Silicon armour and camera skins

[David Kilpatrick]

There a new silicon 'skin' Camera Armor arriving soon for the Alpha - just on sale in the UK, been available for a few weeks in the USA, will be in shops about now. Costs $49.95 in the USA.

http://www.camerarmor.com/camera-armor.html

It may improve the overall grip on the camera for larger hands, but of course it probably reduces some of the space for fingers at the front.

David

[pakodominguez]

Hi,

It may improve the overall grip on the camera for larger hands, but of course it probably reduces some of the space for fingers at the front.

KM and Sony with the A100 have some problems with the double-side tape they use for rubber parts (grip, thumb...) I already had to fix the grip of my 7Hi, the one of the battery holder on the 7D and I feel the A100 will need some help soon too. I think the Armor is a way to avoid this -but since we expect the new Alpha model this fall, I don't want to expend 50 US $ on an accesory cuz I'll be selling the A-100 the day I'll get the Alpha-Next-Big-or-bigger-model

[David Kilpatrick]

I have had to glue back the eyepiece on my A2 - or rather, the new eyepiece rubber after the original just disappeared one day. They do have a problem. Tape is still about the best way to do it.

David

[pakodominguez]

From Ray Lemieux, of the MUG Yahoo list:
"
It's a very common thing, and it just happened to my 14-month old 5D
as well. Here's how I fixed mine...

I removed the grip (that part's easy!), then cleaned ALL the sticky
gunk off of it and the camera back. Getting the gunk off of the
camera back was NOT easy. Lots of fingernail work followed by rubbing
alcohol on a cotton swab. I wouldn't use any chemical stronger than
alcohol.

I then 'roughed up' the back surface of the grip, using one of those
little abrasive devices that comes with bicycle tire repair kits. I
don't know if this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea.

To re-attach the grip I first tried rubber cement. No good - it
doesn't adhere to the camera back at all.

What did work for me is carpet tape: very sticky, very thin double-
sided tape. I bought 3M/Scotch brand, which should be as good as you
can get. I first used a piece of the tape to pull off any loose stuff
that was still on the back of the grip and/or the camera. Then I
stuck the grip down on a fresh piece of tape, placed it on a piece of
glass, and carefully cut around it with a razor blade. This is the
pickiest part. You obviously don't want to cut into the grip, but you
also don't want to leave tape edges showing at the sides.

Once I had that done it was easy to peel the backing off and press
the grip back into its position. The edges must be carefully
worked in, as there is a slight lip surrounding the grip.

Seems like it will hold up for a while. I prefer this solution to
experimenting with strong adhesives, since I know I can remove the
grip in the future if I want to, with no permanent consequences to it
or the camera.

- RL

"

[Greg Beetham]

From Ray Lemieux, of the MUG Yahoo list:
"
It's a very common thing, and it just happened to my 14-month old 5D
as well. Here's how I fixed mine...

I removed the grip (that part's easy!), then cleaned ALL the sticky
gunk off of it and the camera back. Getting the gunk off of the
camera back was NOT easy. Lots of fingernail work followed by rubbing
alcohol on a cotton swab. I wouldn't use any chemical stronger than
alcohol.

I then 'roughed up' the back surface of the grip, using one of those
little abrasive devices that comes with bicycle tire repair kits. I
don't know if this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea.

To re-attach the grip I first tried rubber cement. No good - it
doesn't adhere to the camera back at all.

What did work for me is carpet tape: very sticky, very thin double-
sided tape. I bought 3M/Scotch brand, which should be as good as you
can get. I first used a piece of the tape to pull off any loose stuff
that was still on the back of the grip and/or the camera. Then I
stuck the grip down on a fresh piece of tape, placed it on a piece of
glass, and carefully cut around it with a razor blade. This is the
pickiest part. You obviously don't want to cut into the grip, but you
also don't want to leave tape edges showing at the sides.

Once I had that done it was easy to peel the backing off and press
the grip back into its position. The edges must be carefully
worked in, as there is a slight lip surrounding the grip.

Seems like it will hold up for a while. I prefer this solution to
experimenting with strong adhesives, since I know I can remove the
grip in the future if I want to, with no permanent consequences to it
or the camera.

- RL

"

We sell the 3M range of industrial VHB PSA tapes at work, and it is a complex area to get involved in, used correctly these systems are very strong, they stick aircraft together with them now.
With the camera grip, it could be that the latex is exuding a chemical that degrades the performance of the PSA ADH over time and thus there is an incompatability, or it could simply be a failure to properly remove the mold release agent from the rear of the grip, (necessary too actually be able to get the molded item out of the mold without damage)
Some mold release agents can be removed with detergent, if it's organic based, and some with Prepsol-(similar to white spirit) if it's synthetic.
Actually, roughing the back of the grip is NOT recommended as it lessens the total surface area for adhesion, but doing so may have removed any residual mold release agent (if present), time will tell I guess.
Greg