How easy to change the "leather" on an M4 ?

[Magnus]

I have just bought an M4 in terrible shap (optically) the leather on the fron and back is torn off, yellow glue marks all over etc. The rest of the camera has dings and dongs, schratches and bumps, warn off chrome etc. But it is technically perfect, CLA'd by Solms 2 years ago.

I actually like ti the way it is, but my local Leica guy told me that for reason of pretection some coating where the normal black leather use to be is prefered, this makes sense to me. So I'm thinking of doing it myself. Can anybody tell me how hard this is, and also what the best supplier will be ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[back alley]

very easy.
i did the m3 myself and i am a klutz.
joe

 

[JoeFriday]

same here.. I recovered mine one afternoon.. took maybe 2 hours (taking off the old covering is the only hard part)

everyone will tell you aki asahi is the guy to order from

 

[Magnus]

Do you have the address of Mr. Asahi ?

 

[Shac]

How easy to change the "leather" on an M4 ?

Magnus
Totally agree with Jow. There’s been quite a few threads on recovering Leica’s. General consensus is that it’s straightforward. I would totally agree having successfully recovered a IIIC and an M2. I used covering kits from http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/. I found him a great to deal with and very fast service.

His kit for the M4 goes for US $19 and you can see the details at http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/html/M4/M4.php

David

 

[Magnus]

... sorry found it by Googling ..... gosh what a great thing this google thing is ....

 

[Magnus]

.... looked up Mr. Asahi's site .... I'm actually looking for something "solid" but scruffier looking, somewhat like "Leicatime" used leather sort of thing. Don't forget the metal on the body looks absolutely awfull, adding perfect leather to it will look like a flag on a sh*t barge ... if you'll pardon me the expresion ...

 

[back alley]

You've graduated Joe. You've actually done a couple lenses. You are above a klutz. 🙂

thanks g'man, but that summicron has me feeling like a klutz again.
joe

 

[Kyle]

Magnus, I'd check out Aki's dark brown lizard emboss. It looks great! 😀

Sorry, its a bad picture...

Also, I HIGHLY recommend Aki over Cameraleather. I've bought from both of them, so I speek from experience. I bought a cover a year ago for a Canonet but never anything after. I've since purchased three covers from Aki, as well as his scratch free kits and eye-piece protectors. His product and commitment to customer service are far greater than Cameraleather. I really don't mean to knock CL, but they were more expensive, much slower, and communicated poorly compared to Aki.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi,
If you get stuck and don't want one of Aki's kits, I can supply some calf leather in various colours and/or finishs together with some adhesive. You will have to cut it yourself but you can scruff it up as much as you want. If you all go pear shaped, you can always get one of Aki's kits.

Kim

.... looked up Mr. Asahi's site .... I'm actually looking for something "solid" but scruffier looking, somewhat like "Leicatime" used leather sort of thing. Don't forget the metal on the body looks absolutely awfull, adding perfect leather to it will look like a flag on a sh*t barge ... if you'll pardon me the expresion ...

 

[RML]

Go with Aki's covers: www.aki-asahi.com. I'm even adding an extra Aki cover with _my Leica M2_ that's for sale. The fit of those cuts is very good; better IMO than cameraleather's cuts. Aki is also very responsive and ships extremely quickly from Japan.

 

[laptoprob]

I got some of Kims leather on my IIf, dark grey colour, very very nice. Much better than the too bright red leather I had earlier.
Kim, How do I paypal you?

 

[Kim Coxon]

Yoda he say:
Gift horse, in the mouth don't look 😉

Kim

I got some of Kims leather on my IIf, dark grey colour, very very nice. Much better than the too bright red leather I had earlier.
Kim, How do I paypal you?

 

[laptoprob]

Yoda wise man is... Mouth smiling!

 

[Vickko]

Guys, I've always bought from www.cameraleather.com, Morgan Sparks. He has even helped me out on a project with an Alpa. No issues whatsoever dealing with Morgan, and he is truly interested in the "craft".

regards
Vick

 

[Will]

These reskin/recovering treads are great, it seems to pop up more resently.

It's nice to look at what other members are doing to their cameras.

More photo please.