EOS-1V sticky rubber disease

While I was looking for a replacement EOS-3, I got a wild hair to get an EOS-1V. Most of them I ran across where pretty beat. When one came along that was a few years after release and was pretty clean looking, I grabbed it.

When I got it, it really does look nice, shutter count 33. I noticed the side cover was a bit sticky. Doing some research, it seems on the EOS-1s in general the side cover getting sticky is common, the rest of the camera does not seem to get the issue and my camera was that way, the rest is fine.

So I decided I would just clean it up. Using rubbing alcohol and some towels, the rotted rubber started coming right off ( it really doesn't clean, it dissolves the rotted rubber off removing texture with it ). Ends up the side cover on the camera has the texture molded in the plastic and it is sprayed with a rubber coating. My " cleaning " really just removed that rubber coating, all of it. In the end, the cover is no longer sticky, just has a plastic feel instead of a rubber feel.

I am quite pleased with the camera.

That looks immaculate! Congratulations on your new acquisition - an excellent camera, from all reports, and yours looks brand spanking new. Enjoy!

Looks great!
I just got done doing this to two Nikon n80 and an f100.

I need to find a coupler cover. I think I would prefer using the camera without the power booster. I can use the same battery grip from my now spare EOS-3, unfortunately the covers were not the same. There is one on E-Bay for $50.00, but I don't want to remove the booster that badly.

I had to do this on my Nikon F-90x too. Luckily it was just the back.
I also did a tripod that was coated in that horrible paint.

For years I've been wondering who the heck invented this coating?
I'm pretty sure that if he was to be known, a lot of people would buy a 45 gallon drum of this paint and cover him with it!
And maybe add feathers after...

I use the EOS 3 without the coupler cover all the time and there are no light leaks. May want tomorrow some table over it if you worry about dust etc.

Gotta love auto spell/grammar correct, The 1V is in my user collectables, tape works, but rather have the right bit for it. The 1V being Canons flagship and last film camera made. Now the struggle will be, do I grab the 3 or the 1..... or one of the many others.

Xylo said:

I had to do this on my Nikon F-90x too. Luckily it was just the back.
I also did a tripod that was coated in that horrible paint.

For years I've been wondering who the heck invented this coating?
I'm pretty sure that if he was to be known, a lot of people would buy a 45 gallon drum of this paint and cover him with it!
And maybe add feathers after...

Click to expand...

It's the plasticizers leaching out of the plastic coating. Many plastics, especially flexible types which require more plasticizer, are susceptible to this. For many of them, it is inevitable. It's just a matter of time, heat, and humidity, etc, as to when it will happen. It can't be stopped, or reversed. A friend is an art conservator, and the art world is grappling with what to do about conserving many modern objects.

What I find is that those coatings degrade at breakneck speeds when compared to other flexible plastics.
The worst part about these rubbery coatings is that it was an actual paint that was applied, rarely an additional part that got added.
If they had chosen a good texture instead, or an applied vinyl piece, we wouldn't have that problem.
But the rubbery texture gave the illusion that the quality of the item was greater than it actually was, that's why it was so present on so many products.