Mold in D70

InsuredDisaster

Recently I picked up my Nikon D70 and noticed some sort of "mold" when looking through the eyepiece. I removed the lens and focusing screen but the mold is not present there.

I think its behind the eyepiece. Any idea of how to take apart this part of the camera?



I'm calling this mold but could be something else. When I shine a flashlight on the mirror, the light is directed out the eyepeice and the "mold" is all lit up like something under a microscope.

ziggy53

InsuredDisaster wrote:

Recently I picked up my Nikon D70 and noticed some sort of "mold" when looking through the eyepiece. I removed the lens and focusing screen but the mold is not present there.

I think its behind the eyepiece. Any idea of how to take apart this part of the camera?



I'm calling this mold but could be something else. When I shine a flashlight on the mirror, the light is directed out the eyepeice and the "mold" is all lit up like something under a microscope.

If the camera has been exposed to much humidity it is likely to be mildew. Taking the camera apart enough to investigate and clean is best done by a camera repair shop as it may require specialized tools. (I am not familiar with the Nikon D70 however.) It may also (fairly likely) require some replacement parts if simple cleaning is not successful.

If you really want to proceed with the repairs yourself it would be best to use a repair manual. If you Google using the terms "d70 repair pdf" you might get lucky.

InsuredDisaster

ziggy53 wrote:

If the camera has been exposed to much humidity it is likely to be mildew. Taking the camera apart enough to investigate and clean is best done by a camera repair shop as it may require specialized tools. (I am not familiar with the Nikon D70 however.) It may also (fairly likely) require some replacement parts if simple cleaning is not successful.

If you really want to proceed with the repairs yourself it would be best to use a repair manual. If you Google using the terms "d70 repair pdf" you might get lucky.

Thanks. Obviously taking the camera to Nikon would be best, but I don't really have the time right now. I converted the thing to IR so I am hoping that the rest of the camera can be taken apart and put back together easily.

InsuredDisaster

Well, I took the camera apart but felt that this repair was beyond my capabilities. I put the camera together again and returned it to Nikon China for repairs. Turns out the mold or whatever it was had eaten away at the prism or mirror assembly I should say and it needed to be replaced. The spot was about the size of the focusing point on the screen of my FM2, to give you an idea of how large it was, and it was dead center when looking through the eyepiece. Nikon also replaced a bunch of other things in the camera so I hope to resume using a newly refurbished D70ir in the near future, pending the return of all of the batteries and cards for it.


Basically, Ziggy was da man!


Added a photo of the D70's parts, including the memory card slot.