Robert Lai
Well-known
Those of you who own the Voigtlander Bessa R know what I'm talking about. The rubber covering discolors, and gets tacky. It started to happen with the other Fuji / Voigtlander rangefinder cameras that I have, the Fuji GF 670 and the Voigtlander Bessa 667W. The Fuji GF670 just got to me, as I purchased it as an open box demo unit from B&H. However, since production ended in 2014, the rubber covering has started to get tacky.
I've started using this product called Hunter's Rubber Buffer:
http://us.hunterboots.com/care-prod...nQrT3WtFmh6t470WOlNJozGQUv1SFiN_c_xoCZLrw_wcB
You can get 150ml directly from Hunter Boots for $14, with shipping included.
Hunter makes rubber boots for gardening, hunting, winter wear, etc. Natural rubber has insoluble particles which rise to the surface to give a white/gray "bloom". The purpose of this cleaner is to remove that deposit, giving you your black shiny rubber again. The liquid itself is clear.
I spray it into an old toothbrush, then use the toothbrush to clean the rubber item. It works great!
Just scrub the old rubber material until the gray is gone, and dry off with a clean cloth.
So far I've treated the rubber collars on my Gitzo tripod locks. Now they are black again, instead of the ugly gray color they had turned to before.
Then I tried the rubber patches on my Fuji GF670 and Voigtlander 667W rangefinder cameras. They had turned grayish, but also sticky.
This removed the gray tone, and also made the rubber not sticky anymore.
I think this will work great on the Bessa R, which is notorious for turning sticky. However, I won't know for sure until I get back to Chicago next week. That's where the camera is.
Finally, I tried it on Leica vulcanite. I used it on my Elmar 135mm f/4 lens, which has a chrome body with a vulcanite patch near the lens mount end. This area always looked a bit dirty. It WAS dirty, because all the brown dirt / oxidized rubber just came right off into the toothbrush! Now the vulcanite patch gleams! There is no more crud stuck in the crevasses of the vulcanite.
NB: This is NOT Armor All. Armor All makes the sticky problem worse, and it tends to deteriorate the rubber or plastic with time. Armor All does not clean either. (Ask me how I know....)
So far, this rubber buffer is safe with plastic, chrome, and carbon fiber (Gitzo). Any liquid that goes out of the rubber onto the surrounding materials just wipes away without any residue or stickiness.
When I get up enough nerve, I'm going to tape over the rangefinder windows on my Leica M4-2, and try this out on the vulcanite. My reluctance is that Don Goldberg has just overhauled this camera, and it's fairly clean. But, then I thought that the Elmar was fairly clean also, until I really cleaned it.
Again, I spray the liquid into a toothbrush, NOT DIRECTLY ON THE CAMERA!!! I then use the toothbrush carefully to clean the vulcanite. Use common sense and don't make the toothbrush so saturated that the liquid is dripping off it.
Anyhow, I thought that for $14 it may be worth it for you to try experimenting with this. I've just started experimenting with this, so there are my findings as of 1 day into it. If it doesn't work for you, at least you can have clean rubber boots.
PS: I've found that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge, moistened and gently rubbed with finger pressure only, will remove all the crud out of knurling. such as the focusing ring of my Elmar.
I've started using this product called Hunter's Rubber Buffer:
http://us.hunterboots.com/care-prod...nQrT3WtFmh6t470WOlNJozGQUv1SFiN_c_xoCZLrw_wcB
You can get 150ml directly from Hunter Boots for $14, with shipping included.
Hunter makes rubber boots for gardening, hunting, winter wear, etc. Natural rubber has insoluble particles which rise to the surface to give a white/gray "bloom". The purpose of this cleaner is to remove that deposit, giving you your black shiny rubber again. The liquid itself is clear.
I spray it into an old toothbrush, then use the toothbrush to clean the rubber item. It works great!
Just scrub the old rubber material until the gray is gone, and dry off with a clean cloth.
So far I've treated the rubber collars on my Gitzo tripod locks. Now they are black again, instead of the ugly gray color they had turned to before.
Then I tried the rubber patches on my Fuji GF670 and Voigtlander 667W rangefinder cameras. They had turned grayish, but also sticky.
This removed the gray tone, and also made the rubber not sticky anymore.
I think this will work great on the Bessa R, which is notorious for turning sticky. However, I won't know for sure until I get back to Chicago next week. That's where the camera is.
Finally, I tried it on Leica vulcanite. I used it on my Elmar 135mm f/4 lens, which has a chrome body with a vulcanite patch near the lens mount end. This area always looked a bit dirty. It WAS dirty, because all the brown dirt / oxidized rubber just came right off into the toothbrush! Now the vulcanite patch gleams! There is no more crud stuck in the crevasses of the vulcanite.
NB: This is NOT Armor All. Armor All makes the sticky problem worse, and it tends to deteriorate the rubber or plastic with time. Armor All does not clean either. (Ask me how I know....)
So far, this rubber buffer is safe with plastic, chrome, and carbon fiber (Gitzo). Any liquid that goes out of the rubber onto the surrounding materials just wipes away without any residue or stickiness.
When I get up enough nerve, I'm going to tape over the rangefinder windows on my Leica M4-2, and try this out on the vulcanite. My reluctance is that Don Goldberg has just overhauled this camera, and it's fairly clean. But, then I thought that the Elmar was fairly clean also, until I really cleaned it.
Again, I spray the liquid into a toothbrush, NOT DIRECTLY ON THE CAMERA!!! I then use the toothbrush carefully to clean the vulcanite. Use common sense and don't make the toothbrush so saturated that the liquid is dripping off it.
Anyhow, I thought that for $14 it may be worth it for you to try experimenting with this. I've just started experimenting with this, so there are my findings as of 1 day into it. If it doesn't work for you, at least you can have clean rubber boots.
PS: I've found that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge, moistened and gently rubbed with finger pressure only, will remove all the crud out of knurling. such as the focusing ring of my Elmar.
