How to clean camera mirror?

[s_p]

I have an older Hasselblad 500c. When I bought it there was some dust

and dirt on the mirror. The dust came off easily with compressed air

but there is still a finger print on the lower edge of the mirror.<p>

Any suggestions for getting rid of the fingerprint without damaging

the mirror?<p>

stefan

[ken_eng]

Hi stefan,

 

<p>

 

I guess you could bring it to a repair person and DEMAND they do it. I stress demand because I like my mirrors to be relatively clean also, and everytime I ask them to clean the mirror they strongly advise against it. They explained that the silver is on the top side of the mirror and if you clean it too much it gets rubbed off.

 

<p>

 

Being that it's a fingerprint, could you see it in the viewfinder? I doubt it since the 500C has the old dark focusing screen and you can't change it (well, at least not easily). So if you can't see it, it's advised to leave it alone... and get annoyed everytime you change lenses. ;o)

 

<p>

 

Hope this helps!

Ken

[brian_c._miller]

There are some evaporative chemicals which could do it. Check with a

large photo supply house. If they carry a cleaner for film, they

probably carry the cleaners for glass and such, also.

 

<p>

 

The emulsion cleaner I have is PEC-12, from Photographic Solutions,

Inc. (7 Granston Way, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532, 1-800-637-3212) They

make at least five different sort of cleaners. One might be

excellent for your problem.

[chris___10]

Well, if the finger print has been on there for a long time, it might

not come off. The oils in your hand can etch into the glass. I

wouldn't sugest doing it yourself. The mirrors are so dellicate you

could really damage it by just gently trying to clean it. Take is to

a good camera store and see what they say.

[s_p]

A footnote to the above posting.<p>

The fingerprint I could not see in the viewfinder so I elected

not to worry about it. But there were little crumbs of black

stuff (bits of decayed foam rubber or something similar) that

were gluey and made annoying black spots. I took an old, dead,

electronic SLR (unrepairable) and tried cleaning the mirror with

a brush made from loosely wrapping a piece of lens tissue aroung

the end of a cotton swab. This brush I made slightly damp with

bestine.<p>

It worked. The bestine left a cloudy residue on the surface of

the mirror of the dead 35mm camera that evaporated in seconds. I

tried it on a corner of the mirror of the hasselblad with no ill

effect. I did the rest of the Hasse mirror and all the black

stuff and the fingerprints came off.<p>

The black stuff was in the camera when I bought it. I think

there are some foam gaskets inside that are decaying; at some

time in the future I would like to replace those.<p>

If the black stuff returns I will try this cleaning methosd again

but I don't reccommend you go slopping bestine on your camera

mirror. I plan to do this sort of cleaning only when I

absolutely must (like every 5 years or so). I offer no

guarantees; try it at your own risk, although I would warn you

that bestine may haze or dissolve certain plastic parts (I think

the fresnel viewscreen (or ground glass) in most 35mm cameras is

plastic). Try it on a camera you don't value, try it on the

corner of the mirror --- if you cannot accept the fact that there

is some risk involved here then don't do it.<p>

The mirror of an SLR is silvered on the top surface, not the

bottom like your bathroom mirror. This makes the least abrasive,

brushing action harmful. Do not scrub. A repairman I met said

he cleans camera mirrors with a lens tissue wad held in tweezers

and is very careful not to let the tweezers touch the surface of

the lens. He didn't know if solvent would work but suggested it

might.<p>

stefan

[j_beede]

<p>I exhaled on the mirror and then used a lens brush to "dust" off the vapor. The mirror looks clean but if I exhale on it again I see fine scratches from the lens brush. I would never use lens tissue on an SLR mirror.</p>