New Canon 60D with dust

[Essaarcee]

Hi,
I just bought the Canon 60D last evening..finally!!!
Charged the battery last night and today morning started playing around with it.
NOticed a small spot near the center auto focus point. It is not showing up in pictures, neither did i see it is live view. Only can see thru viewfinder. Even when camera is OFF, i can still see that spot.

What should you guys suggest? Return it and get a new one OR try to clean myself?
I dont want to damage the sensor..not sure where the dust is. what do you guys think/suggest?

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by Essaarcee

It is not showing up in pictures, neither did i see it is live view. Only can see thru viewfinder. Even when camera is OFF, i can still see that spot.

Is it possible there is just a dust speck on the viewfinder? I'm not sure about the 60D but I think on most Canons the rubber viewfinder housing is removable. Take it off and hit the viewfinder with a blower or soft cloth.

[Essaarcee]

anyone here can tell me how to do that?
did google search and seems like dust in viewfinder = return OR get it cleaned by professionals

or is there some other options?

[inkista]

Get a bulb blower, like a Rocketblower or something. You're probably going to need it to prep for sensor cleaning anyway, and they're good for getting crud out of keyboards and the like, too.

The dust, if it's not showing up on your images, but you see it through the viewfinder, is most likely on your focus screen. NEVER TOUCH THE SURFACE OF YOUR FOCUS SCREEN WITH ANYTHING. It's plastic, and it's matte, and it's incredibly easy to scratch. Like, a q-tip with alcohol on it is a bad idea. I speak from experience.

The focus screen is in the "roof" of the camera chamber. Blast it with some air from the bulb blower, while you hold your camera face-down (to give the dust a path of escape, rather than blowing it back into the chamber. If that doesn't do it, then you can always remove the focus screen and blast it on both sides, but doing that does increase the risk of blowing any dust past the focus screen into the viewfinder. And, of course, scratching the focus screen. If you do go this route, only handle the focus screen by the tab. There's a specialized tool for doing this, that's a plastic tweezer device, but you can only get one if you buy another focus screen.



If you do end up scratching the focus screen, a new one is about $40. They're the same ones the 40D and 50D use: the Ef-a is the normal matte one the camera comes with, the Ef-s is the super-precision matte screen for more precise focusing with large-aperture lenses, and the Ef-d is the one with a grid on it. I use the equivalent of the Ef-s on my 5Dii with my manual focus lenses for better manual focusing precision.

[Essaarcee]

Thanks Inkista!!
actually I went to Henrys(camera store chain in Canada) today to pick up a camera bag. Carried my camera and the person there told very similar things. he lend me his blower and he did it for me...3-4 blows...i could still see something..another few...it was gone.

I bought myself the same blower too...realising that this could happen again and i might need it's service.

Now back to my learning mode for this camera. as i am super excited at the same time realise i have a lot of learning to do...but in for it!!!