'Re-covering' a Bessa body: have you done it?

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scottgee1

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Hi all;

I bought the R2 Kris posted FS here. Haven't seen it yet but he very clearly described it as being, well, beat up.

Apparently I won't have to so much replace the skin (covers) as simply apply new skins.

Have you done this? If so, I want to learn from your experience. What material and adhesive did you use? Technique? etc.

TIA!/ScottGee1
 
Scott, I haven't seen new covering for the Bessa R2 being offered anywhere yet. I may have missed it, though. But, if there really isn't anything on offer you'll be forced to cut it by yourself. Not an easy job if you want to do it properly. Reportedly, getting the newly cut cover on the camera can be done using Pliobond. I have no idea how this all works. I covered my M2 twice but always using pre-cut covers, one bought at cameraleather, the other from Aki Asahi. My limited experience tells me the cover from Aki is slightly better than Cameraleather's. But especially Aki's prices are much better.

Check them out at:

http://www.cameraleather.com

http://aki-asahi.com/
http://aki-asahi.com/store/
 
Aki-Asahi's black M2 covering looks nice, hmmm...
My soon to be M2 will thank you, my wallet does not.

Stu 🙂
 
Also Scott any work I have seen done has been cover replacement so the original cover has to come off. At least that's my understanding.

Remy thanks for the link to Aki. 🙂
 
I covered my M2 twice but always using pre-cut covers, one bought at cameraleather, ...
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I asked CameraLeather a while back about covering a Bessa R; the answer was

"The front sections look easy enough, but the back is a 3-D molded piece, which usually eliminates the camera as a candidate for a leather kit. The only way it might be possible is if the molded part can be removed, like the OM-PC, leaving a surface with turns or folds that are parallel only."

In other words, no. He sent me a quick reply, however, and some time has passed since then, so you could always email and ask again. They're nice folks.
 
The R2 has a pretty tough covering; unless Kris chewed on his camera, I would tend to think you're better off leaving it as is.

There really is not much to replace anyway. One small area around the M-mount release button and then a smaller area on the opposite side. If you had to replace those, I would think Sparks could easily make something up. (Might have to send him a camera.)

The back of the camera, as Sparks mentions, has a three-dimensional molded grip. I would hate to lose it, but I think by removing that covering, you also remove the issue of the three dimensional area - the camera itself appears to be flat and parrallel and the grip itself provides the extra dimension.

If that's the case, the covering is easily replaced although you do lose the comfort of the raised grip.
 
Corresponded with Mr. Sparks of Cameraleather. I wanted a new look for my R2 and he told me that he is expecting a customer to send him a R2 for a custom job. After this job he would be able to make R2 covers. All we got to do is wait.
 
Peter said:
Corresponded with Mr. Sparks of Cameraleather. I wanted a new look for my R2 and he told me that he is expecting a customer to send him a R2 for a custom job. After this job he would be able to make R2 covers. All we got to do is wait.
Click to expand...

Cool! Someone else gets to be the 'Pioneer' on this one.

Actually, it might be fun to have a truly ugly looking camera for a while and produce terrific pix with it, just to prove it can be done.

Does anybody else recall the story about Edward Weston using a lens with a crack in it to produce some of his most famous images? Or am I having a 😕 moment?

Thanks!/ScottGee1
 
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