Exotic Coverings for MF Cameras?

[sanking]

Does anyone know of a source for putting exotic coverings on a MF camera. I am thinking of things like snakeskin, wild colors, etc.

Sandy King

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Sandy, you might want to try a custom car interior place or two. I know Katskinz Leather has some funky leather for car seats. They might have some offcuts and supply ideas for you? Could be interesting to see a snakeskin covered Mamiya 7

 

[Jeff L]

cameraleather.com Have you tried them? I got leathers for an old Rolleiflex and they fit perfectly.
Jeff

 

[Kerik]

Come on Sandy, fess up, what camera are pimping out? You should get a bedazzler to go with the gold lizard skin.

 

[sanking]

Kerik,

I have this Mamiya 7 camera that is cosmetically a 3 or 4 but is perfect working condition. So I thought, what the hell, nothing to lose by trying to dress it up. You know, some pigs really look better all dressed up!!

Unfortunately cameraleather.com does not appear to support the Mamiya 7, and I can see why since this camera is just coated on the outside, no leather.

Sandy

Come on Sandy, fess up, what camera are pimping out? You should get a bedazzler to go with the gold lizard skin.

 

[Whiteymorange]

Do you mean like this?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

You might try a bookbinding supplier, like Talas--

http://www.talasonline.com/

The leathers are fairly similar, and in some cases identical, to the materials used on cameras.

 

[sanking]

I appreciate the information. Actually, www. cameraleather.com was the kind of source I was looking for but they don't have a kit for my camera, the Mamiya 7

And now that I have looked closely at the camera I believe the only option will be to brush or spray some type of rubberized coating. Covering this camera with leather or any type of skin would appear to be out of the question because of the design.

Sandy

 

[archphoto]

Before you get realy started: make templates !
And save the old coverings, in that way you can have a diferent camera each year....... GOOD FOR GAS !

Peter

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Aki-Ashi is the other major vendor of camera leather kits. They are often quicker on delivery than Camera leather.

 

[jasonhall]

Even if camerleather.com does not have a kit, they will for sure cover it for you with any of the materials that they have. Just email Morgan there and I am very sure he will set you up with out a problem. He will also sell you the material so you can cut it and install it your self. If you send it to him and let him cover it for you, he will then be able to offer it as a kit from now on. It will cost a little more to let Morgan do it for you, however, you can rest assured it will be very well done. Just email Morgan and tell him what you have and what you want on it and he will normally give you a pretty solid quote via email.

Jason

 

[Terence]

How about Rhino-Coat, like they use for the beds of pick-up trucks?

Seriously though, how about some of the self-adhering neoprene? It comes pretty thin, the adhesive is probably strong enough to hold to the old coating, and it'll provide some protection and grip.

 

[keithwms]

Sandy so you are looking to pimp out your 7? I am thinking glue and glitter.... okay, elephant skin, I have some and it is amazing.

 

[elekm]

You can buy sheets of different materials from cameraleather.com and then cut it yourself. I've done that with several cameras -- always because the original covering had deteriorated significantly.

Cameraleather.com has a nice selection of materials, but shipping sometimes can be very, very slow and often require numerous e-mails.

 

[Akki14]

http://aki-asahi.com/store/ apparently do lasercutting from CAD now so if you can get someone to do a CAD of the camera you should be able to get a leather cut from this guy.

 

[sanking]

I contacted www.cameraleather.com about the Mamiya 7 and am waiting to hear from them. However, I suspect that the contours of the Manmiya 7 would make it very difficult if not impossible to cover with any kind of leather, but I will see what they say. BTW, the site mentions that Morgan died last year.

In fact I am not so much looking to pimp out my Mamiya 7 but to make it less unattractive. Although it works perfectly and the rangefinder is in good alignment one of the previous owners did not take good care of it and it has lots of scratches on the outside coating. KEH rating for appearance would probably be UG-. I am considering applying myself one of these paintss that gives a textured rubberized appearance since it apears that the cobra or lizard skin may not be an option.

Sandy

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I know, I know.... call up Guillermo Littmann and have him deck it out like one of his faux-Versace Panthere Merde XXXVIII Polaroid conversions. Although then he might try to sell it on ebay for $100,000 (for charity, of course!)

 

[Buster6X6]

Hi Sandy
I have used cameraleather.com for two of my Bronica's. I took old leather off cleaned glue and used old leather as template. Really beautiful. I would recommend it. If leather is fragile make paper templates cut and dry fit and then peal off the backing and stick it on.

I hope this will entice you to do it your self it is easy.

Greg

 

[sanking]

Well, I received a response to my inquiry to www.cameraleather.com. As I suspect, the word is that because of the molding construction of the Mamiya 7 covering it with leather is not a viable option.

So the options are back to, 1) do nothing, or 2) attempt to cover it myself with some type of coating that will cover and hide the surface scratches.

Sandy

Hi Sandy
I have used cameraleather.com for two of my Bronica's. I took old leather off cleaned glue and used old leather as template. Really beautiful. I would recommend it. If leather is fragile make paper templates cut and dry fit and then peal off the backing and stick it on.

I hope this will entice you to do it your self it is easy.

Greg

 

[Richard Wasserman]

Sandy,

I strongly suggest option #1. I can't imagine what kind of coating you could use that would properly adhere to the factory coating on the Mamiya. I can foresee you using something that will then start to delaminate and you will be worse off than you are now. If you removed the original rubberized surface down to bare metal would be a different story...

Richard Wasserman

 

[Kerik]

Duct tape.

 

[Larry Bullis]

Has the Nauga become extinct? Unborn baby naugahyde used to be favored for such uses.

Seriously, though, a friend of mine way back when found a snakeskin handbag, decided that his Nikormat would look better dressed in something else, peeled off the covering and simply replicated it cutting from the bag. It was quite handsome. I have a salmon leather that I'm going to send to Cameraleather (sorry to hear about Morgan's passing; it was he I was corresponding with) and have them cut it for my old M2. I got this from a company in Vancouver; I'd look up the source if anyone is interested. They sent me a sample of light gold colored sea bass leather that was quite nice. I want my M2 to look very uninteresting, though, so I got this greyish brown material that looks good but won't attract attention.

I wonder if there is an aircraft coating that might be UV cured that could simply be painted on and exposed in your exposure unit. My wife's ex (former fighter pilot) built his own airplane. I could ask. I know he knows a lot about that sort of thing. It would perhaps be possible to collage the camera as desired, then coat it with a clear coating and expose it. Porno? Far Side wiener dogs? Whatever you want.

 

[jasonhall]

Yes Morgan Senior passed away, however, Morgan Jr is alive and well. Or so I hope since I recieved an e-mail from him just a week or so ago.

Jason

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I wonder if there is an aircraft coating that might be UV cured that could simply be painted on and exposed in your exposure unit. My wife's ex (former fighter pilot) built his own airplane. I could ask. I know he knows a lot about that sort of thing. It would perhaps be possible to collage the camera as desired, then coat it with a clear coating and expose it. Porno? Far Side wiener dogs? Whatever you want.

Just don't use the coating they applied to the Hindenburg - a mix of petroleum distillates and aluminum salts, among other things. One electrostatic discharge and your camera would explode in your hands!

 

[Larry Bullis]

Just don't use the coating they applied to the Hindenburg - a mix of petroleum distillates and aluminum salts, among other things. One electrostatic discharge and your camera would explode in your hands!

Especially since some of us keep our cameras inflated with hydrogen.

I expect that coating has been retired. Let's hope. They aren't building magnesium bodied cameras are they?