when the black paint from the black camaras bodies

peters8 · Jan 17, 2013

Hi guys!

Do you know if there are some professional products or one effective way in order to cover / paint the scratches or the nake metal points in the old black bodies of the cameras.
My "new" Nikon F3 body has many scratches and many parts without paint...
how can I cover these cosmetic imperfections!!!...I don't like it at all.
If i use a normal black pen (like the pen to write on the plastic of the cd)...it's very ugle because the two blacks aren't similar...and with the time the balck of the pen disappears...lefting the scratches and metal of the body visible.please help me!

Gerald C Koch · Jan 18, 2013

Any paint that would be durable enough for constant use would probably have to be baked on. Really not practical. Professional photographers look upon such wear as a badge of honor. Cameras are for taking pictures not to look pretty.

agnosticnikon · Jan 18, 2013

My wife has an old black Nikkormat Ftn that looks like it was dragged behind a truck down a gravel road. It's all dented and about 30% of the black is missing. She won't let me or anyone else touch it. She says it shows its history and has character. She also thinks it makes her look more professional, not that she is, because the camera looks very used. So you could go that route.
Or, you could try to find some Kodak black brushing lacquer, although I'm not sure they make it anymore. Or, get a can of satin or flat black spray paint, and spray a little in the cap. Then using a small brush do your touch up. Have some mineral spirits on hand for quick clean up, as the stuff dries fast. Follow up the paint with a little car wax to even out the lack of gloss if needed. I gave up on my F3s looks a long time ago, as the touch up wears off fairly quick. Good luck, and just have fun with the camera and your photography.

henry finley · Jan 18, 2013

This is an area I have had some home-grown experience with. Firstly, I have always speculated that these black cameras were done with powder-coating, like a refrigerator. I've always also thought that the finish on these cameras was thin and quite sorry. The gold corners and edges happen on the first day out of the box. Partly because of the etched logos and wordings. Were the black finish too thick, it would fill in the wordings and the white paint in these wordings would have too little detail to follow.
A VERY nice job can be done with plain black rustoleum pain with hardener added. I got my hardener from Tractor Supply. Use the rustoleum, cut with an8 0% Coleman camp fuel and 20% ordinary paint thinner. Use in an airbrush. No mention of pre-prep is discussed, as a matter of common sense. The only one thing I have to say on that is to be sure that ALL the old white paint and black underneath it is removed from the wording and logos. You want only bare metal here, with the thinnest coat of rattle-can primer filling them.
Apply a couple thin coats of the black paint, then a couple more next day. Watch the way the wet paint fills in the etched wordings. It's hard to tell when the paint is wet, but don't let it scare you too much. When it dries, the fill-in is not so bad. The point is that you need to leave enough detail for the white paint you're going to fill these engravings in at the next step will have enough depth and fine detail to adhere to and look correct.
After the black paint process, let it harden good for a couple weeks. Then go at it with the white paint. I suggest an acrylic base. Acrylic is not supposed to go on top of enamel. But in this case, you have few choices.
Personally, I use white enamel, and trust my 600-grit sanding and touch-up procedure afterwards. Followed by the usual 2 grades of compounding, as with an automobile.
When done, it will be GORGEOUS, and a wee-bit tougher than the factory paint job.

Chris Nielsen · Jan 18, 2013

You know, it's funny because a camera was announced this week that has a brass top plate specifically to develop brassing! This is very much a feature of this camera.

henry finley · Jan 18, 2013

desertratt said:
I remember in the late 1960s when there was a recession in the aerospace industry in Southern California and camera stores were loaded with rangefinder Leicas the laid-off engineers sold off. They were always in perfect conditiion. Certain types of folks who do not use cameras for everyday down-and-dirty work carry around splendid looking expensive cameras and a lot (not all) in-the-trenches professional photogs look down their nose a little bit at something too gorgeous. I have an old beat up Nikon F that I used to photograph the Beatles, a Muhammed Ali title fight and Elvis. I treasure every scuff and dent.

Friend, I've owned a pile of cameras in my day. I remember a Nkon F2Sb with MD2 mirror drive and a 55 Micro AL. Gorgeous. I got rid of it after a year of shooting fraternity parties. No 35mm ever got better than that.
I long tired of fancy cameras beyond my income bracket. So this bashed-in Nikkormat FT2 I built out of EBAY parts junk--it's as good as any 35 needs to be. I figure the cost at 5 dollars, 2005 money.

AgX · Jan 18, 2013

Henry, you used some brand names, people in other parts of the world don't know.

PentaxBronica · Jan 18, 2013

I have seen someone do a complete repaint of a black Spotmatic before now. He wanted a black one but all the examples he found were really rough and overpriced for their condition, so he picked up a scuffed but undented chrome one as a donor.

The other important thing (aside from getting the old finish off - he had the panels blasted with very fine grit after removing them from the camera) is to use an etch primer on brass. If you don't then the paint will probably fall off later on. Use normal automotive spray paints for the black and the lacquer - you can usually buy satin or matte finish lacquer. If it can handle being outside in all weathers for decades then it'll cope with being on a camera.

