Please pardon me if this is a repeat query.

For those times when I want my leica in stealth mode with no logos visible, what tape do you use?

Are there any choices of tape that will leave no adhesive residue when removed??

Thanks in advance

Jesse

-- jesse kramer (jesskramer@aol.com), March 13, 2002

Answers

I'm not sure of the best tape, but remember: you need to make sure the lens and viewfinder are also covered--those glass surfaces are very shiny.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), March 13, 2002.

If the demand is sufficient, I will market a special roll of tape commemorating the 100th birthday of Donald Duct, the inventor of the eponymous tape.

I will go to my local hardware/DIY shop and get a roll or 1/2 in. wide 3M black tape, stick it on my M6, pull it off and see what residue is left. If any, I will take a drop of lighter fluid and remove it.

Then I will get a Leica stencil & black spray paint and spray the logo onto the tape, inch by inch, then sell it for $10 an inch. Then I will sell movie camera blimps to cover the camera to mute the stertorous clatter of the shutter, as compared to the Black Hexar.

I will, at some time in the galactic future, be rich.

TFIC

R:>):>)

-- richard ilomaki (richard.ilomaki@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

i heard that hcb taped up his viewfinder. true or false?

-- ken kwok (kk353@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

Hoping for a serious answer, but I always enjoy a good gibe. Some cool leica websites like Hans Pahler's show their M bodies with the logos taped over

-- jesse kramer (Jesskramer@aol.com), March 13, 2002.

I'm still trying to hold back laughs, so while I'm at it I'll contribute a serious answer...

I recommend using black gaffer's tape. It's basically a cloth tape with the holding ability of duct tape, but unlike duct tape, it doesn't leave a sticky residue. I don't tape up my Leica (at least not any more), but my Nikon gear is covered with it, nameplates and exposed ports etc. I also use to secure tripods and hold up remote strobes in weird places.

-- Badris (badris@mac.com), March 13, 2002.

Just to clarify, I was asking this question to prevent street theft, not for stealth photography. I was trying to hide the value my gear

-- jesse kramer (jesskramer@aol.com), March 13, 2002.

There have been 2 zillion threads on this with serious and sarcastic answers..

Just use any doggone (black) tape, knowing that after time there will be some glue residue that will be hard to clean up after you pull off the tape.

That said, and acknowledging how "uncool" it is to take such a question seriously, a black taped black M hanging over a dark t-shirt is darn hard to spot. If you want to go as unnoticed as possible as a photographer (or as a leica user), black tape does help, red dot, white logos and/or silver chrome do not help. A minox 35/ricoh gr1 in the pocket help even more.

-- Jacques (jacquesbalthazar@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Another sort-of serious answer.

HCB, IMVHO taped his Leica logo more for reasons of his ego than anything alse. I wish he would open up and explain why. Has anyone ever heard from him on that?

Who in Shanghai in 1949 knew the difference between a Leica and a pice of Blue Cheese; both equally uncommon in China then. I have both my M6 and FM3a in grotty Nikon CF27 cases, wrapped mummy- like in black duct tape for camoflage. I have the M6 cloaked in clear tape, all over all the painted surfaces just as the bottom is from the factory, obviously for scratch protection. Taping over the Logo reminds me of what an ex-Catholic priest once said to me: Try forgetting about, and suppressing, your sexual urges- walk around holding your hand over your crotch all day.

Serious enough?

Cheers

-- RICHRRD ILOMAKI (richard.ilomaki@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Tell uh what sunny boy ifin uh gets urself a real lika she dont got nun fo them logo things. Aint got no stinkin batteries nether. Seriously 3M electric tape will work great on any of the chrome bodies. Dont rocomend it if you have a black paint though and would not use any type of solivent on it.

-- Al Henry (J Henry@provide.net), March 13, 2002.

Drop the camera, lens and all in that rubber goop that you can dip your tool handles in, comes in different colors. Non reflective and will help protect the camera from knocks and dents.

-- Dave Doyle (soilsouthlessspam@cox.net), March 13, 2002.

thanks for the tip about the solvents and the black paint. My M body does indeed have the black paint finish.

