Dust on my Nikon mirror

[skyystorm]

I have dust particles (or something else) on the mirror of my Nikon D70. It's driving me crazy & I want to get rid of them. I tried spraying it with Dust Off but it just made it worse. Does anyone know a safe & effective way to take care of this.

Thanks

Skyy

[Welles]

Hi skyystorm and welcome to the forums. I'm going to move this thread to the Photography board where it is a bit more likely to be seen by our photographers. ;)

[Raven]

Hi skyystorm -- I haven't the same model camera as yours so I don't know how much access you have to the mirror, but with my experience with telescope mirrors and lens systems I can only say that the safest way to try and rid the mirror of dust particles is by very very gently brushing it off with an optics lens brush, mirrors have very delicate coatings and you can't use lens cleaner on them, nor cleaning cloths or tissues without risk of scratching -- use the brush type commonly found with the airbulbs. Pressurized air can sometimes work for the finest dust (but it can sometimes also make things worse), and if humidity hasn't made any of it stick to the mirror. If you can't find an optics brush then a new clean, very soft camels hair art brush (the type for watercolors) will also work. If you can't reach the mirror to use a brush this way then I'd say take it to a camera repair place for the maintenance.

One other point --- keep your camera dry and away from humidity and heat -- these are real enemies of your optics.

Good luck!

[skyystorm]

Thanks for your reply. I did this & it worked perfectly! I was afraid to try anything & didn't even think of using my brush.

Take Care
Skyy

[Raven]

Glad to help Skyy!! Yep, it's the safest way. Happy picture taking!

[robt]

Skystorm, You might enjoy the read on this site http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/.While its not altogether what you ask, You'll want to know the info sooner rather than later.

Good Shooting

EDIT: Just remembered another must see site for Nikon shooters:

Thom Hogan's www.bythom.com

[skyystorm]

I really appreciate this. This second site has great information on it too.

Take Care

Skyy

[Hatch]

HI Sky,

robt sent you a good link for sure. Whatever you do, do not used compressed air to clean the sensor, the can has chemicals in it and it can coat/damage the sensor.

I've found locking the mirror for cleaning, turning the camera to face down and using a simple bulb blower/ childs snot sucker works to remove all but the toughest dust specks.

a couple good links for the tough specks of dust.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...cleaning.shtml

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/con...id=7-6460-7296

Hatch