I used canned air on my mirror, now what?

[FilmGeek]

So, I had some flakey's on my mirror and thought from my years of computer use that a blast of canned air should do the trick. I sprayed it on my hand first to make sure now liquid came out, and then proceeded to spray on my mirror. Didn't work.

Ok, well that can was running low anyway, so I switched to the new can and blew onto the mirror before trying it on my hand...

OH MY GOD WHAT DID I JUST DO! What looked like a liquid came out in a quick burst, coating the mirror! I sprayed it again in my hand, and dry again. So I tried again on the mirror and no liquid came out this time.

I tried the camera. No specs, but now there is a weird haze. I read the label on the canned air, "Do Not Use This On Camera Mirrors". It said specifically on the freakin' can! Why didn't I read??

So here I am, I've already made one mistake before reading or researching, and I decide to make another.

I take my "lens brush" with the hard rounded pad thing and attempt to rub off what looks like residue from my mirror with it. It comes off leaving a clean looking mirror. Too clean? I don't know.

I can't get the entire mirror due to the angle and the shape of the lens cleaning brush. I decide to look things up online, "Do not clean your mirror!" "Do not touch your mirror!" "Use a hand squeezed blower ONLY!" "The mirror is very fragile!" "The mirror scratches easily!" "The mirror can easily be put out of alignment!" "Take it to a professional only!" are a few of the things I've read.

Now I ask you, the community, am I screwed? Should I just straight take it to a professional? Or did my "Lenspen" cleaning not harm it?

At first when I looked through my viewfinder I still saw a slight haze in the area I couldn't reach, but otherwise no scratching or marks of any kind.

Now I look through the viewfinder with no haze, and the images produced (quick snaps in my computer room with low lighting) seem to be just fine...

Did I cause any damage? Did I sail through multiple mistakes free of problems? Will I see damages in the long run? Should I quit being a photographer immediately for being so careless? (Ok, kidding on that last one.)

I'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject. Thanks!

[zona5101]

It would only effect your view through the view finder, not your images. (I suppose if it was black spray paint it would effect your ttl metering but i digress...) Themirror flips up out ouf the way durning exposure.

[FilmGeek]

Originally Posted by zona5101

It would only effect your view through the view finder, not your images. (I suppose if it was black spray paint it would effect your ttl metering but i digress...) Themirror flips up out ouf the way durning exposure.

Thanks for the response. :-)

I guess I should have mentioned my concern a little more clearly (it's 7am, and I haven't gone to bed yet... hence the reason I MADE the mistakes):

I'm worried that spraying the canned air into the camera would have also gotten on the sensor. Think that's a possibility? Probably not, but we'll see.

I'm also worried that in attempting to clean the mirror, I may have moved it out of "alignment" or whatnot being that it's apparently so delicate, which would of course throw off my focusing. (Or would it?)

[lil red bird]

If you are very concerned send it in to be cleaned and serviced.
Most likely it is ok .

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by FilmGeek

Thanks for the response. :-)

I guess I should have mentioned my concern a little more clearly (it's 7am, and I haven't gone to bed yet... hence the reason I MADE the mistakes):

I'm worried that spraying the canned air into the camera would have also gotten on the sensor. Think that's a possibility? Probably not, but we'll see.

I'm also worried that in attempting to clean the mirror, I may have moved it out of "alignment" or whatnot being that it's apparently so delicate, which would of course throw off my focusing. (Or would it?)

It would not have reached the sensor with the mirror down.
The mirror is delicate because the reflective coating is easily damaged but it's mounting is pretty stout. It's gonna flap up and down a few hundred thousand times so the compressed air alone shouldn't have had any effect.

The mirror doesn't affect focus (unless we go back to the idea of coating it with black spray paint)

Relax, have some decaf.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by zona5101

Relax, have some decaf.

and slap yourself on the back of the head.

[Sime]

Yeah - I did it to an older camera, you just have to be careful if you're going to use canned air because the propellant comes out if you hold it at a weird angle - and it blows nasty bits into tiny crevices and you just shouldn't.. anyway, you know this now... just get it cleaned - it'll be fine!

I cleaned mine a night before a trip to Peru - ended up with what looked like two huge black scratches across my sensor - turns out I'd not wiped off the cleaner and it had dried... absolutely freaked out! -- Sensors, in most cases, have a thin layer of glass across 'em so you can actually get to them either - but you can sc4ratch the glass if you're not careful... caution best exercised, but don't freak out :-)

[FilmGeek]

Originally Posted by zona5101

It would not have reached the sensor with the mirror down.
The mirror is delicate because the reflective coating is easily damaged but it's mounting is pretty stout. It's gonna flap up and down a few hundred thousand times so the compressed air alone shouldn't have had any effect.

The mirror doesn't affect focus (unless we go back to the idea of coating it with black spray paint)

Relax, have some decaf.

Well, when it comes to the auto-focus, I was assuming that if I had thrown the mirror out of alignment, that it wouldn't be focusing in the appropriate spot. Seems to have not been affected, which is probably due to the fact that it's actually a lot less fragile than I was assuming.

As for the reflective coating... the hard end of my LensPen may have removed that coating when it was removing the fluid that sprayed out of the canned air. Hope this isn't a big deal.