Logo Coverup Tips

[smoody]

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Like others, I decided to turn my black M into a stealth camera -- not because I'm afraid of it being stolen or even because people notice it (the only other person to notice it so far has been another person carrying an M camera), but because I like the ambiguous all-black look and the fact that it makes it look more toy-camera-ish to the untrained eye when doing street photography.

 

Anyway, I found a type of tape that (so far) works really well. It's called UGlu Fabric Tape. They claim it "never leaves residue. Even after outdoor weathering or high temps, it will cleanly remove over time." We'll see about that, but so far so good. Here's the page for it on Amazon: Amazon.com: UGlu MSP401 Fabric Tape, Black: Home Improvement

 

They also make the same tape in gray, but I have no idea how well it matches the M9 gray ( Amazon.com: UGlu MTR404 Fabric Tape, Gray: Home Improvement ).

 

I also bought a 1/2 inch (12.7mm) hole punch that can punch through the UGlu tape to create a circle of tape that is the perfect size for covering up the Leica red dot. It looks much better than a hand-cut square-ish piece of tape covering the logo. It *almost* looks like it belongs there.

 

I bought the hole punch from here: One Hole Punches and Circle Punch - 1/16 to 1 inch to 3 inch -- fifth item down. They seem to be out of them right now, but they have an alternative product here: Craft Punch, Craft Punches for Crafts - Marvy Uchida Online Store (eighth item down) which costs a bit less. I'm not sure how similar it is in terms of ability.

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[2Bébèrt]

Some gaffer tape ??

 

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[brill64]

..mind posting a pic of the result?

[Mauribix]

Given the extreme quality of these paints (black and grey), be sure to make the best you can at first attempt.

I didn't like to walk in your shoes when tryin' to remove the tape and get a perfectly "brass-painted" M9.

[jaapv]

A bit of white paint to write the Leica logo on the tape?

[noah_addis]

Just be aware--I gaffer taped over the M9 lettering and when I removed the tape a few weeks later, much of the white paint came off too. I didn't care since I planned to remove the white paint anyway, but if you're hoping to maintain the white M9 letters for resale or whatever--you may be in for a surprise.

 

I don't think my camera is more stealth or less likely to be stolen, I'm just not a fan of the white lettering. I do like the red dot though:cool:

[Overgaard]

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Be aware that the Police in London finds blacked out cameras suspicious, as well as "odd camera models" like Leica M (given as a reason currently to take a Irish photographer in for three hours).

 

I'm considering a nuclear looking tape for my next trip shooting the Tube in London and a hand-granate looking remote.

 

And of course a tripod as well, also recognized by the London Police as part of a terrorist-looking setup (it's true; they believe terrorists use tripods).

 

They really have this tourist and terrorist words mixed up these days!

[Mauribix]

And of course a tripod as well, also recognized by the London Police as part of a terrorist-looking setup (it's true; they believe terrorists use tripods).

 

It seems reasonable to me, tripods are needed to focus right on the target...

[scc]

When I taped the white M9, I placed a smaller piece of tape on the adhesive of a larger piece of tape so that no adhesive touches the logo itself, a little like a band-aid.

[bill]

Do you lot debadge your cars as well? Sheesh...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[bill]

I won't wear clothing with logos - does that count?

 

Neither do I, Rich, but that's a different question.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[Ed_K]

In earlier posts some have used the black leica logo to replace the red one, will you consider this mod if you haven't bought the tape in the first place, smoody? At this moment the black logo is still out of stock unfortunately.

[markgay]

Quoting Smoody: Like others, I decided to turn my black M into a stealth camera -- not because I'm afraid of it being stolen or even because people notice it (the only other person to notice it so far has been another person carrying an M camera), but because I like the ambiguous all-black look and the fact that it makes it look more toy-camera-ish to the untrained eye when doing street photography.

 

You need the Chicken Hat. Disguise yourself and the job's done. You get the all-black look perfected by such monocouturists as Depeche Mode and no one will believe you're a photographer, let alone carrying a Leica.

 

))

 

Mark