Camera Cleaning

I have an Oly E500. I've only had it six months or so but already have run it through the rails in use. One location in Central Oregon was incredibly dusty. The lenses are all quite dirty as is the camera body, and worse, when I look through the viewfinder I see small black dirt flecks or artifacts. They don't show up in the digital image but are very distracting to see when composing. I'm very reluctant to take the lens from the body and start attempting to clean it. Does it make sense to take it to a camera shop for cleaning or is this something one would generally do themselves?

Any advice welcome!

Jerry

This might be dust on your mirror, check if you have the problem with all lensens if so, its the mirror.

It might also be the focusing screen or on the surface of the pentamirror or pentaprism. These can be cleaned with a blower, but some spots might be difficult to reach.

What you need to be concerned with is dust spots on the photos taken at f16-f22. If you see dark blurred spots on the photos, you have dust on the filters above the image sensor.

It is definitely inside the camera body. It is always there no matter what lens I put on. I see see the particles on what appears to be a mirror. I have tried lightly, with a Q-Tip, to dislodge it. Apparently it needs stronger scrubbing or a wetting material. Having tried what's described, and not knowing whether I was doing more harm than good, thought I'd ask here as to the best route.

Thanks,

Jerry

I use canned air very soft and carefully, holding the camera body with the lens opening towards the floor and then follow a routine similar to this:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/sensor-cleaning.shtml

Don't you have a vibrator on your camera?