the focussing screen (which is the white thing you're seeing above the mirror) are simply two of them.

With no lens mounted, you can try holding the back of the camera towards a light source, so that there is light coming through the eyepiece. Examine (from the front) the focussing screen; what do you see? There may be dust particles visible on the underside, or perhaps shadows of dust particles caught on the screen, but inside the pentamirror howsing.

If the dust is somewhere within the pentamirror housing, then you're probably best off either ignoring them (they will have no effect whatsoever on your images) or else getting the camera serviced.

Bear in mind that the minute the camera comes back from being serviced, it's likely to get some replacement dust bunnies instaleld fairly quickly, as this is simply the nature of the environment within which the camera has to live.

My advice is to learn to live with it.

The fact that you can see these dust bunnies with no lens attached is somewhat good news for you, because it means that whatever the source of these particular artifacts might be, they will NOT appear in any of your photos.

[Glen]

Mick,
I have a few friends who are psychologists, they can help you with this dust obsession.

If it is any consolation they tend to move over time, I ignored them so they moved on, but one day when I am psychologically weak they will come back to taunt me. That actually peeves me, but I am just going to say "I don't care about dust unless it affects image quality" over and over.

[Glen]

Mick,
If my previous post doesn't help, here is another members experiences with the same problem http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t ... sc&start=0

[Oneputt]

I have a similar problem and at the moment I am studiously ignoring it

[stubbsy]

I'd managed to convince myself not to pay attention to this same problem and now you've brought back my fears

One thing I did that made things a little better when things were worse than they are now was to use my Giotto air rocket to blow inside the camera.

[mickwhit]

My thanks to MattC, gstark and Glen for your informative replies.

I appreciate the feedback.

FYI, I followed an earlier post of gstarks on how to clean the focusing screen as described here http://deanmalandris.com/D70_technical/Cleaning%20the%20focusing%20screen/index.htm and it worked a treat. I got rid of all the foreign particles. It is a very easy procedure to follow; patience is the key because in the cleaning process you may introduce more dust fluff etc onto the focus screen than what you started with Take care also when removing the locking clip as you may (as Kristine found out) inadvertently scratch the focus screen. All in all, it's very easy procedure and it works.

Now I'm happy No more dust!

One thing though, If you take a look at the very first picture in that link, you'll notice a very thin piece of foam, I'm sure it's there as some sort of "dust catcher" and in saying that, that can also be it's downfall as I noticed when I was cleaning the focusing screen the majority of dust, fluff, hair foreign matter etc. comes from that thin piece of foam.

All in all I'm grateful for the help and feedback provided by the members mentioned above.

Thanks again.

Mick.

[Glen]

Mick, impressed with your can do approach

[Matt. K]

I have removed the focussing screen many times from the FM2 cameras which use a similar set-up, it is a cinch. Not so easy is getting all the dust off and replacing the screen in pristine condition. Use plastic tweezers...not metal! This will help prevent accidental scratches.

[mickwhit]

Mick, impressed with your can do approach

Hi Glen,

I’m a technician by trade so I love to get into things, my career aside it really is a very easy task and anyone can do it, with or without technical expertise or training.

I'd suggest to anyone to give it a try if they have a requirement to get rid of dust on the focusing screen or on the other side of the white plastic polarising screen. It's very easy; just be patient and careful (with the tweezers). In fact I was so wary to use tweezers (in case I slipped and scratched the white plastic polarising screen) I used my fingernail to unclip the unlocking clip. Dead easy.

Did I mention how easy it is

Mick.

[gstark]

I have removed the focussing screen many times from the FM2 cameras which use a similar set-up, it is a cinch. Not so easy is getting all the dust off and replacing the screen in pristine condition. Use plastic tweezers...not metal! This will help prevent accidental scratches.

Matt,

The FM and FE series of cameras are designed to accept replaceable focussing screens, and there's a little catch that you release to allow the screen to drop forward. And onto the ground, if you're not careful

The D70 isn't designed in this manner; while I agree that it's a relatively trivial task to deal with, it is a little bit different.

Your point about plastic tweezers is very well made; IIRC, the replacement screens for the FE/FM cameras even came with a pair, specially designed to assist in screen replacement.

Mick, the foam that you're seeing is probably meant to assist in padding the screen against shock. That it also acts as a dust magnet is no surprise.

[MattC]

Just did mine - just for the heck of it. The results are OK.

The shutter opens against the foam strip which acts as a shock absorber.

Cheers

Matt

[MattC]

 BTW, I used the mirror to get the lay of the land - Cannot see a thing otherwise. Also used it to ensure the clip was properly seated when done.

Cheers

Matt