Is there a way to avoid rubberised finishes becoming sticky?

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Dave
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I recently bought a Sigma 50mm macro lens. It has that soft rubbery finish on the lens barrel, which has a slight feel of going sticky.
Being the proud owner of a Nikon F70 with the rubberised back that would double up as fly paper, I wonder if there is a way to treat the finish to preserve it or a way of storing to the same purpose?
 
Yuk! It's not nice, is it? You could try some isopropyll alcohol on it. That might help. Otherwise, some kind of wet wipe might be closer to hand. I'm sure I've used a tiny squirt of Mr Sheen on them in the past, as well.
 
That would be Sigma's Zen coating from their 1980's lenses. A terrible finish for a lens coating and no way to keep it from going sticky. I've had lenses that have completely seized up due to the zen coating congealing and then getting into the focus mechanism/ helicoid.

Only option is to strip it off as Neville says, might need partial disassembly to get it all off.
 
Yup - the focus ring on my EF 80-200 f/2.8L went icky - I ended up replacing the rubber.
 
No way (that I know of!) to prevent the rubber going sticky but it's easy (if a little time consuming) to remove the stickiness with some IsoPropyl Alcohol.
 
One thing to note, any writing on the lens will be removed along with the zen coating using isopropyl or similar.
 
FWIW, avoid sunblock and insect repellent on your hands. I destroyed a rubber grip and the top LCD on a Nikon with insect repellent. It makes the rubber positively gungy, far worse than just 'icky!
 
DEET based repellent is especially good at that (as well as being very good at keeping the bity beasties away!)
 
If you are to try IsoPropyl Alcohol I suggest you try it on a small area first. I used it on a Canon 300D, the results were not good.
 
Constable said:
FWIW, avoid sunblock and insect repellent on your hands. I destroyed a rubber grip and the top LCD on a Nikon with insect repellent. It makes the rubber positively gungy, far worse than just 'icky!
Click to expand...

Nod said:
DEET based repellent is especially good at that (as well as being very good at keeping the bity beasties away!)
Click to expand...

I switched to non-DEET based insect repellents and haven't suffered any sticky grips since I stopped using DEET. I treated my Nikon F75 sticky grips with isopropyl alcohol and 303 protectant and it’s now ok!!!
 
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Though I have never used it on photography gear, a small amount of talc or the relatively new replacement stopped the stickiness on some old man's cane handles and it's lasted 4 years so far. Be cautioned about trying it on cameras, because it will likely find it's way inside over time.

Charley
 
I've used the isopropyl alcohol trick to remove the stickiness from the back of my F100 and the body of my D70S. Works fine but now the grips are completely "dry" and feel like hard plastic almost. Does anyone know any way of restoring a bit of the original factory feel to the grips? i.e. a bit more "soft and grippy"
 
paulmck said:
I've used the isopropyl alcohol trick to remove the stickiness from the back of my F100 and the body of my D70S. Works fine but now the grips are completely "dry" and feel like hard plastic almost. Does anyone know any way of restoring a bit of the original factory feel to the grips? i.e. a bit more "soft and grippy"
Click to expand...
Faced a similar situation and used a very small amount of Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber Care and rubbed that in with a piece of cotton cloth. It worked well and the effect lasts. It doesn't leave a silicone polish type of feeling which I was very happy about.
PM me and happy to send across a sample to try it out.
 
Thanks Dan. I had some of that in the garage (but it is a bit old) and have tried it just now, but it still seems to be the same. Might try again tomorrow but I'll also keep hunting for a solution.
 
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