Lint in the viewer

[mchorvat]

I've got a 5D mark II that is about six months old. For about a month now I've noticed what looks to be a huge piece of lint or other obstruction in the viewer. It's not showing up on the images, so it's NOT on the sensor.


I've removed the lens to eliminate that. I cleaned the outside of the viewer, (the part you look through), the piece with the focus targeting and the mirror. I even flipped the mirror halfway to get in between the two reflective surfaces... No Luck.


Has anybody ever had an issue like this? Like I said, it's not affecting the images, but it sure is annoying to see the obstruction in the viewer.

[Joel Eade]

I had that problem with my 40D.....I was able to get rid of it using the air blower that I bought for cleaning the sensor....IIRC...without raising the mirror you can see the inside of the viewfinder assembly and gently blow some air across it or perhaps reach it with a statically charged sensor brush to remove the lint particle.

[hotsecretary]

It's most likely something on the focusing screen... Rocketblower ... is about your best bet to get it out of there.



But if it's not affecting your pictures, then don't worry about it really [:P]

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Rocketblower is the best bet, I agree...but sometimes you can't get rid of everything...I found that Canon Service Center did a very good job of getting off dust in the viewfinder, have no idea what and how they did it though.

[ShutterbugJohan]

I agree with the Rocketblower advice. Small, inexpensive, and almost infinitely useful.

I found that Canon Service Center did a very good job of getting off dust in the viewfinder, have no idea what and how they did it though.

Probably don't want to know how, either. [:P]

[Keith B]

Rocketblower. It is probably something on the mirror. I've also found with my 5DmkII the rocketblower is the only sensor cleaner system I've needed. Nothing seems to stick to the sensor.

[elmo_2006]

I've got an XSI and have a similar issue, I've attempted to clean the mirrors and the focusing sensor to no avail. I have learned that is may actually reside in the following:


between the focusing screen and the condenser lens or between the condenser lens and the optical glass pentaprism or both. This is the viewfinder part that you are actually looking throught, the top of the camera.


It may be under the reflex-mirror and there seems to be 2 pieces of glass here.


The only way to check is to actually remove the focusing screen(short of disassembly) as I am very tempted to do, but I would think twice as it may be easy to remove the screen but may be very difficult to put back in. In your case, I would NOT RECOMMEND this. Try the blower but place it in such a way that you are literaly blowing into the side of the focusing screen up into the viewfinder 'box', but have the camera body lens opening facing down.


I was lucky to remove the majority of the lint via a blower, but where it has gone is beyond me.


Hope this helps...

[mchorvat]

These are all helpful replies. Thanks. I have not been able to get to the RocketBlower yet. But, I do believe that the lint is some where I have yet to look. I know that there is magnetic charges involved, but I find it hard to believe that a piece of lint will not even budge by the attempts that I have already made. The only place I didn't explore was upwards towards the actual viewfinder.