Should I try to repaint my camera being a total amateur?

allohse · Feb 28, 2022

Hello guys.
I'm kind of new to analog photography and got a functional camera, but it looks like it's seen a bit of action (pictures bellow). Is it advisable for me to try to repaint it myself? Do people who work with camera maintenance also do that kind of job? And if I'm going to try it myself, how do I go about it? What kind of paint should I use?

edit: the rest of it looks alright
edit2: There're also some small spots of rust, can I do anything about it?

BrianShaw · Feb 28, 2022

Let it be. Make up interesting stories to tell about the paint loss.

Marcelo Paniagua · Feb 28, 2022

I wouldn't try it a full camera repait. But a little touch up would be possible. I have tried on some of the camera back doors like yours with scale modeler pain (glossy one) with mixed succes. Most likely you will have to remove the current paint to get an acceptable job.

If you ar retouching the back door, you will need to remove the back door, cover the inner sided of the backdoor (the side that points to the camera) and be careful with it.

Not really recommend but if the camera is cheap and you have a steady hand, probably doable.

Marcelo

Chan Tran · Feb 28, 2022

Actually I don't think the camera repair man would do the painting. But in your case I would say try it. It's not too bad.

eddie · Feb 28, 2022

I wouldn't bother. It shows the life it's led.

Sirius Glass · Feb 28, 2022

eddie said:
I wouldn't bother. It shows the life it's led.

I agree. While you could pay a repairman to repaint it, the money would be better spent on having a CLA [Clean Lubricate and Adjust] or buying more film.

cliveh · Feb 28, 2022

Missing paint and wear are part of a cameras character. When you can have a camera like this, you know you are a real photographer:-

https://www.flickr.com/photos/martsharm/4683329492

Marcelo Paniagua · Feb 28, 2022

Here is my OM4T Champagne. Got 2 other black OM4 but I normally use this one because I love the looks

Brassing on both shutter button collar and rewind button

Truzi · Feb 28, 2022

It can be difficult to match any factory paint job in look and durability. If it is only the back, you could try carefully stripping off the rest of the paint. That could at least make it look consistent and balanced, but you will lose protection from oxidation.

Romanko · Feb 28, 2022

This camera is beautiful as it is. Your money would be better spent on servicing it and your time on shooting with it.

Alex Benjamin · Feb 28, 2022

I agree with posters who say don't bother. Wear and tear is a tribute to all those who have used it before. Photography is about memory, and keeping the camera as is makes the object itself carry the memory of these memories.

But then, I'm a hopeless romantic.

VinceInMT · Feb 28, 2022

It certainly is possible to paint it but it would be a delicate job. I might lean more to air brushing that other application methods. I’d also consider moving away from the traditional silver/back as go wild with the hue.

I do understand the different points of view, to restore to leave it. The tools in my garage, used for auto mechanics and/or woodworking, need to be functional and I don’t care what they look like. But my many reel-to-reel tape machines are also just functional tools but I’ll spend quite a bit of time making them look good, to me.

ColdEye · Feb 28, 2022

Go paint it if you want, it's yours anyway. You will gain experience and that's whats important. There are hundreds of thousands of beaten and banged up old cameras, it's not unique.

gone · Feb 28, 2022

Yes, you absolutely should paint it. Or go to Earl Shceib, he will paint any camera, any color, for $29.95! Or was that cars?

Bear in mind that unless you remove all vestiges of chrome and things like that, the paint will flake right off a little at a time. You could try locking the paint down w/ a clear coat of polyurethane, that worked for me, but that particular camera hasn't been used since the paint job, so I don't know if it works in real usage.

AgX · Feb 28, 2022

Take off any loose paint, maybe with sticky tape. Degrease the surface, cover the silver metal and the leatherette along the black trimming. This taping is the most critical part and should be done meticuously. Then paint by brush in long strokes.

AnselMortensen · Feb 28, 2022

Go for it.

albada · Mar 1, 2022

The rest of the black paint on the back cover might come off easily enough with your thumbnail or a piece of wood or plastic.
The result will be silver rails instead of black rails on the back. They might look good enough.

Mark Overton

BobD · Mar 1, 2022

If it were me, I'd just replace the door with a pretty one from a parts camera.

John Koehrer · Mar 1, 2022

BobD said:
If it were me, I'd just replace the door with a pretty one from a parts camera.

What he said^^^^^^^^^^^

AgX · Mar 2, 2022

I would leave it as is.
This is a worn camera, retouching just one part with all the other worn parts makes no sense. To the contrary, a camera which shows its long life of being used, in contrast to one just once fell off the table, has its merits and is not seen that often,

EDIT:
I mixed up the OP's camera with the #8 camera.

Tel · Mar 2, 2022

Bear in mind that cameras are painted before assembly. Probably done in a controlled environment (a factory) with a spray booth and then hardened by baking in an oven before being sent down the assembly line to have the other parts added on. If you want to return it to factory "new" condition, you'd need to strip off all the parts (leatherette, plastic parts, shutter, wiring, optics, etc.) then sand/scrape it clean down to the bare metal before painting and baking it. Anything short of that will likely be a short-term fix and begin to show wear as soon as it is being used again. Something like touching up f-stop markings on a lens or filling in a small chip in the paint differ by orders of magnitude from doing a wholesale repaint.

Arthurwg · Mar 2, 2022

The answer is no.

Chan Tran · Mar 2, 2022

John Koehrer said:
What he said^^^^^^^^^^^

I thought of it initially but searching ebay for the back I found they are asking good money for backs that don't look that much better than the one the OP has.
By the way John, would you want to disassemble an FM to check the prism? If so I might want to give you my FM.

Sirius Glass · Mar 2, 2022

Arthurwg said:
The answer is no.

Yes that is the word I was looking for.

Should I try to repaint my camera being a total amateur?

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