Kodak Retina Ia's 'bubbling back' problem

[JPiettro]

I'm not an expert on camera history to any extent. I have a couple of Kodak Retinas and somehow I managed to acquire decent examples of them.
One is a K.Retina Ia. Is it the most common one in terms of availability?

They are in abundance ob eVil Bay at any given moment and the prefix 'eVil' is especially appropriate in this particular case. Regardless of how the carrying case looks, regardless of how much it is used (some look exc.), regardless of how the chrome plated top looks (many are clean and shiny), regardless of the leatherette wear... when it comes to show the leatherette covered back I see the majority of them have that dreaded bubbling back with apparently four brass rivets under the leatherette being heavily oxidized.

I mean when I got my Ia a decade ago I somehow managed to get an example with an absolutely flat back. No bubbling whatsoever. It doesn't look mint by the way but it's not worn out either. It displays light amount of usage.
If I happened to get the one with the bubbling back I would probably be tempted to reskin it. I assume if I removed the leatherette from the back of such an example I wouldn't see anything catastrophic there. I guess I'd have to clean up the oxide gunk and that would be it. With new leatherette I'd lost the authentic 'Retina' impression but mind you: I'm not a purist. I simply like clean functional cameras.

Having said all the above (ain't it a lot?) I now want to ask those of you in the know a few questions on the subject:
- Is my understanding of the problem correct? (growing oxides on the rivets)
- Am I right: it's not a big problem in itself?
- Why does it happen at all?
- Why does it happen so often with Retina Ia? (again I'm not an expert but it looks like this one is especially prone to bubbling.)
- Is that a sign of something being not right beyond the oxidized rivets?
- What's your personal position regarding this "problem"?

 

[Peter Jennings]

I have II and IIa Retinas and neither have the bumps. Of course, it took a lot of patience on eBay to find them. The earlier Retinas aren’t of much interest to me. These bumps are also prominent on Contax cameras and I’ve heard that oxidized rivets is the cause. Since I’ve never had one with the bumps I don’t have any experience fixing them. However, as far as I know, it is a purely cosmetic issue. Also, I’d rather have a Retina with original leather and bumps than a Retina with new leather and no bumps. The Retina leather backs are quite pretty.

 

[Dez]

The corrosion is due to the contact between dissimilar metals in the presence of moisture, and is by no means only a factor for old Retinas. These are the famous Zeiss bumps, that plague Contax owners.
To slow the process down, after removing the leatherish covering, clean the area as thoroughly as possible with a wire brush, and then coat it with lacquer before covering it again.

Cheers
Dez

 

[Luddite Frank]

Also a common issue with Graflex / Speed Graphic press cameras... they like to grow verdigris ( a waxy, green mung ) around and under any brass fittings mounted in contact with the leather body covering.

 

[wes loder]

Your leather backs were made of vegetable tanned leather. The chemicals in the leather react with copper to form verdigris. Since brass is a copper alloy, that's the culprit. Originally the brass was coated with paint of lacquer before being covered with leather. Any damp or poor storage conditions can trigger the formation of the verdigris. Almost all the really old cameras I have seen have it a little. Zeiss cameras used leather. Many have that problem. Early Nikons (prior to the S2) can have that problem. Leicas, which are covered with vulcanite do not (although vulcanite can have other problems). WES

 

[peterm1]

This problem is endemic to old Contax rangefinder cameras too. So much so that they are often called Contax bumps too (or Zeiss pimples - take your pick). It can be hard to find one with out it. You will find lots of discussion on the subject by Googling the above terms including causes and how to deal with it. Here are a couple of links.............

http://www.zeisscamera.com/services_overhaul-cIIa-leather.shtml

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/zeiss-pimples.337360/

 

[Larry H-L]

I sent a Contax IIa to Oleg for a hazy viewfinder cleaning, and the camera came back with a clear viewfinder and without any of the previous Zeiss bumps.

The original leather is still there, so there must be a way to carefully remove the leather, scrape off the crud, and re-glue the leather.