Show me your Re-Covered Leica

If my minolta slr all of a sudden has a new pair of pants on this thread is to blame!

Torn between the Walnut and Mahogany cover's, with a tickling for some Saddle tan...

Classy, real classy.

CM
 
KM-25, Your M3 story is similar to mine in one way. Mine was a sixtieth birthday present from MY family, my wife, son & daughter all pitched in, daughter did the research and handled the purchase from KEH, and voila1 what a surprise it was! My vulcanite is flaking a bit and I was thinking about Camera Leather, but your story made me re-think the whole thing. So what if the vulcanite is flaking a bit? The kids say that's good because it means I'm USING it! I'll just wait & see. Good luck!
 
aki leather has less grip than the dried original vulcanite. But I once handheld a button rewind M2 that had such a nice grippy original vulcanite that my M4 feels slippy now. I have always wanted a cameraleather skin, but we must know that those pre-cut leather will always fall off at some point.
 
edodo said:
aki leather has less grip than the dried original vulcanite. But I once handheld a button rewind M2 that had such a nice grippy original vulcanite that my M4 feels slippy now. I have always wanted a cameraleather skin, but we must know that those pre-cut leather will always fall off at some point.
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That's interesting, Charles, because I found the Aki leather to have more grip than did the old vulcanite on my M3. The old vulcanite felt hard or ungiving to the touch while the new Aki leather had just a bit of give or softness to it which made it feel grippier to me.

-Randy
 
abenner said:
After my post regarding KM-25's granite kid skin covered body, Morgan from cameraleather.com contacted me and stated that KM-25's granite cover is not typical of his granite stock, but rather it's significantly lighter. Morgan says that his granite covers are of a deeper color and more of a marbled pattern, like the pic on his website. So if you're considering the granite, don't change your mind based on KM-25's skin. And Morgan states the lighter color of KM-25's kit was not supplied by mistake. So credit Morgan for that. Unfortunate about the problems KM-25 had after application though.

All in all, we're fortunate to have choices with regards to our recover business.
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It is good you wrote this. I did ask him for the lightest color so I could have a really chrome looking M3. I really don't want Morgan to get knocked around too bad, he is a one man show and I have not really had any communication issues. I took the camera, strange black streak included to California and shot about 8 rolls with it. My mom understood about the dark spot but still enjoyed the overall look of the camera. But the images I made, with both the new 50 ASPH and the hazy 50 COL looked really great, the family loved them and could not believe I was using a 51 year old camera like It was new yesterday.

I was just really frustrated the day I wrote what I did. I get back home tomorrow, maybe the new leather is there and I will make it look perfect and it will all be good. For what it is worth, the leather at present does feel great and is really on there good.

My M3 is still a great birthday present and it was great to see my family and help my mom around the house since she is still under the weather.

Cameraleather is still a great outfit, we are lucky to have it!
 
I agree with Randy. The Aki skin felt grippier than the dried out vulcanite on my M4-P.
 
Nick R. said:
I agree with Randy. The Aki skin felt grippier than the dried out vulcanite on my M4-P.
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As do I. The vulcanite has a slick feel to it..
 
Leica cameras look the best in black covering is my personal opinion, and taste.

I had mine re-vulcanited by a guy in the UK couple of years back. I used a camera leather covering first, green goat skin, which I must say was simple to apply, but then sort of craves for a normal black cover again a few months later.
 
i just recovered my M2 with one of Akis skins. Perfect fit. After taking off the old stuff, putting on the new one took me 2 minutes.
i'll post pictures later when my repaint and other modifications are done
 
Although I agree that black skins look best, I gotta say that KM's Chrome Leica looks great in his avatar. I like chrome bodies and chrome lenses. I'd like to see his camera in person.
 
vrgard said:
That's interesting, Charles, because I found the Aki leather to have more grip than did the old vulcanite on my M3. The old vulcanite felt hard or ungiving to the touch while the new Aki leather had just a bit of give or softness to it which made it feel grippier to me.

-Randy
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The aki skin I tested was the leica emboss screwmount imitation. Anyway the M2 I held had such a grippy vulcanite, plus the lack of self timer lever made it the best grip I ever had on a M.
 
A bit off topic, but can you get real vulcanite anymore? I think the stuff CRR Luton in the UK uses is the authentic stuff, but otherwise, is that it? I don't think you can get it from Leica anymore. Even the stuff you can get on an a la carte body is "vulkanit" with a similar but importantly different spelling, as it's not real vulcanised rubber like the original. Morgan sells vulcanette, which I have on my III and like, but is not the same. Aki's is not the same. Anywhere it can be had, even in just sheet form and/or without adhesive backing? Not that I want it, but curious.
 
abenner said:
A bit off topic, but can you get real vulcanite anymore? I think the stuff CRR Luton in the UK uses is the authentic stuff, but otherwise, is that it? I don't think you can get it from Leica anymore. Even the stuff you can get on an a la carte body is "vulkanit" with a similar but importantly different spelling, as it's not real vulcanised rubber like the original. Morgan sells vulcanette, which I have on my III and like, but is not the same. Aki's is not the same. Anywhere it can be had, even in just sheet form and/or without adhesive backing? Not that I want it, but curious.
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Vulcanite (vulcanized rubber) is no longer available even from Leitz.

All Leica cameras use either real leather or I believe leatherette..
 
edodo said:
aki leather has less grip than the dried original vulcanite. But I once handheld a button rewind M2 that had such a nice grippy original vulcanite that my M4 feels slippy now. I have always wanted a cameraleather skin, but we must know that those pre-cut leather will always fall off at some point.
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It falls off? I have a M3 and its just started flaking under the lens and have been thinking about recovering it.

Does the replacements just "fall off" ? No one has mentioned this yet. Would this just be a poor installation? Tell me more. :confused:
 
Fotch said:
It falls off? I have a M3 and its just started flaking under the lens and have been thinking about recovering it.

Does the replacements just "fall off" ? No one has mentioned this yet. Would this just be a poor installation? Tell me more. :confused:
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I have a couple of Leicas that I re-skinned several years ago and neither shows signs of "falling off"..
 
Fotch - As long as you put a little prep work into the body before the recover, I wouldn't worry at all about the adhesiveness of aki's or cameraleather's kits.
 
Nick R. said:
Although I agree that black skins look best, I gotta say that KM's Chrome Leica looks great in his avatar. I like chrome bodies and chrome lenses. I'd like to see his camera in person.
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Here it is today with the new leather. It is a bit darker, one full shade even, but has better grain and marbling. This leather seems more consistent too, no strange spots.

I love the granite look, plays off the chrome nicely to my eye.

To each his own..:).
 
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