foam in DEC SBB drives, ok to remove?

[tony duell]

> 
> > When my best friend was alive, he stored his camera stuff in airtight
> > cases in foam.
> > After his death, I went through what was left of his stuff.
> >
> > One case had a Visoflex, bellows, and a Leitz Tele-Elmarit 180mm M
> > Visoflex mount lens.  250 of those were made.  One in decent shape goes
> > for $2K.  His was brand-new, quite possibly the last, and only one in
> > perfect shape.  The foam ATE into the barrel of the lens, destroying all
> > collector value.
>
> You really know how to hurt a person, don't you?  I use both film and digital Leica M's, including the Visoflex 
> bellows and lenses, so this is a seriously painful story.  That is one of the rarest Leica lenses around.

Ouch indeed. I have a small amount of Leica M  stuff (M2 and M4 bodies, visoflex, 4 lenses, nothing rare). It's
beautiful, although I must say that I prefer a Nikon F to the Leica M+visoflex.

Fred, was this lens still usable after that. The barrel was pitted,  I guess, but did the focussing mount still work
and was the optics OK. I use my cameras, I don't collect them, so cosmetic damage is not so significant (I picked 
up a Nikkor 180mm for a very good price because somebody had scratched an inventory number on the barrel.
Optically perfect, so still an excellent lens)

 -tony