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New skin for a Canonet QL17
No need to present the Canonet QL17 with its compact body, sharp 40mm f/1.7 lens, its quiet shutter and it’s beautiful lines. It is one of the best 70’s rangefinder that you can find nowadays. And it will cost you around $70 to acquire such beautiful camera. It kind of make us think a bit why we’re buying expensive Leica …
Let’s get rid of the old skin
First you need to get rid of its old skin. I thought it would take me 10 minutes to get rid of it but in the end, it took me 2 days 
I’ve read after the fact that this is one of the most tenacious leather out there ! I confirm. I’ve used some Bix Stripper to remove the Canonet’s leather but you can use any paste stripper containing Methylene chloride. Cameraleather.com don’t recommend using a knife to remove the leather but instead they tell you to use a wooden chopstick. Well, sorry guys, but for the Canonet’s leather, there is no way you’re going to remove it with a wood stick. I’ve used my sharpest knife.
First apply the paste all over the camera and let it dry for 20 minutes or so. Re-apply the paste on the entire camera and wait for 45 minutes to one hour. Then you can start using your knife to remove the leather. Be careful not to damage the metal outside the limit of the leather. I did at a couple of spot … But I got quite impatient to say the least. This is a VERY tough leather and it’s going to take you quite some time to remove it. When you’re done with big chunks of it, re-apply the paste, let it dry and do it again. Do it until there is NO leather remaining. It took me 2 days for the whole process Maybe there are better products than BIX. If you try and find something better, let me know. I’ll update these instructions.
Here are some pictures of the removing process:
The leather from cameraquest.com comes on a sticky paper as you can see bellow.
I’ve let my wife apply the leather on the bare metal. She has smaller hand, nails and has more patience than me. Ok, I’m not a manual kind of guy. I’m pretty sure I’d have fucked up the whole thing Let’s be honest. So she took care of it … Thanks honey !
Here are some pictures of the process. It took her something like 20 minutes to apply the new leather. The cut from cameraleather is NOT perfect and I was a bit disappointed. Some edges are not perfect, not by far. But I was expecting better. Don’t get me wrong: I would still do it again for another camera. It looks very nice. But I was surprised by the non perfect leather cut.
And finally, here is my new Canonet with its beautiful blue goat skin ! It looks and smell good It is really an easy way to personalize such a fine camera. I might do it again for another type of camera.
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