Is the Nikon F100 back "leather" just textured plastic?

[Dante_Stella]

So I was cleaning up a vaguely sticky F100 back, and I think that the "leather" or "rubber" is just a thin soft coating sprayed onto the molded plastic piece, i.e., there is no separate "leather" piece, just the pebbled surface of the back door. Which would make any goo removal permanent if you achieved it the first time.

I am inferring this from a couple of things:

• I'm not seeing that the edge actually lifts up
• When not sticky, tapping it with your fingernail sounds "hard"
• Even the flanges of the back have soft-touch coating on them where on a camera with separate "leather" they would just be shiny metal or plastic
• The coating is even on the focus selector, which has no reason to have a soft coating
• No one on earth sells replacement back door leatherette

So it seems to me that they just made a sophisticated plastic casting and just gave it a once-over with soft-touch paint.

Or am I crazy?

Dante

 

[bhop73]

It's plastic. I had to replace mine when the latches broke.

 

[farlymac]

One fix is to treat it with a coat of Armorall (r) Original, letting it sit for at least 24 hours to cure. Some coverings just need an occasional wipe with some alcohol, while the ones on the N90 will come off if that method is used. But then the N90 should be stripped, because usually the Armorall won't work on it.

PF

 

[TEZillman]

Dante,

I've also been trying to deal with the same "sticky back" issue on my F100 this week. I've come to the same conclusion that the surface is not a separate part from the camera back. It would be nice to just remove the surface and replace it. I've found replacements for the surface around the grip, but not the back.

I have not found a solution yet after trying several home remedies suggested on various forums. I've progressed from sticky to just tacky, but it's still annoying. I'm getting the impression that the improvement is mostly due to having it out of the camera bag and exposed to fresh air.

 

[dfdann]

After trying numerous fixes I found out that simply allowing F100 to sit in dry room
Not in any camera bag or case worked wonders. Great camera.
Dan

 

[Dante_Stella]

Tom -

I think that once the matte coating is off, the problem is not coming back. You just go from a sticky matte surface to a slightly less matte bare plastic with the same detailing. The catch is not removing the printing for the focus mode (single/dynamic) selector.

Dante

 

[B-9]

Out of curiosity,

The F5 must have a different coating/covering on its back?

Or does it also suffer from sticky issues? Guess I’ve only ever heard of it on N90 and F100.

 

[Rob-F]

Maybe it would be possible to bond a surface layer to the sticky surface. Maybe something from CameraLeather.com might work. I guess the trick would be find the right adhesive that would work together with the natural stickiness of the back.