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Re: [OM] Four Years & A Rubber Ring

Subject: Re: [OM] Four Years & A Rubber Ring
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 09:41:16 -0700
At 08:49 AM 04/02/99 -0600, Kenneth E. Norton wrote:

[snip]

>Now about the deterioration of the rubber--this one is easy.  Rapid and
>extreme destruction of the rubber is caused by bug repellent containing
>Deet.  Yes, Virginia, there is an evil side to that stuff.  If you use a
>Deet based repellent you must clean it off your hands otherwise the rubber
>focus rings and anything else rubber based will be eaten alive by the
>stuff.  Evidently there is a chemical breakdown that causes the rubber to
>expand, dry out and get brittle.  Wildlife photographers, for years, used
>to blame it on heavy use in extreme conditions, but that definitely isn't
>the case.

Now that's interesting.  I knew about the evilness of DEET in general (friends 
of mine who used to go tree planting in the wilds of Canada [i.e., almost 
anywhere] during our summers used the stuff and found it attacked their 
clothing and tents, not to mention making them sick from too-liberal 
application), but until this moment it hadn't dawned on me that it could be 
attacking the rubber on Zuiko lenses.  Well, duh! Garth.

I've never had this problem with Zuikos, and now I know why -- I never use 
DEET-based insect repellents (I hate the stuff, and it makes me easily sick).  
Instead, if I have to go into a bug-infested location, I use "bugwear" from 
Mountain Equipment Co-op (sort of a super-fine mesh [also known as "no-see-um" 
mesh] that you wear over your head etc.  Works great, and is reasonably 
comfortable too.

Thanks, Ken!

Garth

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