Seele
Anachronistic modernist
While it is known that the grippy rubbery surface of the Bessa-R camera back can get very sticky with age, like what this thread talked about, there have been some suggestions that wiping it with alcohol would improve matters, but it invariably makes it worse.
With a camera of lesser aspiration by another maker exhibiting the same problem I decided to deal with the sticky rubber situation once and for all, by removing the rubber coating. Here the sticky rubber coating was really a coating rather than a solid rubber piece attached to it, and by using alcohol (methylated spirits, but similar stuff such as vodka would do) I managed to remove it altogether. Then I did the same thing on the Bessa-R and now it is back to a usable condition.
I used a bit of rag cut from a worn-out cotton T-shirt, cut into small pieces about an inch square, moistened with alcohol and rubbed over the surface. The alcohol dissolved the rubber and the rag immediately soaks up the black goo. This takes quite a bit of time, and dozens of squares of rag, to get it totally cleaned, revealing a plastics surface nicely textured in a manner similar to a Braun electric razor, which does not look out of place. In fact it makes the camera looks very presentable instead.
Of course the ultimate fix would be to fit a steel camera back for another Cosina-built camera, properly covered in good quality leatherette, but that is another story altogether.
It goes without saying that if you decide to give it a go and mess things up, I would not be held responsible!
With a camera of lesser aspiration by another maker exhibiting the same problem I decided to deal with the sticky rubber situation once and for all, by removing the rubber coating. Here the sticky rubber coating was really a coating rather than a solid rubber piece attached to it, and by using alcohol (methylated spirits, but similar stuff such as vodka would do) I managed to remove it altogether. Then I did the same thing on the Bessa-R and now it is back to a usable condition.
I used a bit of rag cut from a worn-out cotton T-shirt, cut into small pieces about an inch square, moistened with alcohol and rubbed over the surface. The alcohol dissolved the rubber and the rag immediately soaks up the black goo. This takes quite a bit of time, and dozens of squares of rag, to get it totally cleaned, revealing a plastics surface nicely textured in a manner similar to a Braun electric razor, which does not look out of place. In fact it makes the camera looks very presentable instead.
Of course the ultimate fix would be to fit a steel camera back for another Cosina-built camera, properly covered in good quality leatherette, but that is another story altogether.
It goes without saying that if you decide to give it a go and mess things up, I would not be held responsible!
