E10 rubberized handgrip feels gooey

<p>I have an Olympus E10 that has been stored on a shelf for several years. I need it again, but the rubberized hand grip on the right side of the body feels as if it got splashed by something sticky. It feels creepy, and it leaves little black smudges on my hands.<br /><br />I thought the rubberized material had picked up some kind of gunk from sitting on the shelf, and I tried to clean it with rubbing alcohol. That made it feel even worse. I examined it closely and saw that it seems to be melting. It now appears to me that the rubberized material has degraded over time; the stickiness is the material itself, not some substance that has accumulated on it. The rubbing alcohol made the degraded material start to dissolve.<br /><br />If you have had a similar experience, what did you learn from it? Is there a way to restore the hand grip covering to its original condition, or failing that, to remove it cleanly?</p>

<p>This is common to some cameras like the E10 and E20 and you are right that "the stickiness is the material itself, not some substance that has accumulated on it". The camera itself does not have a great value and I saw people treated it 2 ways: 1. put something like tape over the rubber to cover it and avoid stickiness, 2. Clean the rubber completely off.<br>

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As I remember, some Contax film SLR had that problem too.</p>

<p>Here's your answer: "The rubbing alcohol made the degraded material start to dissolve."</p>

I have seen this with other brands, although I don't remember which brands I have experienced this with except for an old Kodak--an old 14n that I bought used on eBay. The polymers in some grips degrade in ways that leave that sticky feeling.

 

--Lannie

I wonder why the cover for new cameras have to be that way? The cover for old cameras circa 60, 70 and early 80 never have the goey or peeling off problem. And I mean across all brands not only Olympus.

I think it is a failure in the history of improving grip materials, started with the Maxxum 7000 and similar ones like the Pentax SF series

Polymers are subject to being tasty to microbes. That is my thought. And over time and storage ( in damp environments especially) I have seen some lens barrel grips get sticky. Not uncommon. I hope that more modern plastics have a better life span. My 2004 ED Zuiko had to be cleaned off to get the rubber totally removed. My Lumix G-1 had a sticky surface that I managed to polish with rubbing alcohol. I guess the E 10 is from late 1990s so I am not surprised. Leather seems to hold up better, but also has microbial problems. I would guess that storage is a factor. But that remains to be seen.