As a newbie, did I damage my Rebel G?

[rob_schneider]

Hi. My name is Rob and I'm new to the forums. Hope someone is able

to answer my questions. I've had a Rebel G for a number of years and

it has done me well. Lately, I've noticed a speckle or two when

looking through the eyepiece. I found some dust on the mirror inside

the camera body. Not having any compressed air/mini vacuum, I just

used the brush from the cleaning accessory kit. It seems to work

okay, but then I noticed that one of the bristles from the brush came

off and was on the screen that sits directly above the mirror. It

think it is used to project the matte screen. Hope that makes

sense. Anyways, I was unable to brush it off. So, I used a pair of

tweezers to reach it, but it looks like I've put a little scratch in

that screen (not the mirror, but the screen up above it). The

scratch is about 1/8" long.

 

Anyone know if this will impact the performance of the camera? Mess

up the auto-focus? Should I be concerned? In the future, is

compressed air the best way to go to remove dust? I'm worried that I

might have damaged the camera.

 

Also, somewhere along the way, I've lost the rubber eyepiece/gaskit

off the Rebel G. Is this common and where can I find a replacement?

I'll check the classifieds around here.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer.

[gary_berg]

Well, you'll have to look at the scratch in the viewfinder, but it's unlikely to affect the metering or autofocus. You can test the later by experimenting with the camera and seeing if it looks sharp when you point it at things and test focus.

 

It will not show up on the final picture since the SLR mirror moves out of the light path when the picture is taken, so the screen is blocked out of the light path.

 

The best way to clean out this sort of thing is to use a blower-brush. Canned/compressed air has the danger of spitting cold fluids at the wrong moment, which could damage the camera. So look for a squeezable blower brush, even one of those ear cleaning syringes would work.

[NK Guy]

Scratching the mirror or the viewfinder screen does not affect

image quality of photographs. It just means you have to look at a

scratch mark every time you look through the viewfinder.

 

Think about it. When you look through the viewfinder light enters

the lens, hits the mirror, passes through the finder screen,

enters the pentaprism or roof mirror (the Rebel G uses the latter)

and then goes to your eye. When you take a photo the mirror flips

up out of the way and the light enters the lens and goes in a

straight line to the surface of the film.

 

Severe damage to the mirror could affect metering or AF

performance, but not just a small scratch.

 

As you've learned, the mirror and screen are really fragile parts of

the camera. You're best off not messing about with cleaning

those things yourself unless you're very experienced. Note that

compressed air from a can can be a bad thing to use

injudiciously as well, as the pressure can push components

around and dust can be blown into the depths of the camera if

you aren't careful.

 

As I recall the rubber eyepiece on the Rebel G is the regular

Canon Eb eyepiece. You can buy them from any dealer.

[carl smith]

It's highly unlikely that such a small scratch will hurt anything but your ego. You need a big mess of a scratch to affect AF or AE metering.

[bill_goldman]

If seeing the scratch in the viewfinder really bothers you, you can have the screen replaced at a Canon service center. However, the cost may be prohibitive given the original cost of the camera. If you're curious, give them a call and find out how much it would cost.

[rob_schneider]

Thanks for all the responses, guys. I feel better now. Just a hurt ego, like someone else mentioned.

[martin_krobbach]

Hello Rob,

 

you can actually dissasemble the focus screen. Turn the camera on the head with removed lens and you'll see a spring loaded frame holding the screen (I did this on EOS 500N which should be the same as the rebel G). Take the screen out and turn the camera in the way that the lens opening points down. Clean everything with a blower, reassemble, done.

[jean_jacques_lemaire]

I'm interested in that matter too (almost the same problem with my EOS50E/ElanIIE).

When you put the focussing screen back in the camera, how can you be sure it is still exactly parallel to the image plane and still in focus (i mean not at 49.7mm or 50.1mm but right at 50.00mm)