clean inside of camera with a lens cloth?

[wideangle]

I know that cameras can take a bit of rough treatment, but the other day I was out and someone else came, sat down and proceeded to get their camera out, then they took the lens off and rested their camera on the leg face up.....Before putting the lens on they got a lens cleaning cloth and started wiping the inside of the camera where the shutter would be. Wouldn't you end up getting more stuff in there by doing that and risk wrecking the shutter?!

[Tom J McDonald]

Maybe it had a lens shutter?

[arthurking83]

What kind of camera?

if it was a DSLR, then no!(unless they had mirror lockup for sensor cleaning enabled.

The mirror in a DSLR doesn't allow much past it to touch the shutter, so in reality if they stuffed a cleaning cloth in there, then the worst damage they could do is to damage the mirror in some way.

Of course it's easy to lift the mirror of an SLR against it's will by hand, so they could also have done that too.

I use canned air to clean out the mirror box area of my cameras, but hold the camera up high and facing down so that any loosened particles fall down(as I'm pretty sure that they still can't fall up! )

Stuffing a lens cleaning cloth is not something I'd ever do, as I reckon it would serve no real purpose .. unless there was something obviously on the mirror, and it was the ONLY way to get it off.
I always have access to some thing or device(brush/ blower bulb) to do that kind of thing, so the use of a cleaning cloth in there is pretty much not going to happen for me.

[wideangle]

It was a DSLR

What kind of camera?

if it was a DSLR, then no!(unless they had mirror lockup for sensor cleaning enabled.

The mirror in a DSLR doesn't allow much past it to touch the shutter, so in reality if they stuffed a cleaning cloth in there, then the worst damage they could do is to damage the mirror in some way.

Of course it's easy to lift the mirror of an SLR against it's will by hand, so they could also have done that too.

I use canned air to clean out the mirror box area of my cameras, but hold the camera up high and facing down so that any loosened particles fall down(as I'm pretty sure that they still can't fall up! )

Stuffing a lens cleaning cloth is not something I'd ever do, as I reckon it would serve no real purpose .. unless there was something obviously on the mirror, and it was the ONLY way to get it off.
I always have access to some thing or device(brush/ blower bulb) to do that kind of thing, so the use of a cleaning cloth in there is pretty much not going to happen for me.

[arthurking83]

Next time you see this person, explain to them that the surface of the mirror is quite fragile, and while you may be able to get away with very occasional cleaning with a cloth, it's not recommended.

A very soft brush is a better option if it requires more than blowing air onto it.
I (very rarely)use a Coppehill 'sensor brush', and if I do, it's a very lightly brushing motion.
The mirror surface is very thin to allow both reflectivity and transparency at the same time(for the af), and physically touching it too often may scratch/peel/wear that mirrored surface.

Canned air is the best way to clean it out.