Cleaning a sticky, grimy camera body (Nikon F80)

JasonBrown2013

JasonBrown2013

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Jason Brown
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Hello all,

Firstly if this thread is in the wrong forum sub-section please feel free to move it!

I've been getting into film photography lately and I purchased a used Nikon F80 on eBay recently to shoot film with. Overall the camera body is in excellent condition apart from the fact that it is slightly sticky. I am aware that the grips on the F80s can get a little sticky over time but I was just wondering what I can do to make it less sticky. I think some of the problem could be general grime because I can scratch away at the rubber with my fingernails and a texture beneath the grime is revealed. Scratching the grime away and then using a bit of WD40 to clean the body seems to have worked well on the grip on the front of the camera (and no scratch marks from me scratching away the grime with my fingernails have been left), but the film chamber door is still looking a tiny bit messy. I'm sure this isn't the best way to sort the problem and looking on the internet people are recommending various rubbing alcohols to use but I'm a little unsure! Any help is appreciated! (I'm in the UK btw, so if you post links to products online I'd really appreciate it if you could use UK sites if possible! It seems like this is a mostly UK-based forum anyway.)

Jason
 
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Hi and welcome to TP

Alcohol will clean most things off hard surfaces and will evaporate away after, just make sure you use a liquid not a gel. Your local pharmacy should be able to help.

Good luck
 
Hi Ruth, thanks for the response!

I'll go down to the pharmacy and see what I can find - any kind of alcohol in particular I should look out?
 
Thanks for your response! :)

So do I need to scratch off the grime and apply the alcohol, or just apply the alcohol straight away?
 
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OK I'll get that if you've tried and tested it. ;)

Many thanks for your help, really hope it helps to clean up my F80.
 
Ordered!
 
You can get a large bottle of isopropyl alcohol on ebay or Amazon (can't remember which for mine) for £3-£4..everyone should have it as it is also handy for cleaning lenses as well as many other things.
 
excalibur2 said:
You can get a large bottle of isopropyl alcohol on ebay or Amazon (can't remember which for mine) for £3-£4..everyone should have it as it is also handy for cleaning lenses as well as many other things.
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Yeah I found one on Amazon for a few quid (500ml) but apparently it's not as good at cleaning as the 400ml from Maplin suggested in this thread by Simon so I went with that and the Magic Erasers from Amazon. Hopefully it does the trick or at least tidies the camera up a bit.
 
simon ess said:
It is brilliant. I wouldn't be without it.

Just make sure it's the full strength stuff.
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I've ordered the one you recommended for me. Again, I hope it helps to remove some of the stickiness and grime from the rubber on the camera. If it doesn't then I'll just have to accept that it's an old camera and it's the way it is. There's only a little bit of stickiness/grime on the film chamber door that really needs removing, rest is good!
 
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised Jason.

And you'll have a can of magic potion that you'll end up using for all sorts of things.

If you happen to use vinyl records, I have another brilliant use for the magic eraser too.;)

Oh, use a sharp serated knife to cut the eraser into "fingers", if that makes sense.
 
Thanks for the tip I'll cut the eraser up into smaller bits. I noticed in the article Adrian posted they recommend using cotton swabs/earbuds (whatever they're called! :p) with water and soap, guess I could use an earbud dipped in the alcohol to clean the bits that are harder to get to?

Will have to post some 'before and after' shots of the camera and let you know what difference the cleaning makes! ;)
 
Haha that makes me feel like this is going to work! Before shots coming soon (just uploading the photos of my latest holiday to Flickr first!)

On another note, I do love the way the F80 looks. Definitely a prettier camera than my D3200 and the D7200 I'm thinking about upgrading to.
 
Glad to see a younger filmie in here, you've brought the average age down to about 47 now. :D

Andy
 
Haha I also shoot digital of course but I enjoy shooting film too. Mind you, it is quite expensive for me. £28 to get two rolls developed yesterday!

Dad says we can go into Norwich and pick up the alcohol from Maplin when we are next in so it might be a little while before I get to give the camera a good clean. Will a normal sponge be ok for applying the alcohol or are those magic ones going to do a better job?
 
A normal sponge might be ok, I've not tried.

But you know when sometimes you come across something that just works so well....?
 
I get what you mean. I'll pick them up. :)
 
JasonBrown2013 said:
Haha I also shoot digital of course but I enjoy shooting film too. Mind you, it is quite expensive for me. £28 to get two rolls developed yesterday!
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Huh £28 for two rolls..........cheapest for starters is Asda superstore dev and scanned to CD (no prints) for £3 a roll, but two rolls on one CD should be £5.
 
excalibur2 said:
Huh £28 for two rolls..........cheapest for starters is Asda superstore dev and scanned to CD (no prints) for £3 a roll, but two rolls on one CD should be £5.
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That's Snappy Snaps scanning to TIFF format (at about 6.3 MP) onto CD for ya, with one 36 roll film also being printed on 6x4s.
 
