Old timer at the shop told me to stop soaking focus rings in alcohol, and my shelf of dead lenses proves he was right

Tessa Adams · 2026-10-09T20:05:04.683078+00:00

I picked up a beat up Nikkor 50mm f1.4 at a garage sale in Tulsa for $15 and the focus ring was glued solid with old grease. A guy named Ray who has been fixing cameras for 40 years told me to just work it dry with a little heat from a hair dryer instead of dunking it in isopropyl. I ignored him and soaked it for two days, and the rubber grip swelled up and peeled right off the barrel. The grease did loosen, but now the ring spins loose and sloppy and the lens is basically a paperweight. Ray just shook his head and said alcohol pulls the oil out of the metal and you can never get it back in. What do you all use for stiff helical grease, or am I the only one who has fried a lens this way?

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Old timer at the shop told me to stop soaking focus rings in alcohol, and my shelf of dead lenses proves he was right | Camera Repairers - Vivisector