I’ve noticed that some of the older scuffed up cameras could use a little cosmetic snazzing up – though that’s not to say a brand new shiny camera wouldn’t look good with adornments….
As a person who enjoys a good sticker sticking, I am always looking for things that can help me fulfill my stickering addiction – laptops, water bottles, cameras, whatever. I realize that this is not the minimalist approach but I have resigned myself to admiring the minimalist aesthetic from a distance. My favourite 2D stickers to use are ones featuring kawaii characters, such as, Sumikko Gurashi, Rilakkuma, Corocoro Coronya, Tokidoki and so many more! In addition to these, I also like the 3D ‘gem stone’ style stickers. Note that this style of sticker is also good for decorating ones face at costume parties or electronic music festivals. If you’re feeling indecisive, bring your stickers and the camera you feel needs jazzing up to Beau because we offer FREE sticker placement consultations. You could even purchase a camera in the store and we could do a little same day stickering since we do have a selection of stickers here.
In addition to stickering, there are also delightful hot shoe covers available that come in two main styles. Depending on how wild you’re feeling that day, you can choose between a 2D or 3D character to fill the void in your hot shoe.
The 2D option slides in flush with the top of your camera. You could get a plain hot shoe cover (and a plain one certainly is included with new cameras upon purchase) but plain is boring! I feel the better option is to use the dead space to feature one of your favourite anime characters! We sell these in store for $10 each.
The 3D option is more in your face (literally) – it stays on by sliding in the hot shoe of your camera, but has a little figure attached so it appears as if your favourite anime or cartoon character is perched on top of your camera. I like using mine at music festivals or events, and also when my camera is just resting on my bookshelf. We sell these in store for $16 each.
If you like bling, we have sparkles too! There are custom sparkled lens caps and body caps that come in pink, blue, red, gold or black. Sizes do vary. They can be purchased for $10 each.
Buying yourself a camera strap is usually the first thing to do when buying a new camera, however it never hurts to switch it up. When choosing a strap, first choose your vibe. The two main looks are ultra minimalist, which can be achieved with a leather strap from one of our local handcrafters – Achilles, Burke Mountain Leather or Strike Straps, or you could get groovy with a retro camera strap. These are brightly coloured and give off summer time vibes. If you’re into wrist straps, we do have two handcrafted options: Burke Mountain Leather makes a leather one, and Infinity Studio Designs makes a beaded wrist strap. See in store for pricing.
If you’d rather go practical but classy, we also have 3D printed PETG vented lens hoods designed for Zeiss Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 bayonet mount lens (43mm thread mount), which also fits the Zeiss Planar 50mm f2. These hoods are available in black, for sale in store at $35 each.
Another ‘old standby’ for camera ornamentation that’s also functional is getting a showier soft shutter release button. These screw into shutter buttons on most old manual cameras . Sadly, after things went fully electric, so did shutter release buttons so they won’t work on most cameras after the 80’s. Obviously there are some exceptions as the transition from manual to fully automatic spawned a few hybrids. In the store we carry metal, in red, silver or black and wood grain shutter release buttons. See in store for pricing.
Sometimes when a camera has been stored in dry conditions its leatherette gets brittle, which is great that it isn’t growing things such as mould or corrosion, but bad because the leatherette chips off. As annoying as this is you can utilize this blank canvas and show off your art skills until you see fit to ‘re skin’ the camera! I decorated using sharpie but honestly anything that leaves the surface flat would work, just don’t choose something corrosive…
This last suggestion is a bit more involved. Short of sending cameras overseas to have them professionally painted (I would LOVE to do this), the best way to mix it up is to indeed, mix it up. With most cameras there are interchangeable parts between models of the same brand and era. Simply purchase a parts body of the opposite colour you own and have a repair tech swap ’em around, I got our repair tech to do this for me (at a reasonable cost) and it looks great! Pricing may vary.
