Cleaning

Since joining this forum my camera collecting interest seems to be reviving. I have been dashing about photographing and trying to sort out a rather nice collection which has been neglected for too long.

As I have sorted things out I have been cleaning off the dust and grime of everyday pollution. I have discovered that Micro Dusters in their various forms are great. The cloth meant for stainless steel, slightly dampened then a polish over with the one meant for glass does the trick.

Many of my early Kievs have paint missing in various degrees to the nameplate inscription. Now the question....is it morally acceptable to touch up the original paint for aesthetic reasons? Or for originality does one leave it as the 'patina' of age?

If the former what is the best way of doing it? I have tried painting over the area with matt 'Humbrol' and then wiping off whilst the paint is still wet. It doesn't work very well, wiping off seems to remove the paint from the engraving and leave a sort of dark sheen to the surrounding chrome. This can be removed, but with a little difficulty.

Funnily enough this cleaning has been rather good. A few of my cameras had small amounts of 'brassing' which I have discovered is a surplus of glue left by previous owners sticking down loose leather coverings. Impact adhesive dries with a dull brassy appearance.

Any help welcomed.

Brian.

Brian,

you have stumbled onto a gold mine of information. Camera cosmetics is my favorite thing to do. I even have a little work bench set up for this purpose.

Here's what I do when I get a camera that is dusty, paint comes off etc.:

1. First of all I use compressed air to go all around the camera make sure there is not dust left on the outside, on the lens, in the nooks, inside the camera on whatever is accessible without disassembling it.

2. I take a natural all purpose cleaner. I am using a cleaner based on cedar oil they sell in Trader Joe's in the U.S. but I guess it does not do you much good. Any all-purpose natural cleaner should do. I go with paper towel all around the camera including leather (only do leather if you know the ingredients in the cleaner otherwise you may damage it)

3. Then if there are still marks on the metal I use Brasso metal polish to polish and remove that off. Be very careful with it as it is very abrasive, it'll take a layer of leather right off.. I use paper towels and Qtips to apply it.

4. If there is paint that is worn out and yo can see metal, in arts and crafts store I've bought special glossy black enamel markers which is exactly the same paint used on most of these cameras. If you do it carefully with a single pass, no one would be able to even notice it had been repainted.

5. If leather peels off I usually use a little brush with superglue to stick that back on. You need to be careful not to put too thick of a layer on the back side of the leather otherwise glue may come out when you press it on and stick to you finger and you can rip off a piece of leather this way. But it is much more efficient than the glue they use on it originally. Oh and make sure you blow any dust with compressed air from inbetween the leather and the camera body.


6. Now finally it's time for cleaning the leather.. What I did, I went to shoe store and they sell these polish sponges for all colors with no shoe paint. I think what they are is just greased up sponges with some special oils. I got 2 of those. I rotate them in terms of buying new one, but they last a while. One I always keep least used. The one that is least used is usually very oily. If the leather is very old looking the very oily sponge bring is back to life, like it is brand new. The effect is amazing. The other sponge is the same sponge but it's been used heavily so there is very little oil on it.. I usually use it to buff up the camera, it even works great on the plastic and the metal parts because it makes the whole camera shine. There sponges are usually stuck to plastic box so when you open them half the box is your handle.. it makes it hard sometimes to get into tough spots to clean leather like on bellows cameras. What I do, is I cut of a vertial strip off a greasy sponge and use that to clean the bellows all around.

7. I use lens cleaned and micro-cloth on lens, viewfinder and rangefinder. And sometime I use Qtips with that cleaner on viewfinder to get the gunk on the periphery of the square window..


I do this process every time I get a new camera. It make a world of difference.

Hope that helps.

Vlad.

That's fabulous Vlad. As you say a mine of information, cheers.

One thing you didn't mention is the blacking in of engravings, "to do, or not to do", that is the question....my apologies to Shakespeare for the misquote. Here, isn't he rather popular in the Russian Federation?

Cheers,

Brian.

Well, I don't touch them at this point because I'm not sure what to use there... if someone has any ideas, feel free to chime in.. I tried regular marker but that comes off on the first touch... maybe there are some kind of fine enamel markers available, I haven't seen them..

