Refurbishing the cover of a vintage camera

My first SLR camera was a Yashica FX-D which I got as a present back in the 1980s. I can’t remember when exactly, but probably around 1986.

It was a good camera! It came with a sharp Yashica ML 50mm f/1.4 and took lovely photos. It wasn’t particularly small (although positively svelte compared to 35mm DSLRs), so I rarely carried it around in the early 90s, only using it for the odd family portrait or day trip. Compact 35mm cameras were pretty good around that time, they had autofocus and a built in flash (which generally ruined photos but we didn’t care), so that’s what the majority of my photos were taken with until the advent of digital in the early 00s.

The Yashica had a leatherette covering which was not robust, at least not resilient to the passage of time, and it started to flake off badly. It looked terrible, so at some point I decided to rip it all off and replace it with good old gaffer tape. Gaffer tape has a sort of mottled look, so this didn’t actually look that bad… if you didn’t look too closely. And this is how it stayed for the next 20 years or more.

Recently the camera has had a second lease of life. I’ve been using it a lot more for my street photography and absolutely loving shooting film! Looking at the state of the camera, a friend tipped me off about Hugo Studio – a “one stop shop for vintage camera covers”. It’s an amazing website, offering leatherette replacements for over 400 vintage cameras, including of course the Yashica FX-D. I ordered one immediately! It took a while to arrive (they come from Texas) but it was good value – $27 including shipping.

Installation was pretty straightforward, even through I didn’t read the instructions about spraying with water beforehand 🤦

It only took 20 minutes to do and with the new leatherette installed the camera looks fantastic! I’ve no idea how robust the cover will be, but it certainly feels tough enough to last. Time will tell.

I plan to keep shooting with this camera for many more years, so this new cover paired with a wonderful Hawkesmill strap, as well as a new Contax Zeiss 35mm lens, gives an old banger a fabulous glow up as it approaches its 40th year.