Somewhat embarrassing question: what tape to use on a blacked out camera?

[Andrew Sowerby]

Hello all,

I like the stealthy look of taped-up cameras so I thought I'd tape over the lettering on my black R2A. I don't want to use tape that will leave much sticky residue though. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
-Andrew

[BillBingham2]

Not sure, my gut would tell me a high quality electrical tape would work best. I find it great on many other applications and the glue does not gum up the way others do.

B2 (;->

[kshapero]

Not sure, my gut would tell me a high quality electrical tape would work best. I find it great on many other applications and the glue does not gum up the way others do.

B2 (;-> I have been using black electric tape for years. When GAS hits and you need to sell a rig, the tape comes off easily and a little polish remover will wipe off any glue residue.

[Andrew Sowerby]

Get good quality Gaffer's tape, not duct tape, painters tape or anything else.

Put gaffer's tape and on and it should come off smoothly, without leaving any residue.

Rav.

Thanks for the tip. Where does one buy gaffer's tape? Would a regular hardware store have it?

[spyder2000]

"Gaffer's tape" is simply electrical tape. Any hardware store, home improvement store and the like will have it. Some supermarkets have this as well.

[Socke]

As a BOFH I'd recomend duct tape, duct tape is like the force, it's got a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.
OTOH, if you want to remove it, gaffers tape is better suited to the task :-)

Gaffers tape is named after the lighing/electrical guys in the movie industrie, they need a tape which can be applied anywhere and removed without traces later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaff_tape

[clintock]

Gaffer's tape is not electrical tape, and it's certainly not Duct tape.
It's not easy to find sometimes, any place that sells theater supplies and studio things, better camera stores. It's pretty expensive, for tape anyway.
Gaffer's tape is cloth backed flat black material designed to hold wires and things on a stage, but be fully removable after the gig/show- without pulling up any paint.. Duct tape is permanent, or is designed to be, as is electrical tape..
In some hardware stores not there is a display of 3m vinyl tapes in many colors.
That stuff is pretty good- a little thicker than vinyl electical tape and wider, in a more sane quantity.
Gaffer's tape sometimes has a light grey adhesive side, so the edges of the tape are easy to see against the black camera, but that 3m vinyl tape (just like 'electrical tape') is black on the front and back, so sometimes looks better.

[kshapero]

Agian, I'll say I have tried them all and electric tape looks the best, IMHO, and does come off easily.

[Ronald M]

Gaffers is NOT electric tape. It sticks about 5x as well.

[drewbarb]

Gaffers tape is also different from electrical tape in that it's designed to keep it's adhesive on the tape when you pull it up, rather than leave it on your surface. It should not harm most surfaqces or leave residue, unless you leave it on for years and years. You can get Gaffers tape at any professional supply store catering to photographers, filmmakers, videographers, gaffers, riggers, lighting designers, etc.

That said, I might go with elecrtical tape to do a tape job on a camera. Gaffers tape is great stuff, but electrical tape is thinner, and might be better to leave in place for a long time. Whatever you use, be prepared to clean some tape residue off your camera if you leave the tape on for a long time.

[clintock]

I've got regular ole office tape on some of my cameras, over the feet bumps and where the strap can rub. Making my cameras look awful in an effort to keep them looking good!

[VinceC]

The glue on duct tape gets very hard and crumbly over time. The outer rubber surface also comes off over time.

I use electrical tape from the hardware store.

[tedwhite]

Electrician's tape. I've used it many times on cameras. It's very thin and its reflective surface is approximately that of a black camera, so it's quite invisible. Also, it usually comes off and leaves no residue.

[ZeissFan]

Get a can of flat-black spray paint -- Krylon or Rustoleum will do. That will cover anything.

This is totally unnecessary. For the most part, no one gives a hoot what camera a photographer is using, especially if it isn't digital.

[tedwhite]

Good point, Mike.

Hardly anyone pays much attention to cameras anymore regardless of whether they have visible lettering. I suspect because everyone has one (digital). I get more comments using a white metal 1967 Pentax Spotmatic, and no one seems to mind having their picture taken with it. "Hey, man, I remember those from when I was a little kid."

Slightly more sophisticated comments when I use the Bessa R, which of course looks, to the untutored eye, just like a Leica: "Hey, Marge, look at that. Now, that's a real camera."

[Ken Ford]

Shiny black electrical tape. I've been using it for years - I had one piece on my F3 since new (1984), and the underlying paint was undamaged when i finally removed it last year.

[bmattock]

May I humbly suggest that if a camera has a 'stealthy look', it is not stealthy. A 'look' is something to be seen. 'Stealthy' is something not to be seen.

Flat black spray paint after sanding it down, or just have it chromed and wave it about. Gaffer's tape can give a good grip too. I'm looking around for that plastic goo you used to be able to get to dip hand tools in for my Kodak C530.

