Cameraleather - Restoration Black Leather

NEW Restoration Black Leather

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Morocco grain genuine leather,
made especially for cameras . . . and more.

After many requests, we have reproduced a classic pebbled leather ideally suited for restoring older cameras, or to impart a timeless feel to your contemporary photo equipment. We cut this leather into adhesive backed, pre-cut kits for any of our supported cameras, and offer it as an uncut sheet, with or without an adhesive backing, for you to cut your own leather parts . . . whether just a repair of a small area, or to recover the body completely. The Leica M8 shown here shows how "correct" this genuine leather looks on any camera you choose to recover.

This embossing is called "Morocco" grain, a texture that is seen on cameras from the early days of photography, right up to the end of the film era . . . on early Kodaks, the Canon F-1N, and hundreds of cameras in between.

Restoration Black leather has an embossing almost identical to the "Pebbled Black" leather we have sold for years. The old "Pebbled Black" leather has been discontinued since it is so well duplicated by this new offering.

Besides appearance, there are a couple of qualities a restoration leather should have: First, it must be very thin, and second, it should retain its embossing texture even when wrapped tightly around edges. It is relatively hard to produce a leather with both qualities. Our Restoration Black leather will go anywhere on a camera and retain crisp detail throughout. The extremely shallow profile on the edges means that this leather will always seat properly at the perimeters, and not leave overly exposed edges that would otherwise show the lighter color of the underlying leather.

Thin leather is also much easier to cut, especially when you are trimming off very narrow slices.

Other uses

We are selling Restoration Black leather to hobbyists and crafts people for other, sometimes very interesting, purposes. It has been used to create or restore antique cases, old radios, clocks, flasks, toys and dolls, doll houses and other miniatures, model railroads, and automotive applications such as instrument clusters, dash boards and other interior elements. The adhesive backed version is highly appreciated by these hobbyists.

Selecting and using Restoration Black Leather in uncut sheets

Restoration Black leather is available in uncut sheets for the professional camera repair tech, or for the hobbyist. You can purchase the leather with or without our renowned synthetic adhesive laminated to the back. You should give some consideration to this choice . . . the adhesive backed leather provides an extremely strong and consistent bond across each piece, but it should be used as part of a systematic approach to your work: you should do all of your pattern making first, with a substitute material such as a heavy kraft paper. Why? Without a "sticky back" your substitute material can be handled freely, so that you can hold it up to the camera as often as you need, to trim the paper in increments to the precise shape. You can then use the paper substitute as a template to cut the adhesive backed leather, which ideally should be applied just once, as the final stage of your work. You cannot work with the adhesive backed leather "on the fly" by trimming it to approximate shape, applying it, then removing to trim more, re-applying, etc. The adhesive will become quickly exhausted from repeated handling and peeling.

On the other hand, if you do not choose the integrated adhesive, you can work with Restoration Black leather freely, just like the substitute paper. In this case you will need to use your own solvent-based contact cement to adhere the leather. Best results will be obtained by applying a thin layer of cement to both the camera and the leather, and then waiting a few minutes to dry. Follow this with another thin layer of cement to the leather, which should be pressed into place after about a minute.

For pre-cut camera kits, Restoration Black is now a regular choice among the "Embossed Leathers" at the online order page. Uncut sheets, with and without adhesive back, are listed on the same page, Section 7.