Alcohol pen to clean contacts

[Barry Clemmons Photography]

<p>I am trying to put together a camera maintenance kit to take with me when I travel. Most of us at one time or another have had issues with the contacts between lens and camera body. Does anyone know of a felt tip pen type product that contains alcohol for cleaning electrical contacts? It needs to be small to take up as little room as possible in my bag.<br>

Barry Clemmons</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Hi Barry, A friend of mine who worked for Nikon told me to use a pencil with a rubber eraser. I carry a shortened one in my bag.</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Barry - I use the DeoxIT Power Booster Pen & that works for me. About the size of a Sharpie.<br>

Check it out.<br>

Lil :-)</p>

[Barry Clemmons Photography]

<p>Michael and Lil, thanks for the responses. I can't believe I didn't think of using an eraser, and I am going to check out the DeoxIT Power Booster Pen online as well. <br>

Barry</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>I use lens tissue and lens cleaning fluid. Alcohol would work too, but on a tissue rather than the contacts directly. Don't touch them with anything abrasive.</p>

<p>The contacts are gold plated because it doesn't oxidize, making it more reliable for low voltage signals than less noble metals. A pencil eraser contains pumice, and will cut through the gold instantly. You will make a career out of cleaning them ever after. Using erasers harks from an era 40 years ago when contacts were tin (solder) plated or brass.</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Somewhere recently I read not to use an eraser that that's bad. But I may be wrong in that...<br>

Lil :-)</p>

[johnw63]

<p>What about those soft white erasers that come as long as a pencil ?</p>

 

[Hector Javkin]

<p>I had used pencil erasers from time to time, with success, and had recommended their use, until someone pointed out a problem <a href="00Ouxs">in this photo.net thread</a> . I believe the criticism in that thread. The eraser could improve the contact temporarily but then cause problems later on.</p>

[james_symington1]

<p>In 25+ years of taking photos I have never found a situation where lightly rubbing contacts with a clean handkerchief wasn't sufficient to resolve issues with them without introducing any other substance.</p>

[john_lynch5]

I used a pencil eraser for years to clean the battery contacts in my manual cameras. Then I found a battery contact cleaner at a camera store. It looks like a mechanical pencil and has a stiff brush (probably nylon) that retracts. This worked better than the eraser. However, when I got my Canon EOS, I didn't think that rubbing those contacts on the lens and mount would be a good idea (I guess I was correct from the info above). I went to an electronics store (Fry's) and found "MG Chemicals Super Contact Cleaner". This stuff is great. It looks like a small marker. Just gently apply it to the contacts with just enough rubbing to get on them and the contacts are clean.

[dennis_d._hardenburger]

<p>If you are traveling by air the liquid cleaners are a no,no<br>

pencil earasers have been used for years for cleaning electrical contacts and do a good job, I actuallly have a regular eraser in my camera bag</p>

[howard_owen]

<p>Another vote for Deoxit. The stuff is amazing.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Please, read that <a href="00Ouxs">earlier thread</a> Hector linked to. Using erasers to routinely clean contacts is a bad idea. At the very least, pencil erasers will leave a gummy residue on the contacts, and the little niblets that come off the erasers may get inside the camera and cause problems.</p>

<p>At worst, they may damage the contacts. Virtually all contemporary contacts are plated and virtually resistant to serious oxidation. Any oxidation can be easily wiped off with a cotton swab or bit of lens tissue moistened with alcohol. But scrubbing with an eraser could damage the plated contacts and lead to a downward spiral of more and more serious oxidation problems.</p>

<p>In more than four years with my D2H, various AF and AF-S Nikkors, SB-800 and SC-29, in all kinds of weather, I have never needed to clean the contacts. The one time I had a problem that might have seemed like a dirty contact it turned out to be a component failure (repaired under warranty by Nikon).</p>

<p>I may have gently swabbed the contacts once a year, at most, but have never experienced a problem that was due to intermittent contact failure.</p>