Storing old cameras in Eveready cases?

[darinwc]

Is there any reason not to store cameras in their originally Eveready cases? Will the tannins in the leather cause the chrome to deteriorate?

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Yes, fungus.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

I had one of my cases start to show mold/mildew so I'd say 'Not to'

 

[Malinku]

Just jeep an eye on it. I have my mamiya dtl 2000 in its original leather case and it is doing fine. But then again it is one of my main 35mm cameras. So it sees lots of use. So it is easy to jeep an eye on

 

[anfenglin]

I've seen dozens of lenses and cameras in their cases and in lens quivers, all of them were dirty and fungus has taken hold of not only the lenses but sometimes the lens barrels inside and out. A friend of mine has a business buying and selling analogue equipment, I am his cleaning and relubing person and I get all that stuff that people bring in, most of it is east german gear like Sonnars, Flektogons etc, everything which was stored in its original case is very dirty. We almost always throw them away. Store your equipment without a case or something, it needs air circulation to get rid of fungus spores.

 

[Sewin]

My old FSU USSR rangefinders all came in their old cases and seem ok.

But those FSU cases and cameras certainly have a distinctive odour as anyone who owns one knows!

 

[AgX]

I do store them in the cases. But dry and packed in PE bag.

But still the corrosion from leather fat with blank copper will remain.
Also haze from softeners etc. may be a problem.
In case of doubt I would store camera and case packed apart.


Fake leather cases that started to show disentegrating (losening of top layer, becoming sticky) are discarded.

 

[macfred]

My Konica III RF came in a beautiful case - the case smells awful and shows traces of mildew.
I cleaned the case but won't use it to store the camera.

 

[AgX]

If one does not actually use the cameras in their original cases (but eg. in modern, padded bags), keeping the cases then is the same issue as with keeping original cardboard/foam sale boxes.

 

[Sewin]

I think the smell of FSU cases is enough to kill anything

 

[benjiboy]

I think the smell of FSU cases is enough to kill anything

That's because they used very old methods of tanning the e .r. case leather with pig urine .

 

[Sewin]

I know I've read up on it

 

[Peltigera]

If you are storing the cameras in the cases in conditions where the case mildews, the conditions are not right for storing the cameras without the cases. You can see mildew, you cannot see internal corrosion - let the case warn you of impending problems!

 

[zanxion72]

If you keep it with the lens covered with its cap then there will be no problems. Of course if the case is heavily damaged/contaminated with fungus, then it would be better not to keep your camera in it.

 

[John Koehrer]

No case. Even with a lens cap on it a lens isn't air tight.
Those sneaky spores will infiltrate regardless of how much concertina wire you've got.

 

[Kirks518]

I only keep a couple of cameras in the case, but I also put in one of those small silica packs in the case. Living in the Florida humidity, I have those silica packs in every storage area (cabinet, drawer, backpack, gadget bag, case) that I keep a camera or lens.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Mould and fungus are the banes of my life. Living in South West England's damp climate in an old house I am constantly battling the spread of tiny filaments across my lenses. So often I pick out a lens, hold it up to the light and there is a new fan of fungus making its way across the surface of one or more lens elements. If it wasn't for the fact that I disassemble and clean the lenses myself, I'd have given up years ago rather than keep on paying a fortune to have lenses cleaned. I've tried sealed Tupperware containers with bags of silica gel, but that seems to make no difference. Whether lenses are stored in the light or dark doesn't seem to make any difference, but I do think that storage in lens or camera cases, whether leather or plastic, does seem to make matters worse.
One observation I'd make is that Pentax/Takumar lenses seem worse than most. The few lenses I have that are Vivitar, Tamron, etc. and a couple of lenses on non-Pentax cameras seem far less prone to the problem.

Steve

 

[thuggins]

I have gotten a number of cameras and lenses in their original cases and these have not had any problems. But why would you risk it? The first thing I do with any "new" camera or lens is to remove it from the case and clean it. The camera then gets carefully wrapped in a soft cloth and stored in one plastic container. The case gets a card in it saying what camera it goes to, gets its own protective cloth wrap, then goes into a separate container with its brethren.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Storing cameras in their never-ready cases is an excellent way to enhance the camera and lens opportunities to get infested with fungus. If that is your goal then store away, however if it is not your goal then get the cameras out of the cases as fast as possible and store them separately.

 

[MontanaJay]

I store my old cameras sealed inside a plastic storage tub with each camera body and lens inside a food-grade ziplock bag with the air sucked out.
I live in a dry climate (the northern Rockies) at high altitude, but in a moist climate I would add some silica gel packets and hope for the best.