Make Your Old Camera Great Again: Re-Covering the Leica M3

       Dedicated Leicaphiles would have gnashed their teeth and torn their hair out if they'd seen the bargain-priced Leica M3 I bought recently. The camera was bargain priced because although it was in excellent condition mechanically, its original vulcanite covering was a mess. With substantial sections of the covering missing, the camera looked like a refugee from a war-torn country.
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     With a serial number of 899124, this photographic icon was one of 5,000 units manufactured in its batch in 1957. It's a double stroke model with a self timer and Buddha ears for attaching a neck strap. What the hey, I thought, if I were to replace the tattered covering, I'd have a nice companion to my pristine Leica M4.

     When I Googled "How To Recover Leica M3" on the Internet, I found enough entries to keep me busy reading until we start growing asparagus on the moon. Wow! Blah, blah, blah. Do this. Do that. You'll need this. You'll need that. Etc, etc., etc. Surely, I thought, recovering a camera couldn't be as  complicated as many "experts" reported it to be.

The M3 After I Removed the Vulcanite

      So I ordered a laser cut covering   for twenty-six bucks, picked up my old X-Acto knife, and got to work. To my surprise, some of the old vulcanite came off quite easily. But an equal amount did not. No problem. Using a Q Tip, I applied some paint remover to the covering.

     Then I waited about forty five minutes for the paint remover to soften the covering before finishing the job. If you do this, be sure to avoid getting the paint remover on the four little black screws at the front of the camera. It took me about two hours to complete this part of the job.

      As you can see in the photo (above), I still had to remove all the junk that remained on the surface of the camera. Using mineral spirits that I applied with a Q Tip, as well as my X-Acto knife, I spent another hour getting down to the bare metal. These two photos show what  the M3 looked like at this point. At last the camera was ready for me to apply the self-adhesive covering.

      Admittedly, this process was time consuming and a bit tedious. But it was worth it when I finally got to see my little beauty in the nude (except for her back door) while she waited for her new apparel to arrive from Japan.

   
        I ordered the replacement self-adhesive covering for the camera from www.aki-asahi.com. Click on "English Page" at the top of your screen.The leatherette arrived in just a few days. Here's what it looked like when I removed it from its envelope. This is the go-to site for covering material.

       Another outfit-- cameraleather.com  --- also sells replacement covers, but they've gotten a bad rap recently because of poor service, poor communication, and higher prices. Nonetheless, that site does offer excellent detailed instructions for applying the new covering to your camera. Click on "Support" at the top of the page. This is the go-to site for application instructions. Be sure to read these instructions before you cover your camera.

My M3 Wearing Its New Covering

       I used the "wet method" discussed in the Cameraleather instructions. This method requires you to use Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer as an aid to positioning your new covering.
      In the photo (right) you'll notice a shadow below the small rangefinder window. This happened because the covering failed to adhere when I applied a little too much Purell to that section of the camera. No problem, though. I just waited for the excess Purell to evaporate before I applied pressure to the covering to set it firmly in place. Lesson learned: use the Purell sparingly.

   

    Although this was my first attempt at re-covering a camera, I found it to be a fairly easy process. In my opinion, perhaps the most important part of the job involves removal of the old covering and preparation of the camera's surface for the new covering. If you follow directions  carefully, are patient, and can work carefully, you should be successful  too.

Coming Soon: The Leica M1: A Minimalist's Dream