p.44 #1 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Yes, I used to use Armorall on the sidewalls of my motorcycle tires, but you can't get it here. I have to figure out what the German equivalent is called.
p.44 #2 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Armorall on lens rubber? I wouldn't! No way! That stuff is a sticky-gummy mess! it also looks patchy if you don't get it applied "perfectly" even. I think it's fine for tires, bumper rubber, or the door strips that run the length of of the car body on some cars but that's about it.
p.44 #6 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Bif -- You're jumping to conclusions without any experience or evidence. I've done it for many years with absolutely no problem. Never over-do such things, only use as much as needed. Still, it won't dissolve rubber, or our tires would all be shreaded!
BTW -- My most recent Alt lens arrived today: Samyang/Bower 35/1.4. Pretty awesome!
p.44 #7 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
carstenw wrote:
My Contax 50/1.7 arrived, and is in very nice shape indeed, but it has that white powder look on the focusing rubber. Does anyone have a tip for how to get it black again?
Carsten; I use a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water, at a ratio of about 49-51. 90%+ Iso is preferred, but the 70% stuff readily available at the drugstore will do in a pinch. Great for cleaning all things rubber, plastic, or glass. A large part of my job is cleaning very expensive things without damaging them, and this system is one that found practical to use outside of work.
p.44 #8 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I'll have to try some of these cleaning ideas. I have a C/Y35-70 with a 'whitened' focus ring. Searching around I came up with the suggestion to use Glycerin..it worked OK for a camera body I was cleaning but didn't do much for the 35-70.
p.44 #9 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Gunzorro wrote:
Bif -- You're jumping to conclusions without any experience or evidence. I've done it for many years with absolutely no problem. Never over-do such things, only use as much as needed. Still, it won't dissolve rubber, or our tires would all be shreaded!
WTF? You really think I've never used Armorall before?
And no one certainly not I, said it would dissolve rubber.
p.44 #12 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
What, Bifurcator, only one lens? I thought you always bought them in bulk?
I don't know if I've posted this before - I don't think I have, at least not in this thread. All my alt lenses and cameras sorted in the order I got them:
The first was the 21 Distagon and the last the NEX-C3. The only thing missing in the picture is the Leica X1 which was in for repairs when I took the shot. It should be before the Pentax 67.
p.44 #13 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Wait... I'm getting that ESP feeling... It's coming through... yes, I can see it. It appears in my mind as if written in stone... "Denoir likes Zeiss and Leica!" ...
Damn I'm good!
In my case yeah, I got more than one - but only that one was worth mentioning. But that's how I am see. You'll notice that of the 300 or so lenses I've processed in the past 18 months only about 75 of them were mentioned on-line: http://tesselator.gpmod.com/Images/_Image_By_Lens/ and I would have only mentioned about half that many left to my own - without someone asking or etc.
p.44 #14 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Bif -- Sorry to offend with my comment about your experience with Armorall.
Your remark "That stuff is a sticky-gummy mess!" lead me to believe you had either never used it, or had a reaction with rubber/plastic. I have never found Armorall to be sticky, gummy, or a mess to use. Nor "patchy".
p.44 #20 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
What? Oh, for rubber barrel grips? Yeah, a less than 50% solution of rubbing alcohol (I use 40% isopropanol 60% water) to actually clean it and then either silicon spray or light (thinned) mineral oil applied to a tooth-brush to restore it's original luster and get rid of the white chalky look.
If it's a plastic lens instead of metal go even lighter... 20% isopropanol, 80% water. And if the lens or item has that velvety rubber-ish coating like some middle-aged Sigmas and Panasonic's initial line of M4/3 camera bodies, just use water (maybe lightly soaped) without any alcohol at all.
If you don't know where to get mineral oil or dunno how to thin it WD-40 is basically just that. It's 15% mineral oil, 50% thinner (mineral spirits, primarily hexane) and 35% propellant.
Anyway, for all of these three apply them directly to the toothbrush and then work the grip while set atop an absorbent towel. For the rubbery grips use the silicon spray, for the plasticy grips like on older Canon FD lenses, use the thinned mineral oil.
ArmorAll is basically thinned glycerin with a polymerizing form of silicon oil. The thinning agent they use (DEG), is quite poisonous but it's the polymerization of the silicon oil (forming Siloxane) which can look patchy or be gummy at certain stages. ArmorAll is basically a sealant. Thus why they advertise it as a weather protectorate and etc. Glycerin is a pretty good humectant and probably what gives ArmorAll it's restorative properties. If you could get just the thinned glycerin without the hardening rubber that would work a treat too I think. Glycerin is as cheap as mineral oil and you can thin it with Ethanol or Isopropanol - both also very cheap.
In fact after typing that I just tried it. Yep, awesome! 10% Glycerin, 80% Isopropanol, 10% Water. I tried it on a a older canon plasticy grip, a rubber lens hood that was looking pretty bad, and an old Rokkor I happen to be working on at the moment. All three look new and lustrous! Hey, maybe I'll call it "Grips" and patent it as a rubber restoration product!
I've done it for many years with absolutely no problem. Never over-do such things, only use as much as needed. Still, it won't dissolve rubber, or our tires would all be shreaded! 
