Cleaning the cloth shutter

<p>I picked up an M4 a while ago, and I've noticed that the shutter curtain has some white spots (mold?) on it. A couple people have commented that I should probably replace the shutter curtain, but I was wondering if it's possible to just clean the cloth.<br>

If not, will the mold cause any damage/malfunctions? I would think it's just a cosmetic thing (the camera functions fine, and the pictures look great), but perhaps not?</p>

<p>Could it be the lens cap has been left off with the sun focused on the shutter, nearly burning it through?<br>

As long as there are no blobs or streaks of light on the negatives you can forget it but always check from time to time.<br>

I painted a cloth shutter that was getting tired - general light leak when changing lenses in bright sunlight - using cloth black paint that is used for T shirts. I went with my wife to the quilting supply (and a heap of other crafts, too) and there it was. Let it dry o/nite and it's fine.<br>

Murray</p>

<p>Mold will damage the shutter cloth and spores will attach themselves throughout the camera. Get it CLA'd.</p>

<p>If it is mold, a little diluted ammonia on a Q-tip should do the trick. Be gentle and it should clean right off. I've often seen very small white spots on cloth shutters and basically just ignored them.</p>

<p>So far the shots haven't had any noticeable abnormalities, so I don't think it's damage on the shutter. The spots, while not tiny (numerous 2-3mm diameter patches) are very very faint. If it is mold, it seems to be dead and no longer active, so I'm not too worried about it spreading (the back shutter, shown after the shutter's been tripped, has no marks of any kind).<br>

I'll try the ammonia trick, hopefully that gets rid of it.</p>

<p>Cleaning or painting the shutter will cause it to travel at a different speed. Consequently your shutter times will no longer be reliable.</p>

<p>If your shutter is replaced (or repaired) by a camera specialist they'll use an oscilloscope to recalibrate the shutter times. That's one of the reasons you probably won't want to do it yourself - there's more to it than just a paint job.</p>

<p>Peter, of course replacement is totally unnecessary if the curtains are light tight. John's idea of ammonia is OK but as a technician, I'd use a quicker drying solution like denatured alcohol or safety solvent. Any fibers left by the cotton swab are easily cleared away with a piece of adhesive tape.</p>

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<p>Neil's comment: Cleaning or painting the shutter will cause it to travel at a different speed. Consequently your shutter times will no longer be reliable. If your shutter is replaced (or repaired) by a camera specialist they'll use an oscilloscope to recalibrate the shutter times.</p>

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<p>Painting maybe, but <strong>cleaning</strong> completely false. Also, the use of an oscilloscope to service a focal plane shutter is totally <strong>old school</strong> and I'm not aware of any working techs who use them to recallibrate. Three sensor'ed digital units are still, and have for years been considered state of the art. <a href="https://www.criscam.com/newsite/multi_camera_testers.php">Shutter Tester</a></p>

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<p>Gus, if use denatured alcohol to clean the shutter cloth, would the shutter cloth decoloring? What will be the best solvent for cleaning of shutter cloth?</p>

<p>Alex</p>

<p>Gus, if using denatured alcohol to clean the shutter cloth, would the shutter cloth decoloring? What will be the best solvent for cleaning of shutter cloth?</p>

<p>Alex</p>

<p>Peter, of course replacement is totally unnecessary if the curtains are light tight. John's idea of ammonia is OK but as a technician, I'd use a quicker drying solution like denatured alcohol or safety solvent. Any fibers left by the cotton swab are easily cleared away with a piece of adhesive tape.

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This is almost a decade later. Don't know if Gus you can still see this post, but does anyone know if 99% isopropyl alcohol can be considered "denatured alcohol"? Should that be safe on cloth shutters in general? Thank you.

if 99% isopropyl alcohol can be considered "denatured alcohol"?"

Actually, "denatured alcohol" has additives to make it poisonous.

The least harmful to materials such as rubberized silk shutter curtains is the 'Safety Solvent' I spoke of.

If you don't have any tetrachloroethylene on hand, substitute the flammable versions: Lighter Fluid/Naphtha

Lighter fluid comes in a nice can, but you can buy generic naphtha in US hardware stores for a fraction of the cost.

 

Of course, even a 500cl can is a lot of something that you should normally use in very tiny quantities.

 

Never FLOOD any camera part or lens in solvent (unless you're taking it apart and soaking the pieces....

