New Toyo45A mold in ground glass

StoneNYC · Jul 20, 2013

Ugh, I feel like mold plagues me everywhere...

Just got my first 4x5 in.

It doesn't SMELL like mold like everything else I've gotten that made me cautious, but there were mold spores between the focusing screen and ground glass, which gave me pause.

I've put the body out in the sun and been rotating it to try and get all the sides etc, and taken apart the glass holder and washed it and no more mold spots... What do you think? Send it back to Japan or keep it?

It's used, eBay, PITA to ship back, but don't want to be foolish.

Looks like this

It seems to only be concentrated at the center of the ground glass and not on the edges. Again it was wedged between the two pieces and not on the outside...

Suggestions?

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

Alex Muir · Jul 20, 2013

Bleach it! I don't have any LF gear (yet), but I hope to at some stage. If you bought it cheap to use, give it a good scrub, and get on with it. If you're worried about it contaminating your other gear, keep that we'll away. Once you know if 5x4 is for you, you can decide whether to keep it, or sell and upgrade. Alex

StoneNYC · Jul 20, 2013

Alex Muir said:
Bleach it! I don't have any LF gear (yet), but I hope to at some stage. If you bought it cheap to use, give it a good scrub, and get on with it. If you're worried about it contaminating your other gear, keep that we'll away. Once you know if 5x4 is for you, you can decide whether to keep it, or sell and upgrade. Alex

Upgrade? it's a Toyo45A!!! cheap... I think not... lol

StoneNYC · Jul 20, 2013

The bellows look and smell brand new, so I think I'm ok... but it looks like he didn't wipe down the body before he installed them, and I'm not about to mess with disassembling the bellows when I've never worked with LF before. I've sprayed the whole thing with rubbing alcohol and washed the glass with soap, scratched the hell out of the plastic viewfinder but the ground glass is ok.

removed account4 · Jul 20, 2013

why don't you call toyo ( they are in new york )
they might have suggestions too ...
( they are super helpful )

StoneNYC · Jul 20, 2013

jnanian said:
why don't you call toyo ( they are in new york )
they might have suggestions too ...
( they are super helpful )

Thanks, you guys are the mold experts though, I trust you, this isn't toyo specific, this is just camera and mold issues, usually when I see mold, I smell it, but the camera smells fine... but again, if the whole thing is metal, and the bellows that WERE moldy were replaced, there could be spores on the inside hiding in the gears etc but not smell, and I know there are spores everywhere, but if they were once active, is that a higher risk, or am I ok etc... these are the things I'm looking to know from the community. What would APUGer do... what would Ron do... haha

shutterfinger · Jul 20, 2013

Always wash ground glass and fresnels with your finger tips only rubbing the fresnel in the direction of the ribs only. I use Dawn dish soap. I spray mildewed bellows with Lysol Disinfectant Spray on the inside after washing the outside down with Isopropyl Alcohol. Treat the outside of the bellows with Pledge Furniture Polish in the yellow spray can as a final step. The bees wax and lemon oil is good for vinyl and leather.

StoneNYC · Jul 20, 2013

shutterfinger said:
Always wash ground glass and fresnels with your finger tips only rubbing the fresnel in the direction of the ribs only. I use Dawn dish soap. I spray mildewed bellows with Lysol Disinfectant Spray on the inside after washing the outside down with Isopropyl Alcohol. Treat the outside of the bellows with Pledge Furniture Polish in the yellow spray can as a final step. The bees wax and lemon oil is good for vinyl and leather.

The bellows appear to be cloth based... they smell like new product, plastics etc I think, but definitely woven material, is pledge still advisable? never heard of that.. (the light block window thing does seem to be vinyl or leather and is flaking so that is old...

I've already done the damage to the fresnel, but that doesn't bother me so long as the ground glass is ok, I can always get a new piece of plastic (I assume) ... do they make split frame focus fresnels?

shutterfinger · Jul 20, 2013

"is pledge still advisable?"
Yes. one source is Target. http://www.target.com/p/pledge-lemo...-/A-12972693#prodSlot=medium_1_11&term=pledge
Currently called Lemon Clean.
"The bellows appear to be cloth based."
Bellows are cloth inside and leather or vinyl on the outside normally. Use the Pledge on the leather, vinyl, or wood parts. For a complete list of materials it works on see http://www.pledge.com/en-US/Products/Pages/default.aspx and click on the yellow can.

wildbill · Jul 20, 2013

All it takes is one drop of rain to get in between the fresnel and ground glass to muck things up. Usually it dries in a day if you leave the camera out. This happens whenever I shoot in the rain a d drives me nuts cuz it makes it hard to see well.

Tom1956 · Jul 21, 2013

Stone old buddy--never saw a guy so worried about "mold spores". It's not anthrax. Just clean it out and go on. I had to pressure wash out a refrigerator today that had sat in the summer sun for 2 weeks with leftovers in it. Talk about mold, and MAGGOTS, but I blasted it all out, sprayed some bleach in a spray bottle all over the inside, and am going to leave it sit in the hot sun for about a week with the doors open, and it will be good as new. Mold, schmold.

Alan Gales · Jul 21, 2013

Bleach is pretty strong and can also leave behind a residue. I use rubbing alcohol. It works great.

Tom1956 is right. You are worrying too much.

Alan Gales · Jul 21, 2013

99% Isopropyl alcohol

clayne · Jul 21, 2013

99% isopropanol or drug-store hydrogen peroxide. Test on a corner area first. Doesn't look like anything major to me, nor does it seem like a mold invasion.

Stone, mold spores are already all around you in daily life. There's no avoiding it - only controlling the conditions to prevent growth.

Usagi · Jul 21, 2013

I had similar mold like specs in one of my toyo gg+fresnel sandwich combos. Took them apart, cleaned carefully with mild dish soap and problem gone. Until there will be again enough moisture and proper environment for growth....

The moisture comes from rainy days and when it's cold enough that breathing under the dark cloth fogs everything.

E. von Hoegh · Jul 22, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Upgrade? it's a Toyo45A!!! cheap... I think not... lol

Sure. A Linhof would be an upgrade. So would a Gandolfi, a Deardorff, a Sinar, a few others...

Wash the mold off and don't worry about it. Sheesh. Mold spores are everywhere, including all over your body, throughout your respiratory tract, and a bunch of other places I won't mention.
Go take some pictures of moldy stuff from the back of the refrigerator.

StoneNYC · Jul 22, 2013

E. von Hoegh said:
Sure. A Linhof would be an upgrade. So would a Gandolfi, a Deardorff, a Sinar, a few others...

Wash the mold off and don't worry about it. Sheesh. Mold spores are everywhere, including all over your body, throughout your respiratory tract, and a bunch of other places I won't mention.
Go take some pictures of moldy stuff from the back of the refrigerator.

Well it has a linhof adapter plate, so there's that...

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

E. von Hoegh · Jul 23, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Well it has a linhof adapter plate, so there's that...

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

"Linhof". My Deardorff has a Linhof adapter too. That way when using the 4x5 back I can use the lenses from my Linhof outfit.

StoneNYC · Jul 23, 2013

E. von Hoegh said:
"Linhof". My Deardorff has a Linhof adapter too. That way when using the 4x5 back I can use the lenses from my Linhof outfit.

The LINHOF lens board adapter probably won't help me much, I doubt I'll ever be buying Linhof specific lenboards unless someone happens to be giving them away (with a lens).

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

New Toyo45A mold in ground glass

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