Shying away from used gear

[LoneSierra]

When I got home and attached it to my camera and looked through the
viewfinder, I saw it had two black dots. The lens was a refurb. I was
surprised to see black dots/specks in the lens.

Seeing black dots in a lens through the viewfinder is unusual according to my limited experience. My 24-70L has a rather noticeable dust inside it but I don't realize anything at all in my viewfinder. It does not seem to show up in my images even at F11 or F16. However, I do see black dots in my viewfinder because my focusing screen inside the camera body has dust on it - that's 99% of the black dots I see through my viewfinder. They're rather easy to clean too.


You can have a simple check by unmount the lens and then look through the viewfinder under good lighting at a white wall. If the black dots are still there rather in focus while everything else are just white, it's the dust on the focusing screen not in the lens.

After reading this I attached one of my other lens and the black dots are in the same place. [img]/emoticons/emotion-7.gif[/img] I have a 35mm film camera. How do I get the black dots off?

I found a tiny black dot today, but I think it's just a piece of dirt. Also, something to try....take your lens off and look through the finder. Look towards a light, then pan away. There is a piece of glass or something, that has a texture to it. With the lens on, it can make it look like microscopic specs. At least, that's how it looks on mine.


Maybe that will help?

[Ehcalum]

I had this problem with my 40D after heavy dusty environ use. What happens is dust gets inside the mirror box and on the inside of the focus screen, this also happens with the automatic sensor cleaning.


Best way to fix: remove thefocus screen, use a blow gun and blow out themirror box andfocusscreen area. Wipe the screen itself with a microfibre cloth.