Customized cameras, anyone?

S

Sauli Särkkä

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I began looking at my Petri 7S (f/2.8) one day and though that it might look interesting with a different kind of leatherette covering.

So, I went for it.

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(I haven't done more than replaced the back door and side panel so far, but it's my aim to also replace the front sections in a short while).

..I'm having visions of nice rangefinder cameras in cobalt blue, in classic shades of yellow/orange/cream, in pure white, etc.

Am I alone? Or crazy?! :)


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Looks like I peeled the Passed sticker off of my Minolta HiMatic 9 about 40 years ago. And you can STILL see the oval in the chrome left by it. So I just left it on my other cameras. Amazing how well they hold up. The Stickers and the cameras.
 
Last year I saw a university art student's Minolta SLR with thin sliced bamboo strips glued vertically to the body all the way around in place of the factory covering. Really cool and original!
 
I tore off the snake skin seen in the first post and decided to re-do it properly. Tonight I'll probably get started and I'm planning on trying a completely different color. Perhaps I'll take it out on the street to get some interesting looks on a roll of Tmax 100.


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Al Kaplan said:
Why not just burn the money and photograph the fire? The pristine "PASSED" sticker confirms the fact that not only you don't use the camera but you don't even fondle it.
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Those 'passed' stickers are super-stickers - I've had a few cameras which have been obviously used but the sticker is still golden with the lettering intact.

In the grand scheme of the universe I can't see a photo of a man trying to jump over a puddle being any more or less important than re-covering a camera :)
 
Hmm..perhaps I should take the other route of first finding a pair of shoes and a purse that matches them, then get material that will match the shoes and purse and use that to cover the camera.

Oh well, the color I'm going with will easily match with a lot of feminine products.. ;)

You'll see.


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Oh indeed we WANT to see! Can't wait! What about the strap?

A few years ago Jerry Garcia of the rock group The Grateful Dead came out with a line of neckties based on his abstract paintings. To hell with "black paint" Leicas! We need abstract hand painted Leicas by famous rock stars.
 
Retina IIa with South American giant bullfrog leather accent and brassed surround:
U14445I1233695886.SEQ.0.jpg


My "black Perle" (chrome removed, painted and releathered):
 
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Sauli Särkkä said:
I tore off the snake skin seen in the first post and decided to re-do it properly. Tonight I'll probably get started and I'm planning on trying a completely different color. Perhaps I'll take it out on the street to get some interesting looks on a roll of Tmax 100.


-Sale
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Good. Snakeskin isn't very durable. Paradise snake, which is used most often, tends to lose scales, leaving you with white spots. It absorbs skin oils and becomes discolored in very short order too. Goat skin is probably the best overall (durable, resists snagging, color goes all the way through the leather so you don't get white edges, and etcetera). If you want to go with an exotic reptillian leather though, lizard and crocodile are a lot better and more durable than snake. Some of the very most durable leathers, like stingray, shark and bullfrog, are very tough indeed, but are sheer hell to cut.
 
Al- Those passed stickers are absurdly durable. The one on my Pentax K1000 is still readable after 20 years or so, and it has certainly seen loads of use.

Who needs a camera made of titanium? I want a camera made of passed stickers!
 
FallisPhoto said:
Good. Snakeskin isn't very durable. Paradise snake, which is used most often, tends to lose scales, leaving you with white spots. It absorbs skin oils and becomes discolored in very short order too. Goat skin is probably the best overall (durable, resists snagging, color goes all the way through the leather so you don't get white edges, and etcetera). If you want to go with an exotic reptillian leather though, lizard and crocodile are a lot better and more durable than snake. Some of the very most durable leathers, like stingray, shark and bullfrog, are very tough indeed, but are sheer hell to cut.
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The snake skin in the photo is faux stuff, leatherette -- I wouldn't want to waste real skin on just testing the stuff in practice ;)

Good point about the coloration going all the way through the material. I noticed the same thing in how darn careful one has to be when installing this stuff that's only finished on the surface. The edges can be hell to cut, leaving strands of the fabric underneath showing, as well as the "scales" having a little effect on the travel of the knife.

I am, however, already getting started in re-covering this baby and have now cut all necessary pieces to size, to finish this Patri 7S in a new color & style. The color is not really a natural choice for an ugly-a** guy like me, but we'll see how it all goes through. If the quality of the job ends up being usable, I might even pop it on eBay to see what I get for it. I think someone might already have a matching pair of shoes and a purse, as well.. :rolleyes:

..waiting on those 35 RCs, though. I'd like one in a suitable shade of red. Perhaps it'll happen within a few weeks.


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Just so happens, that my neighbor had a suitable double-sided tape on hand. So, I gave it a shot. Here's how it turned out.





First custom covering job, so can't expect perfect results just yet..but I'm happy with the results. The pink skin looks terrible on its own, but with the chrome it's not awfully terrible. (And then again, that's just ONE opinion and there should be a number of counter-opinions as well.. ;) )


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I love the pink (though not necessarily my colour ;) - you'd give Holga a run for it's money if you did a load more...
 
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