benjaminm Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Hello ! I wrote the same message an hour ago, but it wasn't published yet, so I'm writing it again. I've bought my D200 + 18-200VR kit during my business trip in San Francisco some days ago. The salesman at the "Discount camera" (the prices there are pretty high) shop told me that nobody touched this camera body before me (it was the last kit in their stock). After returning home and using my brand new camera for a few days, I've noticed some spots on the mirror. Although they aren't visible in the viewfinder, I don't like them. They seem like small pieces of saliva or something like that. Can anybody suggest me what to do? Thanks in advance, Benjamin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_schneider Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Don't worry about it. If you actually use your gear, it gets dirty fast anyway. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 First of all, I have scratched a number of SLR mirrors myself, so do this at your own risk. You can try to clean the mirror with a slightly damped microfiber cloth. Do it gently. Speaking of "Discount Camera" in San Francisco, apparently they are very expensive. A friend of mine had to buy a Canon 100-400mm zoom in a hurry, and he ended up paying $400 over B&H's price at Discount Camera. (He needed it immediately and couldn't even wait a day for overnight shipping.) That is like 28% higher for a $1400 lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_brown4 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I know how you feel. You can try using a Q-tip and a 'huff' to fog the mirror and then, very gently, wipe it. Be careul! My personal solution: I don't look for problems anymore. No critical inspections, no shining flashlights into lens, nothing like that. I always find something and it always bums me out :~{ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan_olander1664878205 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 If a 'bulb blower' does not dislodge the debris, you should not worry over it. No image will be ruined as the mirror swings up when you take a photo. *Mirrors are very fragile _ send the camera to Nikon for cleaning if the bits of stuff really bother you. Clean the mirror yourself and there is nothing in the warranty to unfix what you fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_spahn Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I clean mirrors with isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john schroeder Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Ignore it. It doesn't effect image quality. It could be anything from airborne dust to pixie dust. Does it really matter if somebody installed the battery and fired a few shots? Do you think that nobody every test drove your car before you bought it? You might have a camera that was pulled at the factory for a quality control test. Another salesperson may have un-boxed the body to let a customer see the viewfinder and feel the camera but never installed the battery. Your salesperson wouldn't have had knowledge of the event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray . Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Why not send it back? It's supposed to be new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 The purchaser seems to be located in Europe while the camera was purchased in San Francisco. Sending it back for a bit of dust (or whatever) on the mirror doesn't seem to be worth the trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecarter Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Don't touch the mirror with anything - believe me, it is too easy to make the problem worse! You may get away with it but it's likely that you'll damage the mirror surface. Best bet is to get a blower bulb and try to dislodge the dust with that. BTW - whatever you do, NEVER use "canned" air to try this though - the propellant in the can often can spit out and that can just RUIN your mirror, not to mention that you could do harm otherwise depending on how much pressure is caused by the canned air. If they aren't visible in the viewfinder, don't worry about it though. This shouldn't affect your image quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roto Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 The mirrors used in SLR are typically "first surface mirrors" (aka "front surface mirrors"). In normal mirrors the back of a glass sheet is covered with a thin layer of aluminum (it used to be silver in the past) and then painted. This means that the very soft metal layer is protected on one side by the glass and on the other by the paint. In first surface mirrors the aluminum layer that actually reflects the light is deposited onto the front of the glass. Being aluminum much softer than glass, special care shall be taken when cleaning the mirror: a small particle of dust can easily scratch the metal layer and ruin the mirror. It is therefore extremely important to first remove dust and other particles from the mirror with a blower and then clean it by dragging onto it a sheet of optical cleaning paper (Kodak makes it, for example) soaked in pure isopropyl alcohol or acetone. If done correctly, the solvent will evaporate uniformly without leaving streaks or spots. Minimal pressure shall be applied on the mirror! Do not use Q-tips because the risk of damaging the mirror will be quite high. Never, ever touch a first surface mirror with your fingers because you will permanently damage it. So, if you decide to clean it, wear lint or powder-free gloves. Incidentally, SLR mirrors are semitransparent, letting some light go through them and hit a secondary mirror (placed behind the main one) that deflects part of the light to the AF sensors. If you lock the mirror up (as when you clean the sensor in a DSLR you will clearly see the secondary mirror folded onto the back of the primary one. First surface mirrors are used in (D)SLR and other precision instruments because second surface mirrors (i.e. the normal ones) produce a faint secondary ghost image due to internal reflections between the glass-aluminum and glass-air interfaces. I used first surface mirrors for my PhD work. I got to respect them. And I always had a couple of spares in my lab. The main reason for mirror failure was... EXCESSIVE CLEANING. Don't forget that. Roberto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterh Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 "Why not send it back? It's supposed to be new." Never took the lens off? Benjamin if you can not see an effect through the viewfinder leave it the way it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminm Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Hello again! I've seen these spots when I changed the lens for the first time. It is not dust on the mirror but a few spots like someone would sprinkle something over the mirror. So I think it was not an intact body. For now I will leave as it is. When the time comes to clean the sensor, I'll leave the job to the professionals. Thanks for your advice, Benjamin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majicman Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 What about Green Clean? or Methanol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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