So a little side note about black finish

[RLangham]

So in the thread about A series cameras there was a lot of discussion of black finish vs chrome finish and what if anything that signifies. I thought it might be interesting to relate a little anecdote.

In my collection I have a Mamiya 1000 DTL that I bought cheaply sight unseen thinking it was a worn example with factory black finish. No. Someone took the top and bottom plate and rewind crank, self-timer lever and battery cover off the body and spray painted them with dark grey/off-black primer. Where this flaked off they painted it with a much less resilient black paint that comes off almost at a touch. They also seem to have modified it so that the meter is always on even when the stop down lever is not pressed in (by crimping the battery contact band that normally gets pressed to the battery by an extension of the stop down mechanism). I bet they did that to make it more convenient to use preset lenses. They seem to have chipped the top of the pentaprism when reinstalling the top deck.

Interesting, no? They wanted a black finish badly enough to do it themselves and in fact botch it themselves.

Edit: they also soldered on the metal body of a hot shoe from another camera and built it up with epoxy into a decent cold shoe... the only problem is they didn't space it from the angled top back surface of the prism housing and so it's at an angle unlike virtually every cold and hot shoe in existence.

 

[BradS]

mama always said, "stupid is as stupid does".

 

[RLangham]

mama always said, "stupid is as stupid does".

Yes indeed. If it was an amateur (as I think it was) it's an alright job but if it were a camera tech I would be embarrassed of the inconsistency.

 

[BradS]

There was a guy in LA that stripped chrome Spotmatics and painted them black. He did really nice work - indistinguishable from the factory black paint - but he only did Spotmatics. I think he must have done something to remove the chrome.

 

[Huss]

mama always said, "stupid is as stupid does".

Me Mum said "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything nice"

 

[Huss]

I bought a 'custom black paint' Kiev Contax. The seller included a video of it being shot at all speeds etc to show everything worked. (From Ukraine). Mechanically it is excellent, even the rf spot is super bright.
But alas the paint is delicate. On the camera bottom where the two keys are to unlock the base plate, it has worn in places where it rubs and you can see the chrome underneath. But I guess I shouldn't complain because it ultimately was very cheap and so a fill on strip the chrome off and repaint is unreasonable.
Still a lovely looking camera, and the Helios (?) 53mm 1.8 lens is superb.

 

[RLangham]

There was a guy in LA that stripped chrome Spotmatics and painted them black. He did really nice work - indistinguishable from the factory black paint - but he only did Spotmatics. I think he must have done something to remove the chrome.

I imagine you'd have to strip the chrome. Black Spotmatics look good though.

 

[Paul Howell]

In the day a few PJs taped their crome bodies black, others did paint or had a paint shop paint them black. My preference was for a black body, did not stand out as much as a chrome body, the Air Force had both black and chrome Fs, when going into the field and I couldn't get a black body I would tape it same with a M2, all we had was chrome. Later some had both a chrome and black body, one for color one for black and white. Over time with daily hard use even a factory black body will show brass, the non factory paint jobs, including those done by a paint shop chipped.

 

[RLangham]

In the day a few PJs taped their crome bodies black, others did paint or had a paint shop paint them black. My preference was for a black body, did not stand out as much as a chrome body, the Air Force had both black and chrome Fs, when going into the field and I couldn't get a black body I would tape it same with a M2, all we had was chrome. Later some had both a chrome and black body, one for color one for black and white. Over time with daily hard use even a factory black body will show brass, the non factory paint jobs, including those done by a paint shop chipped.

Yeah, that'd be a good way to remember without having to mess with the film reminder (if any) which body had which film. I never thought of that.

 

[BradS]

.....some had both a chrome and black body, one for color one for black and white. ...

This is exactly why I prefer to have at least one of each - black for B&W film and chrome for color.

 

[logan2z]

One of the lots in the recent Tamarkin camera auction was a (factory) black paint Leica M3 SS. It sold for $13,500. An almost identical chrome M3 SS sold for $1500. So, yeah, a black finish is highly desirable to some people.

