Contax 139 Quartz

[johnbear]

My latest acquisition - a Contax 139 quartz. Sold on eBay as in FWO, but the mirror sticks up. Not to worry - it's such a nice camera I'm going to send it to Peter Robinson for a minor service. I'll fit a new skin myself - because that's something I enjoy doing.




My Contax 139 page.

[Stephen]

I could never understand why Yashica used such bad glue on the original covers, I think it was the softness of the "leather" creeping under handling and breaking up the adhesion. Photax's reps made much of the soft finish making a better grip, when it was released. Easily cured with a kit or home brewed cover.

Stephen.

[yashica1943]

Sigma film camera covers are just as bad or actually worse. I bought a working SA-5 just for the lens on it. The body of the camera is just a mess of black rubber stickiness. The covers on Yashicas that I had just broke up and could be stripped off more or less cleanly.
Unfortunately the paint on parts of the Sigma lens also feel slightly sticky, so they are both in a freezer bag until I decide what to do with them.

[camfiend]

have had dealings with that sticky rubber mess several times.. it gets so soft and gummy it sticks to your hands at times and refuses to be washed off.. gotta make you wonder why they ever used the stuff

Bob

[yashica1943]

The cover obviously deteriorated with age or sunshine. I sometimes wonder if there is a powder or liquid that can be put on it that will stabilise it permanently.
I do not think that it would be possible to scrape it off completely, nor worth it considering the low value of these cameras!

[cooltouch]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread because I have something to add. My brother-in-law is an executive with Igloo Corp and has told me that this phenomenon is known as plasticizer migration. I have an old Metz 60 CT-1 and its cables have gotten all sticky, which I haven't treated yet. I also own a Nikon N80 -- actually I've owned several, I buy and sell 'em if I can get them cheap enough cuz they're great little cameras -- that had become sticky.

I tried using acetone on it at first and it didn't do any good. I was surprised, since acetone will cut through most stuff. Then I decided to get creative. I tried some flour -- just regular all-purpose flour -- on a small area of the camera, and it got rid of the stickiness. Best of all, it became translucent when it hit the camera body, so there was no visible residue. So I dusted my hands in all-purpose flour and, well, "handled" the camera. All over. This completely neutralized the stickiness.

That was over a year ago and the camera remains non-sticky. Now, whenever I pick up a cheap N80 for resale, I give it the flour treatment. Since the flour absorbs this stickiness and stays on the camera, it seems to me that it is most likely a permanent fix.  Well, I dunno, if you wash the camera or something otherwise not recommended, you might remove the flour and it would become sticky again. But I don't wash my cameras, so I think this treatment should last quite a while.

[yashica1943]

Thanks for that idea. I did wonder if there was a powder that would fix the surface of my Sigma, but I didn't think of using anything as basic as flour. I have some lovely smooth pizza flour in the kitchen, I will definitely try that on it. I don't think I will use it on the lens as it is just paint that is sticky.

[camfiend]

funny thing about using flour... I also collect model rail and built my first layout using flour paste and paper to build hills and contours, trouble is I live in a country area and attracted (I think) every mouse for miles.. ended up they were eating my layout faster then I could build it..... If I use flour on my cameras does that mean they'll be chewing their way into my camera cabinets?

Bob

[cooltouch]

I doubt you'd have anything to worry about. I did just the lightest dusting of my hands with flour before handling the cameras and then wiped off the excess. So it is a very small amount that actually gets used.

But if mice remain a concern, I guess if it were me, I'd lay out some rat poison in well traveled areas (by the mice, that is). We used to live in a heavily wooded area -- almost a rural section of the suburbs and we had a variety of critters -- good and bad. Rats and mice were periodic problems where we lived. I think they were attracted to the dog's' food. Only problem with rat poison I've found is that the rats don't always make it outside to die. Sometimes they'll die in a wall and then for a month or so, every time I'd walk past that area in the house, it smelled like a dead rat.

[camfiend]

do they ever make it back to the great outdoors.. I have to daily dispose of dead bodies.. have to have baits constantly around or they eat everything which looks like rubber, along with ear muffs.. paint rollers.. hoses.. and cardboard or styrofoam storage boxes... Gotta luv the little critters..hahaha

Bob

[yashica1943]

I eventually found the SIGMA SA-5 in my garage, I thought that I had disposed of it. I lightly dusted the sticky parts with pizza flour, some parts were still sticky afterwards so I went over it all again, then prodded it with a finger loaded with more flour. All I can say is that it now looks a grey mess! At least it is dry and can be handled before I recycle it!
The Lens is more of a problem,it is a Sigma 35-135 AF zoom and the paint is sticky in parts. I will just write the two off in the name of experience............