Just purchased a used camera, I think the person smoked, should I be concerend?

[joseph_wisniewski]

This applies more to Bill than to Dennis. My buddy Bryce is chief forensics photographer for the City of Detroit fire department, which he says is the busiest fire department, per capita, in the world. He puts cameras, hts, and other small equipment in ziploc bags with a rag wet with a bit of fabreeze.

[dennis_w1]

Joseph,

 

Thats a pretty good idea, I was thinking if the smell was to bad I would perforate a box of Baking soda and put it in a Ziploc bag and put the camera on top. The Fabreeze might work better...

 

I know baking soda definitely works, just don't know how safe it is for optics. About 10 years ago when I purchased my first car it smelled like a bowling alley. I sprinkled about 4 boxes of baking soda everywhere and let it sit for a few days well I did some mechanical work on it, vacuumed it up and it never stunk again.

[les]

"I guess I shouldn't have asked such an obtuse question, I didn't mean to offend anyone that is a smoker.

 

I should of worded the question differently, I just wanted to know if the smoke could possibly affect the picture quality."

 

Dennis - offend me all you want, it may actually do me some good, since I know that smoking is not a healthy habit (what is ? sigh...)

 

Regarding the "could smoke possibly affect the picture quality" - the question is: to what degree ? In general terms, everything is affected by everything to some degree. In this case, however, I think that the influence would be minimal if any (unless someone literally tried to smoke the camera, in which case some deposits could be present on the mirror surface).

 

This remind me of some funny dissertation, where some guy "proved" that there is a good reason to a buttered slice of bread always falling on the floor the buttered side down. What was the reason ?

 

The reason, as he saw it (and I tend to agree to a degree) was the general shape of the Universe and the laws governing it. It went pretty much like this: the physical constants affected the way our solar system was formed, which in term affected the size and conditions on Earth, which in turn affected our size and shape, which in turn affected the height of the table and the size of the slice of bread. Now, when you calculate the inertia monent of the slice of bread, assume that it slides off the edge of the table, calculate the forces and moments acting on it, take into account the speed of its rotation under these forces, the height of the table and the gravity - you will find out that the slice of bread only has time to make 180deg turn in the time it takes to hit the floor.

 

So, can smoke affect your camera ? :)

[david_henderson]

Look on the bright side- you won't need to buy an 81a filter.

 

Actually, looking at the bright side is probably what you'll find difficult. Never mind.

[alex_lofquist]

At least you won't need to buy a tobacco filter.

[herma]

Hilarious tread.... LOL

[dennis_w1]

Well I tested it out today, it appears to work fine. I used an old Canon 35-70 Lens that came with my EOS 650, and a Canon skylight 1a filter.

 

This is one of the test photos I shot, it's a bit dark due to my old Acer flatbed scanner.<div></div>

[don_e]

If the odor distracts when shooting, don't use it. Are you sure the odor is tobacco? Unless the thing was used for a bong, I doubt there's a problem. Cameras used or kept in polluted environments, such as a club, could use a CLA. You might consider that.

[dbcooper]

Canon Elan II? I think it's a film camera. How would smoking hurt the image quality if the lens wasn't involved in the smoking? There's nothing between the rear element and the film but air when the shutter is open.

 

As with any used camera, you might want to send it out for a CLA, but unless the lens was left off and the body uncapped by the previous owner to the point where there's tar residue all over the shutter so as to cause it to stick or bind, as distasteful as smoking might be to you, it won't affect image quality one whit.

 

As for the coughing, that's why I shoot VR lenses, just in case I start hacking at the decisive moment...