Remediation of sticky camera coverings

tokam · Mar 12, 2015

Various cameras produced post 1990 have a rubberised coating applied to parts of the body that is now deteriorating to give
a sticky surface that is very unpleasant to use. In my case it is a couple of Minolta Dynax 7 bodies. Additionally, I have
noticed that the bottom coverings on my Mamiya RZ67 Pro II seem to be similarly affected. I could flick the Minolta's
on but I have just started with the RZ67 so I really want to overcome this.

My initial thoughts were to either remove this coating or stabilise it to remove the stickiness. Attempting to remove it on the Minolta's
with a Q-Tip and naptha proved very time consuming. I haven't done anything in terms of attempting to stabilise as I wouldn't
have a clue what chemistry is involved in this reaction or what to do about it. Just coating with talc to absorb the stickiness is not an option
in my book.

Had a brainwave yesterday - what about a thin film that could be applied as a barrier to the sticky rubber. What I would be looking for
is a thin self adhesive, peel apart film that is very pliable and even a bit stretchy. I could then make a template and apply the film over the
existing surface in a similar fashion to recovering camera bodies with replacement skins of leather / vinyl. The covering in this case would
have to be a lot thinner than replacement leather. The idea is just to provide a barrier to make the cameras nicer to handle.

Does anybody know of a film that may be suitable? I have no idea what original purpose such a product may have been made for but I'm
hoping that one of you may have come across such a product which can be repurposed to fix my problem.

TIA, Martin

trythis · Mar 12, 2015

The film will just slide off as the old stuff continues to deteriorate. Think of duck tape on a hot day. I think clear matte paint thinly applied would do as well if the goo lets it dry. It would fail as well over time though. The rubber is going to continue to excrete goo till it drys up and cracks.

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Hatchetman · Mar 12, 2015

I've thought about using talcum powder. Why would this be a bad idea?

Jeff Bradford · Mar 12, 2015

I used acetone in an attempt to scrub the sticky rubber coating off of a camera. The sticky residue went away and left most of the rubber coating intact. It has been over a year and still no sticky.

John Koehrer · Mar 12, 2015

Wouldn't a plastic cover be awfully slickery?

tokam · Mar 12, 2015

..Naptha makes it worse. There is no cure. It was a bad idea, and now these cameras are dumpster food.

RZ67's are far from dumpster food. I'm not going to get into a religious war with a 'blad zealot.

..I've thought about using talcum powder. Why would this be a bad idea?

This will probably reduce the stickiness but I suspect may end up with little balls of rubber / talc being rolled
off onto my thumb and fingers. Could be messy when changing films.

Jeff, This sounds promising. I may try the acetone to remove the surface stickiness without removing the rubber coating as a whole.

..Wouldn't a plastic cover be awfully slickery?

Hi John, I was hoping for a film with a matte surface. Not something slick like Contact shelf covering.

Thanks all for your suggestions and observations. I could live with an annual wipeover with acetone to remove
most of the gummy surface so that's going to be my approach. Gonna have to be careful initially as acetone is not friendly to a lot
of plastics.

tokam · Mar 13, 2015

On my RZ67 it's just the two smaller strips of rubber under the base of the camera that seem to be getting sticky. The main body coverings are OK at the moment.

Somewhere in Japan there is a group of chemists, probably retired by now, who must be hanging their heads in shame.

If I hear of any widespread stickiness on RZ's I'll probably preemptively remove the rubber in one piece while I still can and recover with something better. Luckily the camera body is basically a flat surfaced box with just a few protusions to work around.

You certainly do get a lot in a small package with a Hasselblad and the quality is unquestionable. I think perhaps that for many RB / RZ shooters the bang for your buck ratio is too good to overlook. Besides which they are better cameras than most of us will ever be photographers so we are unlikely to outgrow them. There is just the size penalty, not necessarily weight though.

HowardDvorin · Mar 13, 2015

OK guys, I used dishwashing detergent on my Canon 630.Last year. It is stil OK

David Lyga · Mar 13, 2015

A few Yashica SLRs are like this. I take dish liquid (with a little water) and a teflon pot scrubber and go to work. Obviously, with the fact that water is included, we do not want to use much and we want to keep everything localized so that there is no seepage. But it works, and 'rinsing' involves simply taking a damp, clean cloth and rubbing gently, but thoroughly. Stickiness conquered. - David Lyga

elekm · Mar 14, 2015

I've tried a number of things, and none of them have worked. Sadly, when rubber deteriorates, it's a one-way road. That is, I really don't think that it can be restored.

And some of the coverings are attached in a way that replacement is very difficult or impossible, especially when you are dealing with contoured grips and such.

tokam · Nov 23, 2015

Hah!!! I've fixed it.

Isopropyl alcohol easily removes the degraded rubber coating. I bought the isopropanol from a pharmacy, 99.5%, and applied with a soft cloth stretched over my index finger.

I had to reposition the cloth and re-wet frequently but all of the stickiness is now gone. Have to use fingernail through cloth to get at some of the 'seam' parts on the camera back and take care when cleaning the edges of the camera back when it's open.

The isopropanol does NOT remove the screen printed markings on the controls and leaves you with the original plastic moulding all nice and smooth.

StephenT · Nov 23, 2015

I just went ahead and removed the covering from my Dynax 7. Denatured alcohol and a cloth did the trick. Took a while! If you get to a bad spot, naptha will take care of it. No acetone, by the way.

I think the camera looks great without it.

tokam · Nov 23, 2015

Hi Stephen, I think that denatured alcohol is what I would call methylated spirits. Basically its ethanol with a denaturing agent to discourage drinking.

I have another Dynax 7 body to clean up and I'll try meths on this one. I found that isopropanol worked better than naptha. I also tried one of those citrus oil based gum and sticker removal solutions but this was slow going and left a greasy finish. Acetone would be a last resort and I'd be very wary of it with most plastics.

I'm mainly a Canon FD user but I'm looking forward to trying out the Dynax with an HS5600 flash, all sorts of interesting possibilities.

paul ron · Nov 25, 2015

i had a nikon 70n that had a sticky rubber skin. i just peeled it off, it was held on by double sided tape.

i replaced it with new neoprin that was sold in sheets by microtools as a light seal material.

tokam · Nov 25, 2015

On the Minolta Dynax 7 it appears that they coat, (spray?), the camera door before fitting the LCD panel and switches to it.

Full marks to Nikon for affixing their coverings with tape. Makes life easier.

That neoprin sheet you used on your Nikon sounds interesting but I reckon it would be a lot of work to cut one out for the Minolta. I can live with bare plastic for the meantime.

Remediation of sticky camera coverings

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