de-smelling old camera's

Disaster_Area said:
anyone have any tips on getting the smell of smoke/musk/oldcamerasmell out of older camera's. I picked up a Rolliecord in great shape but its got old camera smell.. and maybe a hint of smoke. Any of you have tried and true methods for de-funkifying a camera.. its not really that bad of a smell.. but its enough that I notice it when I'm bending over the focusing screen.
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Dabbing it with hydrogen peroxide will kill the mold and cut the smell a lot. I know, since I just bought a monorail view camera that came with a fabric-lined case that had really severe mold and mildew problems. It could stink up a whole room in mere seconds, and that's no exaggeration. It reeked. However, it won't get rid of the smell entirely (because there will still be some now-thoroughly-dead mold trapped in the leather), and it won't do anything about the smoky smell. I used a whole quart of HP in that case, and I can still smell it, but now I have to stick my head in there to do so. A good wipe down with denatured alcohol will get rid of most of the smoke smell, assuming you are talking about cigarette smoke. The tobacco smoke smell is due to tar deposited on the camera and alcohol is a good solvent for that.
 
Disaster_Area said:
I'll try the coffee grounds tonight (as its the only one of the above ingredients I have on me) And I think I'll definatly be getting it recovered a la cameraleather.com.. now what colour... my head says Levant or Black Beauty leather.. but my heart wants to scream RED SNAKE SKIN!!!!... or maybe black lizard.
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I wouldn't go with the snake skin, in any color. It is delicate and will start looking ragged in a year or two (yeah, I tried it) and, although it makes great photos, it doesn't look that good to start off with when you're looking at it in person. The lizard is much better if you are going to go exotic. I can vouch for the Black Beauty and Levant being good for cameras, athough I get mine from a different source and cut and glue it myself.
 
Disaster_Area said:
Thanks for the tip about the snake skin.. I was kinda worried about what the durability would be like.
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Paradise snakeskin (the red stuff) is only about as thick as a sheet of writing paper and it is pretty fragile. The stuff they sell is glued to a slightly thicker backing made of other leather.
 
I don't think I could ever put snake skin on a camera.

The worst smell I have ever encountered in my life was a large dead snake at the bottom of my yard ... it was summer and it had been there a few days days and when I disturbed it with the shovel to relocate it I nearly passed out. The smell stayed with me for days and psychologically the sight of snakeskin on a camera would have me running! :p
 
I just got a beat up old Rollei 35 that smells like mold or mildew or something, and was going to use leather cleaner on it - but how can you be sure it is really leather?
 
Keith said:
I don't think I could ever put snake skin on a camera.

The worst smell I have ever encountered in my life was a large dead snake at the bottom of my yard ... it was summer and it had been there a few days days and when I disturbed it with the shovel to relocate it I nearly passed out. The smell stayed with me for days and psychologically the sight of snakeskin on a camera would have me running! :p
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I tried it once and didn't like it (on an Argus C-3). Turns out it looks a lot better in photos than it does in real life. It is fragile and it is a magnet for gunk. I ripped it off of there and went with a fine pebble-textured black cordovan kidskin leather instead.

I know what you mean about snakes. I'm not afraid of non-venomous snakes, but have you ever smelled a live rattlesnake? It's why I won't eat cucumbers.
 
iamzip said:
I just got a beat up old Rollei 35 that smells like mold or mildew or something, and was going to use leather cleaner on it - but how can you be sure it is really leather?
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If yours has a little moon under the strap hangers, it is leather; if it doesn't, it is leatherette. Only other way to tell for sure is to peel some of it back and look at the back of it. Leather looks kind of fuzzy on the back and vinyl is slick and smooth. Incidentally, if it is real leather, and you want to kill the mold, do NOT use anything with alcohol in it, because the dye is alcohol-soluable. Personally, I'd use white distilled vinegar.
 
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FallisPhoto said:
have you ever smelled a live rattlesnake? It's why I won't eat cucumbers.
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Never see rattlesnakes here. Occasionally garter snakes.
So, my question is; do rattlesnakes smell like cucumbers? (which I passionately dislike anyway)

My, Rolleiflex MX (1954) will have a new covering from Camera Leather when it arrives. Black leather.

But now that I've ordered it I'm looking at the old leather which is intact and worn through a bit to the brown under the black. I think I may just replace the front pieces that I destroyed by taking off the front of the camera to get the shutter out. (previous repair used contact glue instead of shellac.) The older leather has a marvelous patina (?) and I'll try to preserve it. It smells a bit like gun oil.
 
I once bought a Nikon F5 and it smelled like the last owner sat infront of it for 5 years blowing smoke at it. I left it in a sealed bag for several weeks with a box of baking soda and it helped a lot.
The smell never really completely went away so I sold it. Reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the smelly car.
 
literiter said:
Never see rattlesnakes here. Occasionally garter snakes.
So, my question is; do rattlesnakes smell like cucumbers? (which I passionately dislike anyway)
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Yes, especially in late summer.
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mllanos1111 said:
I once bought a Nikon F5 and it smelled like the last owner sat infront of it for 5 years blowing smoke at it. I left it in a sealed bag for several weeks with a box of baking soda and it helped a lot.
The smell never really completely went away so I sold it. Reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the smelly car.
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A good wipe-down with alcohol or naptha would have removed the odor entirely. Either solvent will work wonders on tar -- even cigarette tar.
 
literiter said:
... It smells a bit like gun oil.
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Last off-brand gun oil I got smelled exactly like bacon grease. I had the horrible feeling that might be what it actually is, so I haven't used it on a camera yet. I assume you mean Hoppes gun oil?
 
I bought an SLR that was incredibly stinky with cigarette smoke. I tried everything - alcohol, putting in near coffee, febreeze, bounce dryer sheets - still stank.

I finally concluded that it was the vulcanite that was the worst, so I mixed some coffee with water to make a paste and worked it into the vulcanite with an old toothbrush and wrapped it with saran wrap to keep it moist for a day or two. At the same time I shut up a crumpled bounce sheet in the film chamber - it stank too.

After a couple of treatments like this it no longer smells at all - it smelled like coffee and bounce for a few weeks, but now it is jusy "fresh"
 
After Hurricane Camille in Gulfport we had a LOT of salt water soaked interiors in our cars. Those of us that still had cars after the storm. A few days in the sun and they smelled pretty ripe. A used car dealer told us to cut up a few apples and leave them in the car for a while. They absorbed the smells and gave a pleasant smell to the interiors. (this is a little off topic, but if you are cooking and over salt your dish, toss a couple of cut up potatoes in for a while. They will absorb the excess salt and you can fish them out and throw them away and finish cooking your gumbo or whatever). Then we drove the cars up North and sold them for cheap before the whole things turned to rust. Payback for old scores I suppose. So you could put the camera in a bag (don't seal it completely up) for a while and it might be a lot better, but if the smell is realy in there it will take a long time to get it aired out.
 
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got this from a friend... but heard that it works.

wrap the camera up in newspaper for a few days. Takes the smoke/grease/smell away. :)
 
FallisPhoto said:
Last off-brand gun oil I got smelled exactly like bacon grease. I had the horrible feeling that might be what it actually is, so I haven't used it on a camera yet. I assume you mean Hoppes gun oil?
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Hoppes, yes. It smells rather sweet, quite nice actually.
 
Febreze will take the nasty smoke smell out of rubber.

mllanos1111 said:
I once bought a Nikon F5 and it smelled like the last owner sat infront of it for 5 years blowing smoke at it. I left it in a sealed bag for several weeks with a box of baking soda and it helped a lot.
The smell never really completely went away so I sold it. Reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the smelly car.
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