I find normal model acrylic paints and a fine brush are the best bet for redoing the markings afterwards. Try giving the panels a thin coat of lacquer first to seal the black paint, that way you can wash the acrylic off if it goes completely pear shaped (and use a fingernail to scrape any small excess off). Add another coat of lacquer after to seal it all in and then reassemble the camera.

I don't worry too much about brassing but I will touch up the markings. Just because I don't like it when they're half worn off. Same goes for the Pentax M series lens caps with the raised lettering - the silver paint wears off and I generally redo it in the same way. Needs a steady hand but as I'm using acrylics I can just give it a scrub in warm soapy water if it goes wrong.

ToddB · Jan 18, 2013

Camera Patina..

My Rollei 3.5F has patina. True.. cosmedically it's not perfect, but once I get back Fleenor it will operate to near perfection. I think Patina on cameras look pretty cool.

ToddB

Ikon · Jan 18, 2013

In Europe: www.micro-tools.de ; "sub-category Farbe/Lacke/Farbstifte".
Outside Europe: www.micro-tools.com ; sub-category "Paint".

Glossy paint, matte paint, paint to repair engraved numbers on lenses: it's all there.

sangetsu · Jan 19, 2013

I like brassy cameras,

williamkazak · Jan 22, 2013

I had my camera repair guy take off the top and bottom plates of a Pentax Spotmatic for me. I took them and the associated small parts to a plating shop where I had them "black chromed". Then, the camera shop guy re-assembled them for me. You heard the story that you have one body for color and the other for B&W? Right.

kivis · Jan 22, 2013

peters8 said:
Hi guys!

Do you know if there are some professional products or one effective way in order to cover / paint the scratches or the nake metal points in the old black bodies of the cameras.
My "new" Nikon F3 body has many scratches and many parts without paint...
how can I cover these cosmetic imperfections!!!...I don't like it at all.
If i use a normal black pen (like the pen to write on the plastic of the cd)...it's very ugle because the two blacks aren't similar...and with the time the balck of the pen disappears...lefting the scratches and metal of the body visible.please help me!

Give it up and send it to me.

Ian Grant · Jan 22, 2013

Non chip black nail varish is excellent for chips. I'm using black Japlac from Internatyional paints for larger areas.

Ian

RalphLambrecht · Jan 22, 2013

ian,
i don't know about your local retailers, but in germany, i was able to buy ultra-flat black paint from a few manufacturers, and they worked well for what you're trying to do. i 'fixed my bargain nikon FMs with them.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 22, 2013

Gerald C Koch;1448738Cameras are for taking pictures not to look pretty.[/QUOTE said:
I'm with Ian. i like them to do both.

peters8 · Jan 24, 2013

Ikon said:
In Europe: www.micro-tools.de ; "sub-category Farbe/Lacke/Farbstifte".
Outside Europe: Dead Link Removed ; sub-category "Paint".

Glossy paint, matte paint, paint to repair engraved numbers on lenses: it's all there.

Thank you very much,Ikon!
I think that it's the product I was searching for...!!!
Did you use it sometimes?...Do these products work fine?
Thank you very much.
Ciao

peters8 · Jan 24, 2013

I've a last question:which of those products you would use to cover the scratches of a Canon F1 new body?
Thank you for your patience?
regards

Ikon · Jan 24, 2013

I use glossy and matt black camera paint (CF3-F and CF6-F), and they both work very well. First I tried them on some piece of aluminium to check the effect. For engraved numbers, I use white fill-in paint. This one needed some trial and error before I was happy with the result: you need to rub in the paint and wipe off the excess, which to me turned out to be not as easy as it seems. But after some practice it works well too.
Good luck!

Ikon · Jan 24, 2013

peters8 said:
I've a last question:which of those products you would use to cover the scratches of a Canon F1 new body?
Thank you for your patience?
regards

I guess that depends on the finishing of the body. I used the paint mostly for some Leica R-lenses, where matte paint turned out to give the best results. But the best thing is to try the paint on a small piece of metal.
Since the texture of both matte and glossy paints is the same, I believe it must be possible to mix them in order to get precisely what you need. But since it was not needed, I didn't try this myself.
Regards

peters8 · Jan 24, 2013

Canon F1 new body is very very matt,the black seems almost a (dark) gray.

Jim Rice · Jan 24, 2013

If only my Contax RTS had more brassing. Fortunately, there are a couple of dents on the prism.

Russ - SVP · Jan 25, 2013

Leave it alone. Let it age gracefully.

Nikon Collector · Jun 15, 2013

EGO

Gerald C Koch said:
Any paint that would be durable enough for constant use would probably have to be baked on. Really not practical. Professional photographers look upon such wear as a badge of honor. Cameras are for taking pictures not to look pretty.

LOL I remember getting a new F3 and rubbing it with wet sand to avoid the "rookie" ribbing I would get from the other photographers

railwayman3 · Jun 15, 2013

Kiron Kid said:
Leave it alone. Let it age gracefully.

I agree. I hate scratches on my cameras, particularly if it's through my carelessness, but normal brassing on the edges is no prob. I have a set of binoculars used in WW2 by a now-deceased relative, which carry all the marks of action, and could no doubt tell a lot of exciting tales!

when the black paint from the black camaras bodies

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency