Moisture. BUGGER!

[Raskill]

Ahoy folks,

I need a little advice. I have an issue with rust. On my nice shiney 120-300.

Basically it was packed away in it's pelican case, after I had glued some foam rubber around it. Needless to say, I didn't give consideration to the moisture in the glue and locked the airtight case shut.

I now have tiny amounts of rust on the screws on the lens hood and monopod foot. I have checked the lens thoroughly, and there are no issues there.

My question is: What lubricant should I use to treat the small screws? I was thinking about using tiny amounts of 'sewing machine' oil on each of the screws to treat them individually.

Would this be okay? Any advice will be appreciated.

Cheers!

[Gordon]

I'd try a kitchen scourer pad to remove the rust, and you could use a tiny amount of sewing machine oil (usually silicone oil I think) on the threads. You don't really want any oil on the barrel though, so some sort of grease might be better, as oil tends to migrate around a bit.
On my FE2s I often had various screws coming loose due to vibration in the car, so I used to put small dobs of clear nail polish (hardener) on the screw heads to hold them on place. That should also stop any rust forming.

[Raskill]

Thanks mate. Will get some silicone oil asap.

[photograham]

Would also suggest getting a couple of packets of silica gel and leaving them in the case. I always leave some in the camera bag for moisture absorption.

[Matt. K]

I suggest storing with the case lid slightly ajar.

[Raskill]

Thanks folks.

I ordered some pelican silica thingos online.

I could have cried when I saw the rust!

[Killakoala]

It might pay to replace the screws too. Once you have rust, it never goes away, and replacing them will prevent further spread. That's if you can get new screws for it.