Restore metall Finish?

[afrank]

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone could give me advice on how to restore my cameras metall finish. The bottom plate is wared out in the corners and seems to have reached another coating of cooper/golden metal [see image].

Is there a paint, chroming paste, or process like polishing that I could use to make it look less ugly?

Ty in advance!

 

[cliveh]

Why would you want to do this? It's part of the charm.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

To do a good job either replating the base or painting it would require removeing the base from the camera. The special paint that is used on camera bodies require baking in an oven after application. Plating requires a special bath and an electric current.

 

[summicron1]

that's called "brassing" and, as the man said, many people find it attractive as a sign of a much used/loved camera.

Replating the baseplate is theoretically possible but would be prohibitively expensive. There's a few guys who custom-finish Leicas, but those are Leicas and the service costs as much as a Leica.

Paint would always look like paint. If the camera works, use it -- look at it this way, as it is, you don't care if it gets scratched.

consider eliott erwitt's M3, a thing of beauty if ever there was one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aperture64/2739236380/