[Andrew Sowerby]

Get a can of flat-black spray paint -- Krylon or Rustoleum will do. That will cover anything.

This is totally unnecessary. For the most part, no one gives a hoot what camera a photographer is using, especially if it isn't digital.

I'm not trying to prevent people from seeing my camera -- I very rarely take pictures in a situation where I don't want people to know that I'm taking their picture. I just don't like the look of white brand and model names on my black camera. Perhaps that makes me shallow.

[markinlondon]

After I'd been using a blacked out M6 TTL for about 18 monthe without any comments the tape fell off one day as I took it out of my bag exposing that red beacon on the front. Two minutes later a man rushed up to me saying "wow, a Leica!". I replaced the tape as soon as I got home. I'd go for electrical tape.

[kully]

I'm with you there Andrew, if I pay for something I don't want to have to walk around advertising the company as well :)

[Finder]

I use black masking tape on my Mamiya 6s.

I have found it helps with portraits. I noticed one day with my un-taped body that the subject was looking at the name on the camera rather than the lens. It did not happen every time, but enough were I was noticing it. Once taped, the subjects focused on the lens. It could be people look for areas on the camera with high contrast like white letters on black. Or people gravitate to words. I am not sure, but taping off the logo seemed to keep people looking at the lens.

Taping does not make the camera less conspicuous generally. The rangefinder/viewfinder windows and lens stand out as much as a logo. But it does stop amateurs from checking out the brand - a very annoying habit.

[spyder2000]

Gaffer's tape is electrical tape. Here, it's more widely known as "friction" tape and it isn't plastic, it's fabric. But certainly not duct tape. You can remove paint from almost anything with that stuff.

[VinceC]

>>I have found it helps with portraits. I noticed one day with my un-taped body that the subject was looking at the name on the camera rather than the lens.<<

That's what I have found. People naturally read the words on the camera logo, and in doing so, they engage a different part of their brain than when they look at an object. By reading a word, they become more verbal. They often want to discuss the word in the logo. In my case, it's a Nikon logo, and they want to talk about Nikon's they own or how Nikon compares to other brands.

If I throw a bit of tape over the Nikon logo, none of this happens. Every now and then, someone will look at the little camera and say "Is that a Leica?" and I reply, "No, it's a really old Nikon." And that's the end of it.

[Xmas]

The single shot snipers try and use all sort of camo to avoid detection, life and death for them.

Noel

[gb hill]

While we're talking/arguing wether gaffers tape is electrical tape or not, I would like to add this little story. My buddy came home from the Army and we were fixing something, and my buddy asked...Do you have any 100 mile an hour tape? What the hell is 100 mile an hour tape I asked?.... He said it's duct tape, and they use it on army helicopters because it holds up to 100 miles an hour. So I guess the moral of this story is... unless your shooting at speeds of 100 miles an hour you don't need duct tape.:D

[bsdunek]

Actually, tapes have become very specialized. Electrical, friction, duct, masking, and all the others are all different.
When it comes to general consumer products, there is some overlap.
Some adhesives are called permanent (duct tape for example) whereas some are temporary (blue masking tape). Vinyl electrical tape is permanent, but will not be so on a smooth non-porous surface like a camera. Some tapes will attack the black paint, and will leave marks you can’t remove. Good ol’ ‘Scotch’ tape is an example, as it’s made to be permanent.
As has been mentioned above, Gaffer tape is made to be removed and not leave adhesive behind, or to attack most surfaces. Duct tape is made to be permanent - just try to take it off after a couple of weeks!
As black vinyl electrical tape doesn’t seem to attack most materials, it should work fine. When removed, any adhesive left behind can be removed with “Goo-Gone”.

See http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Manufacturing/Industry/Product-Catalog/Tapes/Industrial-Tapes/ for a run down on the many types of tape. :cool:

[bottley1]

I can't believe some of the threads on this website!!! Personally, being a chrome Leica boy, I use grey electrical tape as my camouflage of choice

[JCdeR]

Not starting a rant here.... but why would you want to tape off any camera anyway .... I really fail to see the point of this, if it's estetics ... fine if you like to paint your camera pink, and if you like it this is OK.... but are there any other reasons that I fail to see ?

[Ken Ford]

Not starting a rant here.... but why would you want to tape off any camera anyway .... I really fail to see the point of this, if it's estetics ... fine if you like to paint your camera pink, and if you like it this is OK.... but are there any other reasons that I fail to see ?

Speaking only for myself...

I started taping my cameras when I was a working PJ in the 80s. It stopped a lot of the "what kind of camera is that" questions when I was trying to work. I don't tape my SLRs any more since I'm not a PJ now.

I taped the white lettering on the front of my M6 strictly for aesthetics, the same reason it has a black dot instead of red. I like it that way - I'm not trying to conceal that it's a Leica.