Vlad

Regarding Shakespeare, he is popular pretty much everywhere. :)

Vlad.

"Regarding Shakespeare, he is popular pretty much everywhere."

Funny Vlad in Stratford during the tourist season you can't hear the actors....the sound of snoring hordes drowns it out. :(

Yes I have tried various inks etc to no great degree of success. But somebody might come up with an answer.

Brian.

Hi Vlad and Brian,

Personally, I would say not to black in the markings, unless it is a case where the markings were filled with paint at the factory when being made. Some Russian dealers do fill in the markings with black to make the cameras more attractive to buyers who don't know that they were not originally filled, but I think it is a bad idea as it ruins the original look of the camera.

With rare cameras, such as your 1948 KIEV III Brian, it would also hurt the value significantly to touch or do any restoration. I would always rather buy a camera that is untouched in any way, and when I get it all I do (sometimes) is just lightly clean it. I never repaint anything. Sometimes if a camera is very rare, I don't even clean it (as in the case of the early KIEV III that I posted last week) because the oxidation and dirt on the camera are evidence and clues that the camera is in an original, untouched condition, without replaced parts (or sometimes you can tell what has been replaced). It is sort of like forensic science in some way.

As you can tell, I am a pretty much a purist and into the rare cameras for myself, but I'm not against folks painting and altering cameras, even to the point of "fantasy" versions, as long as it is done on the more common cameras and isn't done on the historic ones. (Although many years in the future, when the common cameras of today become rare, there will be many collectors who wish the previous owners did not touch them!).

Regards, Bill

I agree with Bill on one point I guess, I would not touch the rare cameras. But I usually pretty up my sub-$100 cameras :).

Personally I like a lovingly restored old camera. I love to see old things as they were in their prime, not aged and falling apart...

Something about a very old camera in beautiful condition that attracts me. I would not go to the extremes of repainting it into different, as they call in Russia "parrot" colors, but I'm not against putting a snakeskin covering on a $20 Zorki 6 that had original leather all peeling off you know.

Vlad

I agree with you Vlad, and in fact I love the cameras that people become creative with (and they will be rare in their own right in the future). Just don't like to see the very rare cameras altered (which I have seen many times).

Just to show that I am not a total purist, here are photos of a 1973 KIEV 4, hand-painted with enamel paints by an unknown artist in Ukraine!

It looks like an industrial scene, maybe from a coal mine or steel factory. I did a search on the internet for "Kamaza" and came up with the last photo which looks like the place! (notice the overhead railing and slurry pipe on the left). Maybe you can help with a translation of the words on this camera Vlad!











Regards, Bill

Holy crap! (pardon my expression! :) ).

That's craziest looking camera. I was wondering when you were going to whip it out! :) LOL!

It says "Arterii Kamaza" which means "Arteries of Kamaz" Kamaz is an automotive factory in Naberzhniye Chelny in Tatarstan between rivers Kama and Volga, thus KamAZ - Kama Avtomobilniy Zavod.

http://kamaz.net/en/

And I guess these pipes represent arteries.

Vlad.

Vlad,

Thanks for the translation. It think that the artist who made this camera probably worked at this factory at one time. I see on their website (thanks for the link) that they also have a metallurgy division where they seem to make iron and steel castings too.

This camera was so interesting and creative with its Russian Constructivist - Modernist scene that I had to buy it! I am wondering what those piles of stuff are that those guys are standing on!

Regards, Bill

It is a truly unique camera!

I think it's either coal or iron ore they're standing on. It may also just be soil, since a lot of Russian factory grounds are very raw. It may be just post-construction piles of dirt.

Vlad.

Looks like the big tubes end at those piles, so I guess they are dumping something out, maybe coal ashes.

Regards, Bill

Very possible..

Vlad

Bill I agree your remarks re the rarer cameras, but on the other hand I think Vlad is right with his sub $100 examples.

One of you mentioned about engravings that weren't filled in. I have a few examples, I wondered if that was the case because there isn't a trace of paint.

Bill I love the Graffetti version, whoever did it must have been on something. :)

Regards,

Brian.