Sacrificing half of an M camera case?

[raid]

I have an original M camera case for my M3 camera. The shoulder straps are attached to the case and not the camera, so the lugs have never been used. While the full camera case offers solid camera protection against small bumps and scratches, I don't like the top of it when opened and when closed, it does not allow me to use the 35mm with goggles. What is the cure here? Would you chop off the top?

 

[FrankS]

Use an electric drill and bit to drill out the rivet that holds the 2 halves together. You can then replace the missing rivet with a snap fastener.

 

[iñaki]

I would go to a shoe repairman and ask him to cut it and to put a clip on the case to allow you using the case with or without the top. Thats what I´ll do with my zorki 3m´s case (now in it´s way to Oleg)

 

[bmattock]

Shoe repairman? What's that?

The ice man doesn't come anymore, either.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[wlewisiii]

They haven't all disappeared yet, Bill 🙂 There are, at least, 2 shoe repair shops here in Madison. I've used the one to put a snap on the case I had with my Kiev 5. There may well be one or more in Raid's part of Florida.

William

 

[raid]

Yes, we have a shoe repair place that also handles all kind of leather hand work. They stitched for me the leather case for the Canon 50mm/1.2 lens shade, and they did a beautiful job restitching the leather case of the Canon VI-L that I traded off. Your suggestions make a lot of sense to me.

 

[bmattock]

They haven't all disappeared yet, Bill 🙂 There are, at least, 2 shoe repair shops here in Madison. I've used the one to put a snap on the case I had with my Kiev 5. There may well be one or more in Raid's part of Florida.

William

There are as many shoe repair places here as there are camera stores...

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[FrankS]

This is very easy to do yourself!

 

[raid]

Frank: A leather shop will charge a relatively large sum for hand work. Maybe I should try your way.

 

[FrankS]

Less than 30 sec once you have the drill ready. Drill from the inside of the case. Best to hold the outside of the rivet and support everything on a bench vise, but I did it on a table, keeping the rivet from spinning with a pair of pliers.

 

[erikhaugsby]

I had one and pulled the top off at the swivel-joint connector.
Extremely glad I did, as it makes the case far less bulky but still very protective to the bottom/sides/back of the body.

 

[Kyle]

I used a rusty old pocket knife to chop the top off my Zorki 4K ERC. It looks like crap, but I didn't feel like spending any money, I just wanted to be able to use a strap with the camera.

 

[FrankS]

Drilling out the center of the swivel joint connector will separate the case halves with no damage.