Hot take: a cut up bike inner tube fixed my sticky focus ring when nothing else would

Karen Ramirez · 2026-09-22T07:05:05.274337+00:00

A customer brought in a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 with a focus ring that felt like it was full of sand. I tried the usual stuff, alcohol swabs, a tiny brush, even a drop of lighter fluid, and nothing helped because the old grease had basically turned to glue. Then a guy at the shop on Grand Ave showed me to wrap a strip of inner tube around the ring, work it back and forth for about 10 minutes to break the grease up, then clean and relube. Has anyone else used rubber tension like this on stiff rings, or do you just pull the barrel apart every time?

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Hot take: a cut up bike inner tube fixed my sticky focus ring when nothing else would | Camera Repairers - Pinecone Attack