I just read an older post here about mirror cleaning. Just a few days ago I did just that on my AE1 P with a tiny drop of cleaning fluid and lense cleaning cloth, very gently..didn't scrub. But now I'm worried I made a big mistake. I guess the only way to tell is to shoot some slide film and check the results...

What are the chances it's not really damaged...? If it is, how much $$ to replace?

Thanks

-- jwoodson (jwoodson@pdq.net), April 05, 2001

Answers

Keep in mind that even if you damaged the mirror, it's not part of the light path during the actual picture taking.

I suppose some kinds of damage might affect the amount of light that hits the meter sensor and thus you could end up with the wrong exposure.

Can you see any scratches or imperfections after the cleaning?

-- Javier Henderson (javier@kjsl.com), April 05, 2001.

It looked really clear and clean at the time, I just barely wiped it off, but I did not suspect a problem then. However, I will certainly look a lot closer at it,see if it looks changed in any way, finish the roll that's in it and report back.

Hope everyone will heed the advice ...it sounds like it is just not important to clean the mirror...just leave it alone or risk a problem.

Thanks

-- jwoodson (jwoodson@pdq.net), April 05, 2001.

As Javier says the mirror won't affect how the slides/prints look, but it will affect how the viewfinder looks. If the mirror looks clean and free of marks or scratches and the viewfinder image looks OK then you dodged the bullet. In the future if the mirror looks dusty GENTLY blow the dust off with canned air or a squeeze bulb. With a little care you'll never need to do more than that.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), April 09, 2001.

Another possible problem with cleaning the mirror is that you may harm the mirror's mechanism, so that either the mirror lif mechanism doesn't work (!) or the focusing screen is not properly aligned with the film plane. The consequences of the first case are obvious, the second case will cause you to focus in front of or behind your subject. As you state you were gentle when you cleaned it, this probably isn't a problem.

As previously stated, the mirror will not affect the quality of your shots. You will need more than a scratch or two to really affect either your meter or your viewfinder image.

So I suggest you don't worry and follow the advice above in future.

Cheers,

Roger

-- Roger Broadbent (roger_broadbent@yahoo.co.uk), April 17, 2001.