when the black paint from the black camaras bodies

clayne · Jun 15, 2013

Brass is class.

E. von Hoegh · Jun 15, 2013

Black paint is the least durable of camera finishes, and, back when these cameras were new, you paid a premium for it! This is why pristine black "vintage" cameras are worth a premium, now. Every wannabe pro with a few extra dollars bought one.
To renew the finish, take the camera apart and begin by stripping the paint off all painted parts. Get your tiny planishing hammer and miniature dolly and repair all the dents and bruises. Dents which can't be raised and roughness from abrasions can be leaded. Spray a coat of primer, bake at about 140f, and rub out any flaws. Spray, bake, and rub a second coat. If this coat is flawless, you can spray and bake a couple finish coats of black. Fill any lettering with the appropriate color lacquer stick and reassemble the camera. Then, never use it because with very little use it will brass all over again.

Or, you can just live with the honorable scars of several decades use. Personally I stick with chrome cameras.

m1tch · Jun 15, 2013

This is Don McCullin's camera, hes a war photography, his Nikon F stopped a bullet from killing him, I think it still works, it doesn't really matter what the camera looks like as long as it is still able to take a photo

semi-ambivalent · Jun 15, 2013

Nikon Collector said:
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

I admire your honesty in admitting that.

s-a

agnosticnikon · Jun 15, 2013

m1tch said:
This is Don McCullin's camera, hes a war photography, his Nikon F stopped a bullet from killing him, I think it still works, it doesn't really matter what the camera looks like as long as it is still able to take a photo

WOW!! That is a great camera photo of a great camera. I love cameras with some history, and it doesn't get much better than this.

m1tch · Jun 15, 2013

Went downhill when they started making things of plastic lol i'm pretty sure my 70 year old Bessa and 100 year old Zeiss London lens will outlast most modern DSLRs and still work fine.

fmajor · Jun 15, 2013

m1tch said:
Went downhill when they started making things of plastic lol i'm pretty sure my 70 year old Bessa and 100 year old Zeiss London lens will outlast most modern DSLRs and still work fine.

I agree!!! I love my Minolta Autocord from 1956. I'm only hoping to have a continuous supply of the replacement "sensors" - especially the Fuji Acros 100 version.

EDIT: Ooops - i forgot this was the 35mm Forum. CORRECTION: I love my Minolta SRT202 and awesome Rokkor lenses. The rest about replacement "sensors" applies.

E. von Hoegh · Jun 15, 2013

m1tch said:
This is Don McCullin's camera, hes a war photography, his Nikon F stopped a bullet from killing him, I think it still works, it doesn't really matter what the camera looks like as long as it is still able to take a photo

Ummm Yeah. I'm familiar with that legend.
Unfortunately, the camera didn't stop a bullet, it deflected it. Judging from the damage to the camera,(the left top cover doesn't have much behind it where the bullet struck, the cover is fairly thin brass) the projectile's energy was just about spent - you could have done more damage to the camera by launching a bullet with a decent slingshot.
So saying "stopped a bullet from killing him" just isn't very accurate, although it's nicely dramatic and makes a good legend.

John Koehrer · Jun 16, 2013

^^^picky, picky, picky. Still didn't kill him did it? Which begets the question of would it have killed him if the camera wasn't there?
Guess we'll never know. Bullets have been stopped/deflected by just a herd of unlikely objects, from buttons to bibles.
When it's your time, it's your time.

If a tree falls in the forest (on you), does it make a noise?

clayne · Jun 16, 2013

you could have done more damage to the camera by launching a bullet with a decent slingshot.

I seriously doubt it. The area on the top-plate is totally tweaked and penetrated. You're probably not going to do that with a slingshot other than one of those crazy ones. While I don't disagree that the bullet probably wouldn't have killed him if it had slowed down by that point - but the point is his camera took a bullet while in the process of documenting a war. No reason to minimize that or get pedantic over it.

benjiboy · Jun 16, 2013

Fender make brand new custom guitars costing several thousand $ that they call heavy relics http://www.fender.com/en-GB/custom-...p-1950s-stratocaster-heavy-relic-masterbuilt/

Mainecoonmaniac · Jun 16, 2013

Battle scars are a badge of honor Means that you use your camera.

NB23 · Jun 17, 2013

There's that pair of Levi's that stopped a bullet with its Brass button.

Brass is brass! If I was the OP, I'd shoot the camera until it'd get completely brassy. And then I'd burn it with Gasoline and I'd throw it at a Hell's angel's Harley Davidson just for the sake of it.

E. von Hoegh · Jun 17, 2013

clayne said:
I seriously doubt it. The area on the top-plate is totally tweaked and penetrated. You're probably not going to do that with a slingshot other than one of those crazy ones. While I don't disagree that the bullet probably wouldn't have killed him if it had slowed down by that point - but the point is his camera took a bullet while in the process of documenting a war. No reason to minimize that or get pedantic over it.

Nor is there any good reason to maximise and dramatise it to the point of unreality, hence my post.

E. von Hoegh · Jun 17, 2013

John Koehrer said:
^^^picky, picky, picky. Still didn't kill him did it? Which begets the question of would it have killed him if the camera wasn't there?
Guess we'll never know. Bullets have been stopped/deflected by just a herd of unlikely objects, from buttons to bibles.
When it's your time, it's your time.

If a tree falls in the forest (on you), does it make a noise?

Of course, and so would I.

when the black paint from the black camaras bodies

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