Any camera painters out there?

Dan Daniel · Dec 23, 2022

Was talking to someone who wants a black Kodak Medalist. Anyone know if there is anyone in the US who paints or powdercoats camera parts We can get it to them in parts, masking if needed, etc. North America preferred.

cramej · Dec 23, 2022

Look for someone local that does Cerakote. The Cerakote website has a dealer finder. Thinner than paint or powder coat and very durable. It's used for firearms and aircraft so little bits shouldn't be a problem. There are various clears that can go over the color as well. I had a Leotax top and bottom plate coated earlier this year and they turned out really nice.

Bearman · Dec 23, 2022

Cerakote looks promising.

George Mann · Dec 23, 2022

How does one go about painting the top and bottom covers of a Nikon FG?

cramej · Dec 23, 2022

George Mann said:
How does one go about painting the top and bottom covers of a Nikon FG?

If they're plastic, Cerakote has low temp cure colors, too.

gone · Dec 24, 2022

This probably isn't what you had in mind, but I was threatening to do a Grateful Dead, tie dye sort of paint job on an old Nikon FG (earl momus will paint ANY camera for only $19.95!) but I sold the model. It still interests me, lord knows why, because when you actually use the camera, who sees it?

Pretty sure an FG is metal that looks and feels more like plastic. Nice little cameras, very light and small, Mickey Mouse plastic, double jointed film advance lever is a liability though. They break often, as do the complex electronics that Nikon jammed into such a small package.

250swb · Dec 24, 2022

momus said:
This probably isn't what you had in mind, but I was threatening to do a Grateful Dead, tie dye sort of paint job on an old Nikon FG (earl momus will paint ANY camera for only $19.95!) but I sold the model. It still interests me, lord knows why, because when you actually use the camera, who sees it?

Pretty sure an FG is metal that looks and feels more like plastic. Nice little cameras, very light and small, Mickey Mouse plastic, double jointed film advance lever is a liability though. They break often, as do the complex electronics that Nikon jammed into such a small package.

Obviously you can't do tie-dye but you can get a sort of hippy 60's look by putting down a base colour with car aerosol and when its dry spraying the next coat of contrasting colour through an old piece of net curtain laid over the cameras surface (with flowers, rosettes etc.) which then leaves the masked pattern after you lift it off. You can do multiple passes with different colours that build up a hippy look. This was a technique used by slot car racers in the early 70's to decorate their cars. Alternatively you can hand paint a flower power design (look up George Harrison Stratocaster) in enamels and seal it all in with a coat of spray varnish.

Dan Daniel · Dec 24, 2022

cramej said:
Look for someone local that does Cerakote. The Cerakote website has a dealer finder. Thinner than paint or powder coat and very durable. It's used for firearms and aircraft so little bits shouldn't be a problem. There are various clears that can go over the color as well. I had a Leotax top and bottom plate coated earlier this year and they turned out really nice.

That looks very interesting! Thanks. There's a certified outfit not too far from me; I'll see if they are able to work with me on this.

It's an intersting thing, custom painting cameras. I've seen a fair number of what I call Gummi Bear leatherette cameras, but not much real exploration of colors on metals, etc. I do wish that there was more of a tradition of cameras like the early Rolleicord Deco metal etching and such. I recently had a Kodak Autograph around that had a lot of those small flourishes and details that just don't happen any more. I wonder what World War II did to manufacturing that eliminated such things.

mshchem · Dec 24, 2022

Bearman said:
Cerakote looks promising.

I think this is what (or similar) what Leica is using on the new M6

cramej · Dec 24, 2022

Dan Daniel said:
That looks very interesting! Thanks. There's a certified outfit not too far from me; I'll see if they are able to work with me on this.

It's an intersting thing, custom painting cameras. I've seen a fair number of what I call Gummi Bear leatherette cameras, but not much real exploration of colors on metals, etc. I do wish that there was more of a tradition of cameras like the early Rolleicord Deco metal etching and such. I recently had a Kodak Autograph around that had a lot of those small flourishes and details that just don't happen any more. I wonder what World War II did to manufacturing that eliminated such things.

Thread 'Leotax K Restoration' https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/leotax-k-restoration.193958/

For reference. I opted to leave the small bits chrome. Safety levers and mag release buttons should be the norm for someone who works on a lot of firearms so anything about that size should be doable.

removedacct1 · Dec 24, 2022

Dan Daniel said:
Was talking to someone who wants a black Kodak Medalist. Anyone know if there is anyone in the US who paints or powdercoats camera parts We can get it to them in parts, masking if needed, etc. North America preferred.

Mike Knight does powder coating on camera bodies: https://www.instagram.com/michaelknight1967/

Dan Daniel · Dec 24, 2022

paulbarden said:
Mike Knight does powder coating on camera bodies: https://www.instagram.com/michaelknight1967/

Paul, Mike works in conjunction with Blue Moon Camera, I think as an employee but I could be wrong. He was contacted, or Blue Moon was contacted, and we were told that he isn't taking on outside work. Maybe he is?

I don't blame him in ways- custom paint work is a potential giant can of worms between disassembling old cameras, customer expectations, etc. Keeping it as a fun side project is a good place to be.

Any camera painters out there?

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