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How to clean a steel gray m9?


Trreichman

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I recently picked up a steel gray m9 in great condition. My wife won a neoprene camera bag at a photo convention that I've been carrying it around in. Last night I took it out to shoot and noticed that the neoprene bag has left some blackening on the body. Anyone know what I might use to clean that off?

 

BTW, the bag is called UNDFIND, not bad in theory, but I guess it isn't a good choice for the finish on your Leica.

 

thanks for any advice you can provide.

 

- trr

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I find the best thing to clean is baby wipes. Miracle things they are. Very gentle but get tough stains marks, scuffs etc off. Miracles for getting stains out of clothes too btw!

 

Just wipe it down with a tissue or soft clean both after.

 

I use Risco Lens Tissue on the rangefinder and focus patch windows quite regularly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

First, dump the bag. It might have been free but will lturn out to be a false economy. Sadly, Leica's idea of a durable paint finish is still more ambition than reality.

 

Then, try to determine if the marks are simply deposits on the paint or a reaction with it. If the latter, cleaning is just going to make it worse. As Paul says, your black marks might be due to the paint wearing by rubbing inside the bag.

 

Otherwise, before this thread is deluged with suggestions to use aggressive solvents like acetone, white spirit, petrol and the rest, I would suggest using a simple alcohol like iso-propyl alcohol which will not attack the paint.

 

Beyond that, I routinely use two products from a company, Electrolube. The first is LRM which is a label removing solvent which works well to remove the compliance label from the M9 base plate; this is similar in formulation to label removing solvents you can buy at office supply stores. The second is an electronic cleaning fluid - mainly pentane - ECSP which is my universal standby for this type of cleaning.

 

Go easy, go gently and avoid white spirit which is vile.

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Anyone have trouble with the Leica brand neoprene case?

 

It is good for transportation on travel. You could only face a problem when you are out shooting and your camera is still wrapped. You might loose a second. So do not pamper your camera too much.

 

Regards,

Steve

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are they black marks?

 

This is how the steel grey goes when marked and unfortunately they don't clean off as it's the paint that is damaged.

 

Indeed - there are photos somewhere on this forum showing a marked grey M9 (scratches show up as black marks, instead of brass on a black paint camera).

 

Live with it, get an M9P upgrade, or try and mix some enamel paint to the same colour and touch it in.

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What I mean is...does black rub off like the OPs.

 

No, I use it regularly on a silver MP, and never had a problem. It only takes few seconds to put it on or take it off. That's the only disadvantage if you want to act fast.

 

Savvas

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What I mean is...does black rub off like the OPs.

 

The Leica case is excellent in many ways, just throw it in the wash and it is like brand new, never have any marks on my gray M9 despite being pulled tight with larger lenses.

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But it has two drawbacks: After initially resisting moisture it will start acting like a sponge and really get your camera wet in rainy conditions and the material can easily pick up sand etc, which in turn will scratch your camera.

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