-- jesse kramer (jesskramer@aol.com), March 13, 2002.

i am not so sure about the tip with the gaffer tape. having spent some time in the music business, i still have lots of stuff around with nearly unremovable pieces of gaffer tape stuck on it.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

IMO, the Leica red logo is ugly.

Vive le M6J

-- Lucien (Lucien_vd@yahoo.fr), March 13, 2002.

The Leica already is a stealth camera. When I showed my sister's friend my M6/90, with which I had made portraits of my sister's cats, her immediate response was "Geez, how old is that thing?" People who don't know Leicas just won't give a damn about it tape or no tape, and people who know Leicas will recognize it no matter how much tape you put on it. Your own manner and composure will dictate just how "stealth" you are. Act like you belong there and believe in what you're doing, and you'll be as "stealth" as you can get. Act nervous, suspicious, guilty, and furtive, and you'll get your ass kicked one way or another, sooner or later.

-- Anon Terry (anonht@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

I was asking this question to prevent street theft

In that case use your Leica and use it often. After a while you'll scratch it up enough that it looks something like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewItem&item=1337921596

...causing even the most street-hardened thief to run away from you shrieking in horror.

:-O

-- Anon Terry (anonht@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

Electrical tape doesn't leave residue, is flexible enought to go on nicely, and looks pretty good. I once had an M3 covered with it for several years, and it came right off when I asked it to. Buy the best stuff you can find, though--probably 3M--not some dollar store stuff. Masking and duct tape both will leave a mess--I don't know about gaffer tape, though.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

My camera dealer used to carry invisible tape, but they had to discontinue it. They could never find it.

Try a roll of invisible Scotch tape.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 13, 2002.

I don 't know my ex girfriend said my M's looked like "grown up" cameras " and see knew nothing about cameras

-- Charles C. Stirk Jr. (ccstirkjr@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

A mint M6 and 35/2 showed up yesterday, and electrical tape application was one of the first things I did.

I know how hard I am on gear though, especially gear that travels everywhere with me. I even taped over the original protective plastic on the baseplate! Covered the top plate, went around all the edges that I thought were likely to brass with use, etc.

I could care less how my equipment looks (all my Hasselblad gear was bought as ugly as possible as long as it was still functional), but I might decide to sell/trade some the M6 one day, and M6 buyers seem really anal about cosmetic condition (it's a Leica! It's suposed to be used until it's worn out looking!). I might as well go to the effort to try and protect the cosmetics as much as possible.

Having said that, my wife thinks it looks much less inviting to theives now that I've taped over the red dot. I don't know for sure -- I'm not a theif. (I found a Leica IIIg in a box in my photo teacher's office in college -- she had no idea what it was. I wonder how many people know much about Leica at all.)

-- Derek Zeanah (derek@zeanah.com), March 13, 2002.

Pick up a sheet of vinyl stick-on numbers. I think either the 1 1/2" or 2", I can't remember offhand. The oval inside the "8" is perfect for covering the red logo and a piece of the "1" will cover the name logo. If you really want to go nuts a piece of the "1" will all cover the rewind "R".

-- David Cunningham (dcunningham@attglobal.net), March 13, 2002.

I've used black gaffer's tape without any problems.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), March 13, 2002.

BD Colen of the LUG is the one to contact about this.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), March 13, 2002.

I use black photo masking tape purchased at art supply stores. its somewhat expensive, but strong and leaves no residue.

jeremyT www.lifeinblue.com

-- jeremyT (jerthomas@earthlink.net), March 13, 2002.

This idea is ridiculous. The reason it's ridiculous is that street thieves steal based on a) type of product, and b) ease of theft. Tons of useless stuff gets stolen and discarded a block away because it was easy to steal but turns out to be valueless.

If you want to shoot on the street, get good insurance and don't worry about it.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), March 13, 2002.

Agree with Jeff. In email to Jesse, I noted that a Canon Rebel with a 28-200 zoom would be a more attractive target than a Leica. Any thief sophisticated enough to understand the value of Leicas and know a source where they could fence them for serious $$ will probably be sohpisticated enough that a little tape won't fool them.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), March 13, 2002.

