Cleaning mould from this part of my camera body

Garbz · Apr 30, 2008

Well the tropical humidity of summer took it's toll. It was a crap one. Boiling hot and raining every day. Got this lovely mould growth inside my FE body.

Now fortunately it's growing in an easily accessible place. Any suggestions for it's removal? I was going to hit it with a cotton bud covered is isocol which is a 75% isopropyl alcohol solution but I was just wondering if anyone has other suggestions ?

maytay20 · Apr 30, 2008

We have actually had a lot of problems with mold in my house. And after lots of research found that vinegar destroys mold. Might try putting that on it. You put it on the mold let it dry then remove what is left of the mold. All though I don't know the effect it would have on the camera body.

Garbz · May 1, 2008

I will try that. Vinegar is probably the least dangerous thing to the camera body out there since it's relatively soft on most surfaces.

HASHASHIN · May 1, 2008

h2o2 will kill mold, and breaks down to water in the light

Garbz · May 2, 2008

Yeah but I'm worried that it's very acidic properties will hurt the metal of the body. It is a strong oxidising agent. Diluted vinegar will be my first try.

usayit · May 2, 2008

hehehe lol...

I missed the word "camera" in the thread title..

First thought. "ewe..yuk"

Garbz · May 3, 2008

uke:

Anyway it was a great success with the 50/50 water/vinegar solution. The camera looks like new (solution did wonders for the spots on the outside of the body). Well as new as you can expect a 30 year old camera to be. Mould gone, and the camera was dried under a warm lamp with a small fan blowing warm air into the body to make sure any drop of vinegar evaporated.

Mike_E · May 3, 2008

Garbz, there is an ultra violet flashlight (around $20 US) used for detecting pet stains (I think that my wife likes cats better than she does me) in carpet. You might want to get one of those and irradiate your camera in case there are any fungus spores in there that might get on a lens (zap your lenses too!), or you can just open it up and leave it outside for a while.

The UV (blacklight) flashlight is great for finding scorpions too.

maytay20 · May 3, 2008

Garbz said:
uke:

Anyway it was a great success with the 50/50 water/vinegar solution. The camera looks like new (solution did wonders for the spots on the outside of the body). Well as new as you can expect a 30 year old camera to be. Mould gone, and the camera was dried under a warm lamp with a small fan blowing warm air into the body to make sure any drop of vinegar evaporated.

Awesome! I am glad to hear it worked. The same solution also worked on my basement. :lmao: Although for a few days my whole house smelled like salt and vinegar chips. I would also check the edges of your lenses for it to prevent reinfection of the camera. But I have never heard of a black light helping it show up I will have to try that.

Mike_E · May 3, 2008

UMM, the blacklight will show up scorpions (and cat urine) and kill fungus. I mentioned it because I would be hesitant to leave my camera outside unattended to get the needed dosage of UV.

Sorry for the confusion.

mike

Does anyone know if the latent acid from the vinegar would affect film? Would you need to air it out I suppose is what I'm asking.

Garbz · May 4, 2008

Yeah well I took the lens off, put a fan on it, and a heating lamp over the top. THe camera reached probably about 40 degrees and I made damn certain it didn't smell like vinegar after it evaporated. I get the feeling that latent acid won't be a problem.

With regards to UV I will look into that. A friend has a UV flashlight. I know that UV kills these things but I'll do a bit of research to see exactly what part of the UV spectra his flashlight puts out and if it will be at all effective.