Specks on lens: At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there...

Deanie1113

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

Don't worry about it. I bet the specks will not show up in your images. They are not on the lens but somewhere in the viewing system. Remove the lens - when you get home - and use a Giottos Rocket, or something similar inside the camera. You might be able to blow the stuff out. Hold the camera upside down so whatever is in there can fall out. Examine the viewfinder itself. Maybe there are just specks on the surface.

agillot

remove lens , use a vacuum cleaner hose , then again with mirror up , shutter open , this will remove loose dust .gently tap on body while you are doing this to loosen particles .this will remove any loose stuff i there .

Deanie1113

OK, thanks for your quick replies!

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

Did it look anything like this?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Kmgw9v wrote:

Did it look anything like this?

That would warrant breaking out the Pappy Van Winkle 23 yr old. . . just sayin'

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Sand is one of the worst enemies of a camera. The first thing I would do is have it professionally cleaned. One grain of sand in the wrong place can cause great damage to moving parts.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Kmgw9v wrote:

Did it look anything like this?

Bummer... that is exactly why I use weights to secure tripod on iffy surfaces. I hope you were able to clean it...

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

rmorrison1116 wrote:

Bummer... that is exactly why I use weights to secure tripod on iffy surfaces. I hope you were able to clean it...

Inappropriate post.

Deanie1113

Didn't look like that! I know... the little hook at the center of a tripod is great for hanging something on there to weigh it down. Travel tripod didn't have it and I didn't have anything else. Bummer is right.

gawler Loc: rural south australia

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

if you have not taken the lens off then it would be hard for sand to be any where other than the view finder ... try blowing it off the view finder if that fails a cotton bud fluffed at one end clean softly .. i doubt any sand got inside .. cameras are sealed pretty good these days

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

There is a lot of important information missing from your post; in particular

(1) what camera {manufacturer and model number} were you using?

(2) your words are unclear {to my ears at least} on one very important issue - do the specks show up on actual images, or do you see them only when looking through the viewfinder??

I keep hearing that sand has particles so fine that they can penetrate into a modern camera. I don't know if that is true {mine is a Weather Resistant Pentax K-30}, but just to be sure I would set up my camera to clean its own sensor {how to do this is model dependent} and then go through several cycles and see if it makes any difference.

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

I'm giving my film camera to a young lady who wants to get involved with that photography making a come back.
I had a look through it, & found it quite dirty so took it for a service.
Photos from my current digital camera show several spots that I have to edit out, so I have both in being serviced.
It's going to cost me $240 aud. The girl is not well off for cash, so I'm giving her this SLR, Pentax spotmatic film camera. I'd get nothing for it if I sold it, so if I can encourage a new photography student, why not give it away.
But spots on pics are frustrating, so service is the ideal.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Deanie1113 wrote:

At the beach, I had my camera on a tripod and the wind knocked it over. It landed on the back side (lens never touched the sand and I had a UV filter on.) But now there are four black specks when I look through the viewfinder. Camera performs fine, but the specks show up. I am scared to try to mess with this myself. But the nearest camera store to me is 75 miles away. Should I just suck it up and drive to the camera store to have it looked at? Thanks.

turn your camera to the sky, take a shot of just all blue, no clouds, then look at your image in the back, blow it up and go back and forth and up and down, if you see no specks, your OK. Regardless you should have your camera professionally cleaned as soon as possible.

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

Kmgw9v wrote:

Did it look anything like this?

Amazing,how did you clean that up?