OK so just for reference here is how my F80 is looking now. Not bad at all and actually in pretty good condition, but it will hopefully look better after I have cleaned it with alcohol. I will post some 'after' shots too!

Click images for full resolution on Flickr (note: these are not on my primary account, just another account I have where I upload various bits and pieces).

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr

Nikon F80 (Before Cleaning) by ThinkPad Review, on Flickr
 
Just a couple of things, since I saw WD40 mentioned - it's a good solvent of many adhesives so I'd hesitate to use it around a camera with bonded rubber grips - meths can be sometimes useful, but so can warm water with a smidge of detergent, used sparingly on an old toothbrush, followed by wiping with a damp cloth then a dry one.
 
WD40? Has that been mentioned?

Nikon F80 sticky back syndrome is a rather different proposition to regular cleaning.
 
Yeah I gave it a quick going over with WD40 yesterday. Helped a little bit on the front grip but not on the back (which looks about the same as it did before).

Going to pop into Maplins at some point this week and grab that rubbing alcohol you recommended and give that a go.
 
simon ess said:
WD40? Has that been mentioned?
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Yes - read the OP.
simon ess said:
Nikon F80 sticky back syndrome is a rather different proposition to regular cleaning.
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Ah - irregular cleaning?

PS. Sorry Simon, our posts overlapped. Jason - try the damp toothbrush method first before buying anything. I've usually found alcohol to have limited effect, so try that last ...
 
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Yeah the WD40 didn't seem to do a lot. Rubber still looks the same, perhaps a little shinier but it took a lot of effort to get one area to look a bit shinier than the rest (the thumb grip on the back of the body seems shinier than the rest of the back).

Quite excited to see how the alcohol cleaning will turn out. Get a sponge, apply a small amount of the alcohol and just literally rub it on the body, right?

I got the camera used so I have no idea if it's been cleaned before or how it's been stored. I got it from a reseller on eBay but I suspect it's a camera that somebody has handed in/traded in for them to sell.

EDIT: right OK I'll try the water + detergent + wet/dry cloths + toothbrush methods first. I'm guessing something like washing up liquid, eg Fairy Liquid (which I have at home), would be OK for the detergent?
 
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OK lots of things to try out now! :D

Really hope that I don't damage the rubber on the camera trying out all of this stuff, haha! I'll be as careful as possible!
 
JasonBrown2013 said:
That's Snappy Snaps scanning to TIFF format (at about 6.3 MP) onto CD for ya, with one 36 roll film also being printed on 6x4s.
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Don't, just don't! Among the affordable/quality options, I use Photo Express in Hull, they charge £5 per (C41 colour) film (less 50p per film if you tell them you're a TP member and quote your username), and give you 2000 ppi scans for that (Jpeg, although I've never asked if they would do a TIFF). Works out about 6 mp, very nice scans, not over-sharpened. It'll also cost £1 return postage, plus you have to pay the postage there, which works out at £3.20 I think. Results back in 2-3 days usually.

There's also UK Film Lab, who charge somewhere round a tenner a roll for dev and scan, excellent scans of a similar resolution. You pick up your scans via a link they email you, and you get a batch of negs back once a year (at cost plus a bit, it appears). They are a bit slow, 10 days or so.

Many other options too. See the sticky about resources at the top of this forum...
 
ChrisR said:
Don't, just don't! Among the affordable/quality options, I use Photo Express in Hul
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Can I send them film via the post for them to do or do I actually need to go all the way up to Hull to get it done? I'm in Norwich, not convenient for me to keep travelling all the way up there, though they are more affordable.

Haven't had a chance to clean the camera yet - been busy getting Windows 10 to work on my PC! But I popped into Maplins yesterday and grabbed a can of that IPA 170 isopropyl alcohol. Might try later today.
 
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Just given it a going over with the alcohol. Small improvement, plenty of grunge came off (evident from the underside of the sponge afterwards!) Film door looks a lot better and small improvement on the grips. I think it's probably as good as it's going to get. Camera still appears to work OK, really hope none of the alcohol went into the film chamber...
 
JasonBrown2013 said:
Just given it a going over with the alcohol. Small improvement, plenty of grunge came off (evident from the underside of the sponge afterwards!) Film door looks a lot better and small improvement on the grips. I think it's probably as good as it's going to get. Camera still appears to work OK, really hope none of the alcohol went into the film chamber...
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I wouldn't worry overly about that Jason, it will evaporate to nothing in a few minutes, just leave the door open then give it a little wipe down with a dry cloth, I find the little glasses cleaning towels are excellent for this sort of thing.
 
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