 

[AgX]

I think he must have done something to remove the chrome.

Chrome coatings can be removed:
-) mechanically
-) chemically
-) elektrochemically

However some cameras with chromed plastic tops as e.g. the Canon AE-1 still need a metallic coating nonethless. Thus one should consider such before starting dechroming.

 

[Paul Howell]

One of the lots in the recent Tamarkin camera auction was a (factory) black paint Leica M3 SS. It sold for $13,500. An almost identical chrome M3 SS sold for $1500. So, yeah, a black finish is highly desirable to some people.

I think few M 2 and 3 black bodies made, must be rare, I never saw an U.S Air Force or Army M2 or 3 in black. We had both Nikon Fs in chrome and black. On the other hand was the M4 and later made in chrome?

 

[Vaughn]

Sounds like someone had a hell of a good time messing with his/her camera to make it their tool.

 

[logan2z]

I think few M 2 and 3 black bodies made, must be rare, I never saw an U.S Air Force or Army M2 or 3 in black. We had both Nikon Fs in chrome and black. On the other hand was the M4 and later made in chrome?

Black paint M3s are pretty rare. Apparently, only 3010 were made, as opposed to nearly 216,000 in chrome.

M4s were made in chrome, I have one in silver chrome.

 

[tomkatf]

Black F's brass up nicely...

 

[RLangham]

Sounds like someone had a hell of a good time messing with his/her camera to make it their tool.

I mean, you're not wrong.

The only part that really irritates me is that the battery terminal is altered or damaged. It requires me to use a cap to preserve the battery (the DTL did have a voltage cutoff, fortunately). I prefer to protect the front elements of my lenses with UV filters, and I don't even keep that many front caps around (back caps being of course a different story). I may see what it looks like in there and if it can be restored to the way it was made.

 

[RLangham]

Chrome coatings can be removed:
-) mechanically
-) chemically
-) elektrochemically

However some cameras with chromed plastic tops as e.g. the Canon AE-1 still need a metallic coating nonethless. Thus one should consider such before starting dechroming.

If I wanted to dissasemble the camera and strip the paint and chrome chemically so I could attempt to repaint it myself (presumably with a dark primer and a black paint), what solvents might work? My father is a polymer scientist at a research institute so I have access to some weird stuff.

 

[Paul Howell]

If you took the body apart would you paint or have it powered coated?

 

[RLangham]

If you took the body apart would you paint or have it powered coated?

Paint it. Spray paint in fact, just trying to be more thorough with better paint than the last guy. It doesn't honestly matter, I don't hate how it looks now.

 

[RLangham]

Black F's brass up nicely...

View attachment 259577

My F2SB has brassing on almost every edge too, even on the exposed metal of the DP-3 prism, plus heavy denting and scratches. It was somebody's reliable working camera, without a doubt. It was used with an autoexposure unit too (forget which one), but they wouldn't sell it to me with the camera. They wanted to find out what it was. No matter, the batteries are all long worn out.

 

[Tomwlkr]

In the day a few PJs taped their crome bodies black, others did paint or had a paint shop paint them black. My preference was for a black body, did not stand out as much as a chrome body, the Air Force had both black and chrome Fs, when going into the field and I couldn't get a black body I would tape it same with a M2, all we had was chrome. Later some had both a chrome and black body, one for color one for black and white. Over time with daily hard use even a factory black body will show brass, the non factory paint jobs, including those done by a paint shop chipped.

Hate to relay this, but as a professional in the 80's when we got a new black body we would rub it with wet sand to avoid the newbie smirks from the other photographers

 

[Rrrgcy]

Black. Maybe ten or more years ago there was much internet sleuthing and chatter about a Florida east coast (mid south?) fella said to be very much suspected stripping down chrome Leica‘s and doing a great job blackening them and selling them on as rarities - had gotten selling numerous cameras over a short period of time, he’d had earlier been on some forums asking and chattering about stripping and painting techniques prior to the selling which I seem to remember was one tell. Believe there may have been some #serial no. funniness involved with the scamming as well.