C'mon guys, if the guy wants to tape his camera let him. Thieves are like magpies--they go for the shiny stuff. It works for bicycles, too. I remember a bike I used to see unlocked around campus when I was in college--it was painted with black housepaint on every surface, even the chainwheel and spokes. Looked awful. I never gave it much thought until I really looked one day and realized it was a VERY expensive racing bike.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Tape you camera, do what you want, but wear the strap diagonally across your chest, who's going to steal it that way?

-- Margaret (fitz@neptune.fr), March 13, 2002.

I have had chrome M2 & M3 for a long time with the chrome taped with black 3M Scotch brand photographic tape. I liked the flat black look and feel of the tape. I still have about half a roll left over from the mid 70s or so. It is like a black masking tape that is paper based and tears easily. I think I've retaped each body maybe twice in 25 years. Leica cleaned it off when I sent the cameras in for cla. My M6 is black. Cheers.

-- Don (wgpinc@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

I disagree about the lack of utility of taping off a Leica. In a dark theater, club, or other environment, where you are shooting in stealth, the tape covers the brighter, reflective parts of the camera, thus making it less conspicuous. Black cat in a coal pile as opposed to a skunk in a coal pile if you will. I have taped mine in the past, and will do so again from time to time.

For shoooting in brighter conditions, I agree, few people know or care about the Leica brand.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), March 13, 2002.

black gaffers tape is the way to go. it's specially formulated for usage in the motion picture industry to not leave a residue nor pick up paint and wallpaper or anything that it's stuck to. you can buy a roll online from movie production supply places. i can't remember the names of the merchant's right now but i'll try to post something later.

the utility of covering up your Leica logos with black tape is great. with it, most will just think you are using an old worthless crap camera, without it, they will know that you are using a Leica. big difference.

in my case, i peel off the tape when i'm doing model test shots so i can seem more professional and impressive. but having the tape on while doing street photography has afforded me comfort in areas where not having it did not. certainly worth it!

-- tim (emulsion71@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

On my black M6 I use the black 3M PHOTO masking tape. As mentioned it has a flat finish, is easy to cut to shape, feels fine (is grip- able) and comes off with out a residue. There was a shadow of the tape when I took it off before a CLA but simply wiping with a cloth cleaned it off (actually the shadow was fingerprints on the untaped area looking different than the cleaner area that was under the tape).

I have the logo and dot on my black camera taped. Taping the logo is probably overkill but the red dot on a black camera sorta stands out and has generated a few comments from some individuals. I also agree that if one is wearing dark clothes the blacked taped/black camera is not all that visible. I really am not worring about theft, but more concerned with "stealth". Even if one can come up with a logical explaination that the "taping" dos no good, it makes me feel like the camera is less obtrusive and for that reason alone I would tape it up to my hearts content.

Oddly, I do not have my silver M6 taped but tend to use this body when I really do not care about the camera being noticed. When I use both bodies I do not think "stealth" makes much of a difference.

My understanding (and I could certainly be wrong)about HCB and the black taped camera was that the taped cameras were silver and he was essentially making them black and did so for unobtrusiveness. I would suspect that if he had subtle looking black cameras from the factory at the time there would be little reason to add all the tape. Robert

-- Robert Ardinger (rardinger@kc.rr.comr), March 13, 2002.

I used black masking tape (NOT the same thing as photo tape, which is perfectly opaque). The black masking tape was $2.00 for a roll the same size as a $14.95 roll of 3M PHOTO tape. Got it at an art store. It leaves no residue that can't be removed in about 15 seconds with a gentle rub with some alcohol - if even that. It's very slightly glossier than the Photo tape, which blends very nicely with black chrome and vulcanite coverings.

Right now it's covering a bald spot where the vulcanite came off the M4-2 - and the red dot on the M4-P, which is down where the M6's battery cover is, so it gets a lot of finger rubbing, but hasn't shown any tendency to come loose after 3 months wear.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), March 14, 2002.