My old boss told me to never use isopropyl on mirror foam, and he was right
He said it would dry out the foam and make it crumble in a few months. I saw a tech in Seattle try it on a Nikon F3 mirror bumper last year, and sure enough, the foam turned to dust by spring. What do you all use to clean that area without causing damage?
Man, that's brutal. I learned the hard way too, tried cleaning an old camera seal with rubbing alcohol. Thought I was being so careful, just a little on a q-tip. Fast forward two weeks and the whole mirror box foam crumbled like stale bread. Felt like such a genius move at the time. Now I just leave the sticky foam alone unless I'm doing a full replacement. Some lessons you only get once.