Help with a vintage camera case

[Disaster_Area]

I recently picked up a vintage hard leather Voigtlander case for my bessa. The leather is in great condition while the inner felt is ok, but I may want to replace it if possible. If it's not possible, should I do anything to make sure the case is mold or mildew free before I store my camera in it or am I worrying too much? Any thoughts? I'll post pics as soon as the mail man brings it.

[Disaster_Area]

well I dont plan on storing the camera in it for any length of time... I'm planning on just using it as a kind of classy alternative to a camera bag if I want to bring my camera somewhere nice... I get eye rolls from the gf when I am heading out in a suit with matching lowepro accessories ;) luckily the inside felt looks easily replaceable so I might go that route.

[FallisPhoto]

I recently picked up a vintage hard leather Voigtlander case for my bessa. The leather is in great condition while the inner felt is ok, but I may want to replace it if possible. If it's not possible, should I do anything to make sure the case is mold or mildew free before I store my camera in it or am I worrying too much? Any thoughts? I'll post pics as soon as the mail man brings it.

If you're talking about a 50 year old camera case, made of leather, I think the presence of at least a minor amount of mold and mildew is going to be pretty much an absolute rock solid certainty. nikonhswebmaster is right, a leather camera case should not be used to store a camera. You should be okay just carrying around in there though. The Bessas were covered with leatherette (embossed coated paper), not leather, and as long as you keep the camera covering dry and clean, and you don't keep the camera in the case, mold and mildew won't be much of a problem. It can't get through the coating on the paper and just wipes off, while it would get into leather. When you replace the lining, just make sure that there is no chance of leather to metal contact. The old-fashioned tanned leather contains acids that can literally eat holes in many metals over a period of time; it's why you see so many Agfa/Ansco cameras with pitted top plates (they were kept in their cases and the metal they were plated with is particularly prone to this).

[FallisPhoto]

NEVER store a camera in a vintage case, you are just asking for mold in your camera's leather. Mold is not the only problem from leather to metal contact, see my article here: http://www.nikonhs.org/tech_articles/restore_leather.html

If you want to use the case, put on a new strap, old leather cannot be trusted.


I read your article and this part is wrong:

"This problem only occurs on cameras covered with leather. Later Leatherette covered bodies like the S2 never suffer from the greenies."

I've worked on any number of leatherette covered cameras with "Zeiss bumps,", "Retina bumps," or whatever else you want to call them. The culprits are moisture and oxygen, reacting with brass. Leather simply holds more moisture and lets more air through than the coated paper and painted cloth leatherettes they used to use back then. Now leather can compound the problem if you get leather to metal contact, since the acids used in tanning are oxidizers. It does happen with leatherette coverings too though, and especially with the painted cloth leatherettes, like Zeiss used.

This part can be bad too:

"The leather can be cleaned using alcohol ..."

If you had ever redyed a pair of shoes, you would know that alcohol will dissolve the dyes and inks used to color most leathers. Almost anything else would be better than alcohol.