Do you touch up the black finish on your cameras and lenses??

[Poptart]

If so, what do you use? If not, why not?

 

[peterc]

No, I don't do any touchup.
Scratches, brassing etc. add a bit of character.

Peter

 

[fraley]

Well on my black Zorki I did add a very small dot of black enamel (model car type) to the back where there was a teeny chip. This to me is just for the heck of it. Not meant to be professional or anything. But if the effect is pleasing, why not?

 

[ywenz]

Id like to touch up my Leica 50mm Summicron before I sell it.. I want to pass it on as a better condition so I can get a higher selling price.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Fargo/Micro-Tools sells paint "pens" in flat and gloss black enamel,
made just for such touch-ups. I wonder if they are any good?

Keep Chris in Christmas!
-Chris-

 

[Poptart]

O I get it, it's sarcasm.
Doesn't anyone like the shiny new look of old equipment? If not, then why even ever clean anything except the lens surface?

 

[Honu-Hugger]

I may touch a spot here and there, but not as a rule. Henry Scherer wrote a while ago to tell me he has the original Zeiss black paint formulation so we are considering touching up a couple of accessory lenses to coordinate a little better with a good condition Contax I -- we'll see how it works out (I'm going to leave the work to Henry).

 

[ch1]

Never considered doing so. Probably wouldn't because I'm not too good with touch-up paint. I tend to "glob" it on when I try it on cars.

Besides, don't really have the time - but, if someone does, why not?

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Only once, I touched up the scratched back of my M3... only to find that the paint was the wrong kind. Fortunately, it simply fell off... and now the back looks like it went to war and came back with stories to tell.

So, to answer your question: not any more. 😉

 

[Russ]

If so, what do you use? If not, why not?

Never! Blasphemy! 😀

Russ

 

[bobofish]

A few times on orchestra tours, friends of mine forgot to bring black socks...so out came the black marker, and a pair of basketball socks.

And then there was the time when, on a band tour to the Middle East, I had to wade through a couple feet of ice-cold water up the canyon out of Petra (the second time it had snowed there in 13 years). I had only brought one pair of shoes, my concert blacks, because my tuba counted as one of my two allowed luggage items. The black came off, and they became light grey shoes...out came the magic marker.

And then there was the time when a friend of mine had to attend a "black tie dinner." The only problem was that on the way to the dinner, he had not tied his tie, only draped it around his neck...it flew out the window as he drove.
He cut a white table cloth into an approximation of a tie's shape, and out came the magic marker.

But to my cameras? Never!

 

[pvdhaar]

I used to touch up scratches on the cameras, but I've come to a point where I don't care about that anymore.

 

[Frank Granovski]

If so, what do you use? If not, why not?

I never do and I'm hopping mad that a lens I just bought from the bay has been touched up with black paint! Geez, I always seem to get ripped off from there. If not theis way, then that way. I think this is it for me. E-bay's history. 😡

 

[leafy]

Don't "black pain" versions usually sell for a higher price? hehehe

 

[ch1]

I never do and I'm hopping mad that a lens I just bought from the bay has been touched up with black paint! Geez, I always seem to get ripped off from there. If not theis way, then that way. I think this is it for me. E-bay's history. 😡

I can't blame you for being ticked-off. An "honest" seller would have revealed in the description that the lens had been "cosmetically touched-up".

The problem is that some people would shun a beat-up looking lens even if its glass was crystal clear and the apeture free of fungus or oil and functioning smoothly. So you can see the seller's "temptation" to touch things up.

Even so - it should have been revealed to you.

 

[kmack]

No, I don't do any touchup.
Scratches, brassing etc. add a bit of character.

Peter

What he said, as long as every chip, scratch, dent was aquired in honorable service, why cover character?

 

[ywenz]

but would you want an ugly woman with character or a hottie without character? On some nights, you'd prefer the latter..

 

[kmack]

At my age: as long as she knows what she is doing and is good at it 😀

 

[Poptart]

I like 'em young and purtty.

 

[cp_ste.croix]

if you're going to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife.

I don't tough up because I a) don't have the skill or patience to aquire it and b) see most blemishes as theft prevention marks... 🙂