How to clean a camera with mold

Hello everyone,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this!

I was gifted a Mamiya Rb67 and a Mamiya C220 from a photographer friend. She found them in a moving box in a corner of her basement and told me that they have been sitting in there for almost twenty years. After inspecting them, I found out that the C220 lens (55mm 4.5) has slight fungus in both, the viewing and the taking lens. It is just a little bit and I currently do not plan on either cleaning the glass myself, nor on getting it cleaned.

But what I really need to get cleaned are the bellows on both cameras and a bunch of moldy spots inside the cameras and on top of the viewfinder in the RB67. I will attach some photos so you are better able to assess the situation. I have never cleaned a moldy camera and I am wondering what technique/equipment you have already used to clean something like that? Do I have to be extra careful with the bellows?

All the best and thanks for helping out,
Valentin

I use a mixture of equal amounts of Household Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide to remove mold and fungus. Works fine and has not harmed any of the surfaces of any camera I have worked on so far, but you will still need to test each surface to be sure.

Get a can of compressed air and take the cameras outside to blow off what is loose; don't do it inside your house or apartment or you are contaminating your living area.

Simply wipe the surfaces down with either a lightly dampened microfiber cloth, cotton buds and/or something like a Kimwipe (lint free disposable) sheet. For the bellows, work over a table covering; take a soft bristle tooth brush and lightly scrub with the solution and wipe clean with a clean microfiber cloth. Use cotton buds on the interior; you will use many of them but they are cheap compared to the camera.

This solution removed fungus from glass and mirrors without harm; use sparingly in situations where it could run down into the mechanism. Take your time.

Finally, you can build a tent from a clear plastic bag that will accommodate this gear. Find one you large enough to seal air tight or use a plastic tote sealed with packing tape. Place the cleaned cameras in this enclosure and find some pure bits of copper metal. (Coins work well if they have high enough copper content.) Place the copper in an old sock and place it in a clothes dryer on high. Get the copper as hot as you can and then transfer it to the enclosure and seal it up tightly for a few days.

The copper is a very effective fungicide.

Good luck.

UV light, like sunlight, can also help. After the copper treatment Kino describes, keeping the camera in fresh air and sunlight as much as reasonably possible will be good.

And probably best to throw out any cases or items used to hold the cameras. Including, maybe more so especially, any fitted leather cases. And when the cameras do come down from the windowsill or such eventually, don't store in such cases.

Oh, any mirrors will be front surface mirrors and delicate. Do as much blowing as you can, then clean very carefully if needed.

I notice you are from Germany. Brenntag SE makes a product that is sold under the brand Rodalon in Scandinavia - Given Brenntag is a German company, the product is probably available there as well under a different brand name.
It is an odorless disinfectant. If you dab small diluted amounts with a cotton swab on porous surfaces you can kill bacteria/fungus and reduce the musty odour.
Use the dilution recommended for removing odours from fabric.
Apply only small amounts that can easily evaporate and dry, but repeat many times over. Allow plenty of air to move around the camera when drying.

I cleaned up a old view camera bellows a few years back with distilled water with a few drops of dish washing liquid. Dampened cloth wiped down the outside. Just used air and dry cloth on the inside.
Once you get the camera out of the humidity should be OK.

Kino, thanks for sharing your cleanup method--going to use that in the future!
Valentins_Visuals: Don't forget that there are two sets of bellows on Mamiya TLRs. There is a separate one inside the outer one that just serves the taking lens. If you open the back and take off the lens or front cover plate and extend the carriage all the way forward, you can see inside it and get a sense of any mold or fungus that might be growing in there.
Edit: And if you decide you don't want that 55mm lens.......

@Tel The system I use tends to work pretty well, but there are instances of when I had to do it more than once. I bought a Mamiya 645 that looked like it was wearing a thick, green sweater on the leather and that took several attempts, but now it's happy and no re-occurrence of the mold/fungus so far. Dan Daniel's tip to place them in direct sunlight is a great tip as well. Patience and strict observance of cleanliness of the process (discarding cotton buds in a sealed container, immediately washing all microfiber cloths in a mild bleach solution and wiping down surfaces you used is paramount to success.)

Certainly Hydrogen Peroxide. Rub it on with a Q tip and wipe off any residue a day later with water on a Q tip. Also good for fungus on a lens unless it has already etched into the glass.

Thank you everyone! I will try some of the suggested methods and post a follow up

I've found the best way to get rid of the musty smell is to put the camera in a box with a small ionizer then seal the box. I let that run for a few hours at least, outdoors. You need to open the camera up. Open the back and don't leave a lens on.

I would use zeiss lens cleaning cloths wrapped around a Q-tip