Nose grease cleanser for M8 black metal finish

I made an interesting discovery with the new Leica M8, which may be of interest to others

having trouble keeping the exterior clean on their black M8's.

 

Upon mail receipt of the camera package from the dealer, I noticed a small light coloured

mark and discolouring (faded black portion) on the top plate. I mentioned this to the

store, which communicated with Leica. In the meantime, I was interested in protecting

the top plate from possible damage during use and added plastic black electrician's tape

to part of the top. However, a week later I changed my mind about this mummification

and removed most of the tape. Unfortunately, this left some ugly small adhesive spots on

the finish. Very different from the ease of removing such tape from previous black

chrome M bodies and cleaning the small amount of residual adhesive.

 

The spots were very visible and tenacious. I tried Kleenex by itself and then Kleenex with

a little diluted soap. To no avail. Nothing else kind to the camera worked. Finally, before

accepting that I might have to live with my folly, I used an old trick for cleaning dirty

negatives. I passed my finger over the outside side of my nose and applied this nose

grease to the surface (not recommended for archival negatives).

 

Bingo. I was very surprised that all the marks disappeared immediately and left a clean

surface, which remained so after easy polishing (removing much of the nose grease)

with a Kleenex or a soft cloth. Even the original discolouring and the mark that came with

the camera both disappeared. Completely. Nothing but simple nose grease seemed to

restore the appearance of the surface. The effect is surprising. I can only attribute it to

the peculiar nature of the brushed steel appearance top plate of the black M8, certainly

different from previous black chrome M's.

If you are a pipe smoker you have probably used up all your nose

grease polishing your bruyere in which case a bit of bacon grease

will remove the adhesive residue.

We used to call that nose wax. Really brought out the grain in my Peterson's. Then I got uppity and switched to Meerchaums.

and your pictures are better now?

Bottle it and sell it under a brand name. There should be enough supply if you line up the entire extended family.

Oh boy, I luv this forum :O)

Harry, it only helped my pictures when I applied it directly on the lens when shooting languorous nudes in the 1970's. Oh, wait, that was Bob Guccione.

Harry. I commend you on your observation (!). It has, as you have guessed, a

negative effect on my pix - passing on ideas to others means less time in the

darkroom (my present preoccupation) and less time shooting.