You can clean that prism yourself; have done it a dozen times.
Unclip and lower screen carrier and remove screen (handle by that protruding tab, slightly RHS of carrier). Make sure you put it on a COMPLETELY clean surface!
Get a cotton bud (or tip, or whatever you call them over there) and some iso-propyl alcohol (or some agent that evaporates 100%). Just moisten the cotton bud (not wet), and put a 45 degree bend in the last third of it. Use that to clean the bottom of the prism while you look throught the finder the usual way; you will see the dust and be able to lift it away.
Blow the screen off (Guy may be right, but some canned air (CO2, esp.) can come out in solid pieces so I never use it; I use a really good blower bulb (no brush) to get any dust off, replace in the carrier, and press the carrier up until it seats properly to the bottom of the prism.
Finally, clean mirror same way; finder should be clear. hth, kit
I had to do a mirror mod on my 1Ds to accommodate the L15/2.8. Upon advice from another member, I used the Dremmel Diamond Wheel (#545). $14 at The Home Despot. My neighbor had a Dremmel with the flex shaft. The procedure is not as scary as you'd think. Most the time was spent is masking the camera beforehand. Removing the mirror on my 1Ds camera would not suffice, as the metal frame that holds the mirror in place also had to be ground back.
I have a stupid question =)
Mirror is glass right?
Why not get one of those glass scribes, score the glass, and snap it off... people still do that for *real* stained glass windows.. saw it on Discovery or TLC not too long ago..
On the tv show.. they just scored it, and then gripped the scrap end with pliers and bent down...
Might have to score it a few times or something.. I dunno.. I'm just guessing here... but I know I sure as h*** wouldnt wanna stick my dremel into my current or any future camera =)
I had accumulated quite a bit of dust and debris in my finder since changing the screen and doing the mirror mod. I decided to try to clean it. Mostly all of the dust was in the prism area well above the surface of the focus screen. I removed the screen and tried to clean the surface above the screen which seemed to have the focus area squares on it but the dust was somewhere above that. I removed the 2 screws holding the semi-circle of metal with the foam bumpters on it which is inside the top of the lens mount and spans the clip that locks the screen up. I was then able to remove a thin brass rectangular "spring" which I believe pushed the screen down against the frame that holds it up. There is a clear plastic second screen that is now removable. This clear screen contains the outlines of the autofocus spots. To remove this screen you just pull out two small spring arms on either side of the focus screen clip and it pops down and cam be pulled out. All of the dust and debris that was in my finder was sitting on top of this clear screen. I cleand it off carefully and replaced everything and now have a clear clean finder.
I just sent my 5D to Canon for cleaning, as i had dust in the prism after modding. They cleaned it under warranty and it is on it's way back to me now with no charge to me.
Apparently it doesn't void the warranty (they also gave me a quote of $525 to replace the mirror).
Mr. Handcoater and Mr. Guy Mancuso or anybody else here,
Can you tell me the specific model of Dremel suitable for this purpose? I have found a Stylus Rotary Tool (1100-01) and a Cordless Rotary Tool (8000-01).
Thank you.