 

"I am Lord Naphtha, king of the solvent wastes"

This is almost a decade later. Don't know if Gus you can still see this post, but does anyone know if 99% isopropyl alcohol can be considered "denatured alcohol"? Should that be safe on cloth shutters in general? Thank you.

 

Isopropyl alcohol is a type of denatured alcohol intended for situations where you need an anti-septic. It's a gentler solvent than what is more commonly referred to as denatured alcohol.

 

I've used it to clean white spots off of shutter curtains. Naphtha is another solvent frequently recommended for working on cameras and electronics. It is sold as lighter fluid and as contact cleaner. I'm not an expert, naphtha may well be better, but the alcohol worked and didn't appear to damage the curtain. This was on an olympus camera.

 

Just thinking out loud, has anyone known a shutter curtain to have been damaged by a chemical someone put on it to clean it? The Olympus I mentioned came to me in pretty tough shape and it's several decades old. Shutter curtains are fairly protected but I'm sure lots of them have gotten exposed to all manor of airborne contaminents over the years and have come through OK. Would they fall apart if someone were to spray windex on them? Certainly, they are just cloth, so you want to take a reasonable amount of care, but I wonder if we baby these things more than really necessary. ;)

 

Now, I'm going to continue to use the least harshest thing that will work on my babies, but it is something that I think about.

Just thinking out loud, has anyone known a shutter curtain to have been damaged by a chemical someone put on it to clean it?

 

I'd have to say NO to this --- not that it may not have happened, but I've never run across any reference to it in print or on-line.

 

Some old cloth/rubber curtains are deteriorated from age, but tiny holes can be handled with the hobby-shop cloth dyes mentioned above. Get the kind that simply cures rather than requiring the application of heat to make it set. As always, use less than you think the possible minimum is. :cool:

The right kind soaks into the fabric rather than sitting on top of it.

Gus, I have an M2 with a painted second curtain, now suffering from catching and lagging. It's a beater, well worn, with extensive brassing. If you still service and repair these things, can you let me know the best way to get it to you. While I haven't used it much, relying more on my cheap plastic bessa R (which has an affectionate place for me), and a reliable cosina shutter, I don't really want it to fall into deseutude. Like land, god stopped making these things a long time ago. I did contact you some years ago, regarding a IIIf repair, but was able to find someone here for that - alas, long gone. Thanks in anticipation, and regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

I too use naphtha for general cleaning purposes, although I've never tried using it on cloth shutter curtains. I have used it for cleaning gunk of vertical EOS shutters, where some of the rubberized material at the bottom of the curtains has begun to liquefy, thus gumming things up.

 

I have a couple of old Canon rangefinders, that have "rubberized" cloth curtains. Well, they're old enough that the rubberized parts of the curtains had hardened and cracked. This resulted in pinhole light leaks. One of the cameras had about twelve of them. I decided to try something to see if I could seal up the pinholes. I bought a spray can of Plasti-Dip. Plasti-Dip is available as a liquid in a variety of colors, comes in cans, and as a spray, which comes in an aerosol. I bought a can of the aerosol, in black. The liquid is used for dipping tool handles into so as to give them insulation for work in electrical environments. I'm not sure what the aerosol's intended uses is for, but I've found uses for it with camera and photo equipment repair.

 

Anyway, to repair the light leaks, I found a fairly stiff-bristled artist's brush, then sprayed some of the black Plasti-Dip onto a paper plate. I then dabbed the brush in the Plasti-Dip and then very lightly and sparingly dabbed the shutter curtains with it. I would dab one curtain, then wait about an hour or so for the Plasti-Dip to dry thoroughly, trip the shutter, and dab the second shutter. It soaked right into the fabric and didn't even show, really.

 

Then I loaded up the camera with film, and shot the roll. The first time I did this, the pinholes went from a dozen down to two. Now, I was concerned about adding mass to the curtains, thus affecting the speeds, but the pinholes were still there, so I gave it a second treatment. That got rid of the pinholes, and thankfully did not affect the speeds from 1 second to 1/30, at least. The faster speeds didn't seem to be affected either.

 

I have also successfully used Plasti-Dip to close pinholes in bellows with bellows cameras and bellows units. It works well in these instances because it dries basically as rubber. It's great stuff.

Edited February 3, 2018 by mwmcbroom