Camera leather materials

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wiedo

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I'm currently looking for replacing camera leather of several camera's i have. But i want to get creative with it.. it doesn't have to be leather..

I wan't to try some colors/patterns and stuff.. maybe different material: like cork(pattern), wood(pattern), vinyl, wallpapers.. i don't know..

What kind of material can i use? Which kind of material did you use? Please give me some suggestions and examples..

I already did look at vinyl flooring, but it seems a little bit thick for this...
 
I just recovered a camera with gaffers tape. Looks good and easy to work with. Sorry for the bad photo.

5Speed.jpg
 
I wan't to start replacing some leather(ette) from a Yashica Electro 35.. It's so thin, maybe i'll just use some embossed vinyl-wallpaper..
 
wiedo said:
I wan't to try some colors/patterns and stuff.. maybe different material: like cork(pattern), wood(pattern), vinyl, wallpapers.. i don't know..

What kind of material can i use? Which kind of material did you use? Please give me some suggestions and examples..

I already did look at vinyl flooring, but it seems a little bit thick for this...
Click to expand...

I think the main thing about the materials you might use is that they need to be thin and pliable. After that, I think you can use what ever. I have seen stuff like you mention used on cameras, though not always well.

Here in the US we have stuff typically called "shelf liner" or "shelf paper" that is vinyl and self adhesive. In just about any pattern or color you could imagine.

Wood veneer might look OK, too, but it might be prone to cracking as it bends around corners on the camera. Same for cork sheets too I guess.

Some folks have used old purses for recovering cameras--lots of options there too.

Good luck and please show us what you end up with!
Rob
 
Hi Wiedo
You might look at:

www.skinslove.com

Andreas there will do you a skin to your own design, and, if asked will provide his skins in uncut sheets. Its vinyl in sheets about 50mm x 250mm and you will probably need two sheets for a camera. Because its vinyl it 'stinks' when it arrives but that does go off.

jesse
 
I have just finished servicing an Iskra, in this case the owner requested black coverings. It is leather. I like the pattern and it adds better grip under my opinion (that's a "before & after").

iskraexternalleatherjno.jpg


This one currently for sale here at RFF is in blue with the so called "elephant grain"

Isolette_III_02.jpg


I have many examples. The one I like best is one Isolette I made for my mother out of white snake skin, no photos here right now. It's important the leather is not too thick, and maybe even more important to use a good glue designed for leather. So far, for me it has worked like a charm.

I haven't heard about Skinslove, but sounds good, I'll have to check it out.
 
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jnoir said:
I have just finished servicing an Iskra, in this case the owner requested black coverings. It is leather. I like the pattern and it adds better grip under my opinion (that's a "before & after").
Click to expand...

Wow your results are amazing! :eek:

Skinslove looks great.. i'll look into it if i can't find anything else (for free ofcourse :D, it's true what they say of the dutch!)..

Results will take a while though.. i'm very busy now, but i'm already looking around for ideas..
 
I ordered the Granite goat skin leather from cameraleather.com for my leica IIIa. Gotta love it though, a IIIa's best matching covering IMHO.

Not cheap. How untypical. :cool:
 
wiedo said:
I'm currently looking for replacing camera leather of several camera's i have. But i want to get creative with it.. it doesn't have to be leather..

I wan't to try some colors/patterns and stuff.. maybe different material: like cork(pattern), wood(pattern), vinyl, wallpapers.. i don't know..

What kind of material can i use? Which kind of material did you use? Please give me some suggestions and examples..

I already did look at vinyl flooring, but it seems a little bit thick for this...
Click to expand...

If you've ever bought cigars, in tubes, you know that the tubes come with a very thin wooden liner inside. I think it is cedar. For a small camera, I've occasionally wondered whether this could be used as a covering. Never tried it though.
 
If you want really wierd (!), I have some electro pink kidskin suede that is just over 0.5mm thick - should be enough for an Electro. I'll see if I can find it and let you have a pic....
 
If you want some really weird stuff, try going on ebay and doing a search for weird leather or exotic leather. There are things like leather paper, toad and frog leathers, ostrich leg leather, stingray, fish leather, alligator tongue leather, and etcetera. Occasionally things turn up like armadillo hides and such too.

Another place to look would be used book stores. The leather/leatherette can be cut out and soaked loose from the cardboard cover.
 
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Just occurred to me that I have a whole roll of goat hide leather in Brittish racing green and not much use for it. If you'd like a square foot of that, I can cut it out and send it to you for just the cost of the postage.
 
Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber

The carbon fiber weave look might appeal to some, definitely to me.

Stick-on vinyl sheets are easily found in automotive accessory retailer, also on eBay...cheap.

Old blue jeans might also work.

Perforated leather or vinyl a la the Rollei RF35 is also neat...
 
Frankie said:
The carbon fiber weave look might appeal to some, definitely to me.

Stick-on vinyl sheets are easily found in automotive accessory retailer, also on eBay...cheap.

Old blue jeans might also work.

Perforated leather or vinyl a la the Rollei RF35 is also neat...
Click to expand...

Note that I do not cover cameras with stick-on vinyl shelf liners. I don't want anyone to get that idea. However, I have used it on SHELVES and it occurrs to me that if you are going to do this, be sure to get the kind that the color goes all the way through, and not stuff with a texture just printed on it. The design rubs off over a year or so.
 
i appreciate everybody's offers! I'll be starting to replacing some leather in about two months from now.. Carbon fiber is a great idea aswel.. i'll be trying several ideas but first the two things i have at home: Bookbinding linnen and bookbinding leather.
 
I saw an Oly OM-1 w/ little, vertical strips of genuine bamboo glued on it for a covering here awhile back! A univ. art student did it.

I would think that the carbon fiber would be too slick, but maybe not.
 
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