to remove the white stuff on the rubber parts of your lenses and bodies, just use a toothbrush and hand sanitizer. i do it all the time and it looks like new!
At computer stores they sell these neat wipes for LCD screens; they also work on a camera exterior... but I don't think I would be crazy enough to use armor-all on precision electronics...
Looking for alternatives? Perhaps I'm wrong, but I heard that many insect repellents work wonders on cameras. They're great for other surfaces too, like if you spill your spaghetti on the couch and need to clean it up before the wife gets home, it will have that "mess" taken care of in a hurry.
Chad Bassman wrote:
... She said the white in the grip is caused from the salt in our sweat glands...
Wow, so maybe it's my low salt diet that has kept my cameras looking fine with no cleaning!
Thanks for not taking offense at my crevice-crevasse crack, which was just a tiny attempt at humor.
I doubt you've done any serious harm by using some Armor All as sparingly as you described. Still, it's a good object lesson - sometimes minimal maintenance is better care than overdone cleaning. Same goes for lenses, which often suffer cleaning marks on their AR coatings, when a bit of dust will usually have no discernible effect on images. So unless you often get friendly with dog noses or camel spit, don't worry about a weekly cleaning with fluids!
choiboyogg wrote:
lol, i heard extra virgin olive oil with a splash of lemon works great... (im jk btw: for those that are slow)
It *is* great on salads, no joke.
I used to work for Eagle 1 car car products, years ago. It was known that A all speeded up the aging of vinyl and whatever it was applied to. It does more harm, by far, than good.
jamesf99 wrote:
Looking for alternatives? Perhaps I'm wrong, but I heard that many insect repellents work wonders on cameras. They're great for other surfaces too, like if you spill your spaghetti on the couch and need to clean it up before the wife gets home, it will have that "mess" taken care of in a hurry.
Totally opposite. Keep the insect repellents far away from cameras. You even need to be careful when you put insect repellent onto yourself and go out shooting. It will eat away at the rubber on your camera.
A bit of water and a touch of Dawn dish detergent on a microfiber cloth is all i ever have been using on my camera bodies and lenses.
On a good note if anyone does want a nice vinyl/rubber protectant Griots Garage makes a nice product (or rebadges) that leaves a nice matte finish also 303 Aerospace is good stuff too...for any car enthusiasts out there.
Harry T wrote:
A bit of water and a touch of Dawn dish detergent on a microfiber cloth is all i ever have been using on my camera bodies and lenses....
Me too, works perfectly, although I rarely need to do this.
EB-1 wrote:
It there a way to remove it? Water and detergent do not work that well.
EBH
Sone of the grips on older cameras, the Nikon D90 is a prime example have rubber that oxidizes to a white color on the surface. The only way to clean it is to literally wipe off the oxidized layer with a rag and lots of elbow grease. Eventually it will look a lot better, but getting it perfect is nearly impossible.
Its not crazy to want to clean your camera with Armor All, just like I wouldn't think it'd be to bad to shoot some WD-40 into the mirror box to keep your the guts of your camera working...
There are many Armor All products and they do not all contain the same ingredients. Some of you are talking about the polish (polysiloxane+water emulsion), some of you are talking about the cleaners (propylene glycol).
As for camera bodies, what on earth are you doing to your camera that it needs anything more than clean water to wash off? On second thought, don't answer that. I don't wanna know. *shudder*
If residue is accumulating on your camera then you're not cleaning it often enough. If you're getting discoloration, you're not cleaning it often enough or you are exposing it to a chemically volatile environment.
Modern DSLRs are sensitive pieces of electronic equipment. "Weather-sealed" does not equal "I can submerge it in 5 feet of alluvial sediment, rinse it off in the ocean, then pour two packets of mayonnaise into the mirror box and expect it to work, and when it doesn't, send it off to the manufacturer and complain their sealing is inadequate."
Any flavor of Armor All is worthless IMO, whether on a camera or a car's dash. Simply use a mild detergent solution to clean the body. Avoid harsh detergents and avoid any vinyly cleaner or protectant, even the better ones like 303. All they do is leave a layer of chemicals like UV inhibitors etc. on the plastic that ain't going to be any use on a camera and could even leach any remaining stabilizers out of the grip etc.
