Can vapors harm lens coatings?

[kevin_ing]

Maybe an odd question, but...

 

Can formaldehyde or any other vapors from such things as new

furniture affect camera coverings, lens coatings, or lubricants?

 

A few months ago I got a new wood and glass cabinet to keep my

cameras in... and some of them had loaded film magazines attached.

I just processed the film and there is a nasty yellow haze that most

affected the frame sitting in the film gate and gets lighter as you

move away from this point. Now I know not to keep loaded magazines

in there until the cabinet ages.

 

But I'm wondering if there is a chance that the vapors could affect

my cameras and lenses themselves.

 

Does anyone have any experience with or information on this?

 

Thanks.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Freshly molded plastics many times outgass; and will fog surfaces. This happens with new cars; the inside windshield fogs; due to the dashboard. I have seen this happen on a few optical items; where a new plastic case added a layer of fog to optical surfaces. Warmer air; and air motion will age the item quicker. In film; some chemicals effect and tend to ruin unprocessed films; moth balls; formaldehyde; coal gas; etc. The Kodak databooks of the 1940's mention this.

[richard_meyers]

As a woodworker I can tell you that many coatings (finishes) dry to the touch quickly but continue to cure for many weeks. If there was no plastic in your cabinet this could be the cause of the film fogging. I doubt there would be permanent damage to the lens coatings but if it were me I would clean them.

 

Richard

[kevin_ing]

Thanks for the replies. The cabinet frame is probably laminated and painted plywood and/or pressboard -- just an inexpensive display case. No plastic that I see, but the laminate and paint may also be giving off vapors? In any case, I'll air it out for a while now.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Particle board gives off formaldehyde. Once we built a disk drive burn in rack with particle board shelves; on steel a frame. The rack was covered with a drop cloth; the racks of hundreds of drives would self heat. The lab area stunk with formaldehyde for several months; ones eyes would water. Old partical board already has the formaldehyde about gone. Alot of this gunk will coat a mirror; or glass when outgassing.

[frank_oddsocks]

Yes, chipboard (among other things) outgasses formaldehyde. I'm the proverbial canary, becoming very sick when exposed to it. There's a tell-tale sickly-sweet smell which is different from the volatiles given off by unsafe varnishes as featured on furniture from third-world countries where they aren't banned.

 

The half-life is six months (that is, the concentration of formaldehyde in the chipboard is down to one-eigth after two years). I'm not sure at what level it becomes safe for film. Air out the room, because it soaks into soft furnishings. It seems to pool at the bottom of the room.

 

People become sensitised to it with increasing exposure.

 

Exercise google and you will see it is a well-known problem, rather as asbestos was in the 1930s.

[frank_oddsocks]

Sorry, mistake above, which I'll correct for the archive: 1/16 after two years.