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The medium format camera Zenobia in its Gold Edition

 


Browsing the eBay listings, I came upon a medium format foldable camera for which I saw great potential... for being upgraded.

Indeed, it seems that every single Medium Format camera of the brand "Zenobia" that I came across have all more or less suffered a similar fate: the leather coverings are chipping and falling off (a similar fate is found on Semi Leotax models and maybe some others). 

But what a fantastic opportunity to replace the dying material with brand new clothes!

After cleaning the camera, the idea crossed my mind to simply use it as such... but I quickly discarded the idea, as the camera's body was very sharp and very cold...

Something strange was discovered when peeling off the old "skin": the makers had used a piece of Japanese newspaper between the leather and the metal of the camera's back.


Or maybe this was a way for people during the war to exchange super secret messages? But since the camera was built from 1952 to 1957, when occupation ended, I doubt it. 

The repair process was slightly similar to the ones I described in other posts. Since I was using gold embossed cardboard, I decided to use a can of spray glue to fix the new coverings onto the camera.

The application process is always a bit stressful, it's almost a given that you'll have glue on your hands or where you don't want it, but after a few cold sweats and some elbow grease, the Zenobia Gold edition was ready to meet the world.

It was an exciting project because the camera can be easily used, and because I finally found a material that works best in terms of adherence and thickness. Not to mention the combination of the gold material with the old camera, which definitely gives it a luxury product feel.

This is one of the restoration I'm the most proud of so far, because it turned out very well and I'm excited to use the camera. Maybe buy more of them and restore them as well? 

What do you think?

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