Painting cameras black?

ChrisCummins

ChrisCummins

Couch Photographer.
Local time
11:25 PM
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
138
I saw a thread on here where a guy had a black painted FED-2, although as it is over 6 years old now, I don't want to revive the thread! I do however want to get my FED-2 painted black (knobs as well as body), can anyone recommend a good way of getting this done?

If I can't do this myself, are there services in the UK which could do this one off and cheaply?

Hope y'all had a great Christmas!
Regards
Chris
 
Camera Painting

Camera Painting

Hi,
This is a recurring thread mainly in the M section. The answer is infinite, a good job will require a lot of work, patience and skill. A professional job will cost in the region of £250-350 and if it is cared for will look fabulous but will not be as durable as chrome. The diy way is possible but will very much depend on prep of the base material. Brass is not the best to paint without careful prep. I have had limited success using Brass Black before applying an acrylic satin black over this.

Best,

normclarke.
 
Thanks for the infoo, I had almost expected as much - but I hadn't realised just qutie how expensive a one off job would be!

Interestingly, I contacted one of the ebay seller's specialising in the rather gaudy and tasteless fake Leica's, made from FEDs and Zorkis, usually with some Luftwaffe or Nazi logo stamped on it - enough to make Hitler blush if you ask me, but whatever sells eh? He said that a minimum lot of 40 to 50 cameras would be required before it would be economical for him to send off an order for a custom FED. I guess I'll just stick with my shiny chrome and save up for a black M4!
 
A pity he hasn't one from the batch of 40 or 50 that went through unaltered as a plain FED 1 or Zorki 1...

Regards, David
 
Repainting is a lot of work. First you have to take the camera apart. Refinishing starts with an electrolytic de-chroming of the parts, followed by one or more pre-finishing cleanup steps, one or more paint steps, and probably a final baking step. Little things like the shutter button, speed knob, screw heads require extra care. Then you have to put the camera back together so that it works - not an easily-acquired skill set. You want a little more shock, check out Shintaro's site: http://homepage2.nifty.com/Shintaro/aboutpainting.html
 
Painting a camera is easy. mask off the parts where you want no paint, like the glass. Hit it with a few coats of spray paint from the hardware store. Maybe a coat of primer first. Voila! -- painted camera. Disclaimer: this method works great if you want a painted camera but if you care about resale value, or if paint flaking off occasionally bothers you, don't do it.
 
Chrome has to be removed first, electrolytically usually, before you can paint it. After that you need a very tough and hard paint finish if it's going to last. There is no paint that will stick to chrome! It's an awful lot of hassle and the main reason why the most you normally see people doing is de-chroming the main body parts and leaving all the knobs chromed.
 
Back in the day, there was a a primer that we used to bite into hard-to-paint metal. Can't recall what it was called, but it had a greenish-yellow cast or color when dried. (Maybe Zinc-chromate?)

Something like this might work well on inexpensive cameras.
 
You can do it on the cheap, but it is labor intensive. As John said, you have to dismantle the camera to get to all the parts that need painting.
Getting the chrome off is the tricky bit. The 'nicest' way of doing it is to soak it in a dilute sulphuric acid bath and use a bit of electrolysis to help it along. You really need to know what you are doing and you need to be wearing goggles, gloves and apron.
I have heard that oven cleaner works, as does brake fluid, but I haven't tried it.
The other option is to sand it off, either by hand or with a Dremel style tool.
Then you will need to prep it as you would for re-spraying a car. You know, rust remover, clean, prep wash, primer, bake (or let it set for a few days), sand, gloss black enamel paint, maybe clear coat, let it set, then reassemble and repaint the logos perhaps in white...

Perhaps practice on some broken down parts-only cameras first?

Oh Rick, you very probably are thinking of zinc chromate. At least where I live, zince chromate is no longer available to the public due to it's toxicity. It's nasty stuff. A great primer though!
 
This may give you an idea on what is involved:

BLACK FED

http://www.zorkikat.com/painting-a-fed-black/203/

Using abrasive methods (sandblasting, grinding with dremel, sandpaper) to remove the chrome is not advisable. Abrasive methods can remove some of the metal and make them thinner or deform them in the process. Areas with engraving will make the engraved portions shallower and these may be lost when the metal surfaces are repainted.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Rick and BradM! I've subjected a shabby IIIc to the same process already. Will have to do a repaint soon.
 
Wow Zorkicat, that is truly excellent work and very inspiring. I wouldn't have the first clue to source those chemicals though. And also, does your method work on the other chromed parts such as rewind knob and screws?

Regards
Chris
 
ChrisCummins said:
Wow Zorkicat, that is truly excellent work and very inspiring. I wouldn't have the first clue to source those chemicals though. And also, does your method work on the other chromed parts such as rewind knob and screws?

Regards
Chris
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris. The chemicals, Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) and Sulphuric Acid (battery acid) are fairly common, I believe, in most places in the world. The exact concentration, I think, is not critical. Lye is a common ingredient for drain cleaners, and may be found in hardware shops. It's also used by soap makers.
 
It had completely slipped my mind - since I am a student at a Uni with a well kitted out EAS (engineering and applied science) school, I'll drop a couple of emails to see if they could do the job. I'm not sure specifically about chromeing, but in their prototyping room, they're happy for people to use the 3D printers and CNC machines, all they ask is to pay for the materials.

Thanks PKR & ZorkiCat for the technical details.

And Patrick that's another stunning job. That's the kind of attention to detail I'd like to achieve with any attempt I make (blacked out screws/knobs etc). Is the reason you didn't paint the rangefinder lens cover because of the thread in it? How did you achieve the paint finish? The brassing around the wind knob looks great

Regards
Chris
 
Well the results are mighty impressive Patrick. Shelf queen or not, that is one might impressive FED specimen!

Regards
Chris
 
There is a fed 2 on eBay uk at the minute masquerading as a Leica, it has been stripped down to brass so would be a candidate for painting. Only thing is that it has fake engravings on it.

I won't post a link as it is still active, just search for Leica Wetzlar and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
 
I have had a lovely--except for the poor fake "contax" and "CZJ" engravings--black repaint Kiev 4 for a while and wonder:

Can I remove the front plate without needing to strip the camera further?

I'd like to eliminate the poor engravings and then re-do the paint on the front plate.

Thanks,
Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom