Topic: Restoring old camera straps

[cs1]

Hi all!

As some of you may know I'm an avid Canon F-1 user. I recently got the idea to get on of those old original Canon camera straps that are red and have a black Canon inscription on the strap. I don't want to use it in its slightly battered condition so I made a plan to do the following things:

• Use an extractor (sprays on clean liquid and vacuums it off right afterwards) to clean the strap itself (it has leather on both ends so putting it into the washing machine is no option).
• Clean the leather on both ends with black shoe polish.
• There're black rivets that fasten the leather parts on both ends. They're quite scratched and I plan to sand the old paint off and re-paint them.
• Re-paint the black Canon inscription with textile paint.

I'm planning on making it compatible with the Peak Design anchor system so I'll attach clips for the Peak Design anchors to both ends.

My question is: have any of your restored camera straps (possibly the original red Canon ones) and have any advice? Do the above steps make sense in your eyes? Thanks!

[Bryan]

I don't know if I've seen a red strap with the black Canon inscription.  If you want to do it I say why not, especially if it's a hard to find strap in good condition.  How will you attach the Peak Design anchor system to the strap?  Will you have to add some nylon webbing?

Not sure if I still have it or if I sold it with the camera but I have or had the red one pictured below with the red Canon inscription.  I used it with the camera and it's in pretty good shape.  Can't remember if it has the leather ends, I think it does.

I have so many straps the only ones I have even thought about restoring are the leather ones on the old cases.  In that case I would use a leather conditioner for old dried out leather.  Often the leather is cracked from drying in which case I just remove it from the case.  I have a few that I have been meaning to attach a new leather or nylon strap to. 

Canon AE-1 Program by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[Francois]

When I get a camera strap, I always wash it in a dish with dish soap and hang it to dry on a cloth hanger. It's usually enough for the fabric part.
Even if there is leather, I put it all in the dish.
For the dried-up leather, I usually use some Mink oil that I let soak-in. I've also used some Dubin and it works fine. It sometimes needs a few applications to get the leather to an almost new state. I apply it on both the finished and the raw side.

For rivets, I usually don't bother but if I need to touch them up, there are some really nice oil paint Sharpies that you can get at art supply stores. The paint that's in them is really good.

[cs1]

I don't know if I've seen a red strap with the black Canon inscription.  If you want to do it I say why not, especially if it's a hard to find strap in good condition.  How will you attach the Peak Design anchor system to the strap?  Will you have to add some nylon webbing?

There's actually a kit by Peak Design that comes with anchors and two clip parts which you can attach to standard straps. Re: whether or not the strap is hard to find -- it's the pro strap that you could get back in the days as opposed to the thin black standard strap. I think that it look quite nice.

Not sure if I still have it or if I sold it with the camera but I have or had the red one pictured below with the red Canon inscription.  I used it with the camera and it's in pretty good shape.  Can't remember if it has the leather ends, I think it does.

That's also a nice strap. The one that's currently on its way to me is solid red with black printed-on inscription.

In that case I would use a leather conditioner for old dried out leather.  Often the leather is cracked from drying in which case I just remove it from the case.  I have a few that I have been meaning to attach a new leather or nylon strap to.

The leather conditioner is a really good idea, I haven't thought of that.

For the dried-up leather, I usually use some Mink oil that I let soak-in. I've also used some Dubin and it works fine. It sometimes needs a few applications to get the leather to an almost new state. I apply it on both the finished and the raw side.

Yes, I think I'll try something like that. I need to have the strap in my hands so that I can evaluate whether I'm going to keep the old leather parts or whether I'll replace the leather with new one using the old parts as templates.

For rivets, I usually don't bother but if I need to touch them up, there are some really nice oil paint Sharpies that you can get at art supply stores. The paint that's in them is really good.

I think that the rivets are quite sturdy metal ones so I was thinking about using a small power tool to sand the old paint off and then use some primer and actually coat the rivet with several layers of proper spray paint so that it'll stay black a little longer.

[Francois]

That black sharpie paint is really good. No primer is needed.
The advantage of doing it the lazy way is that you don't need to mask anything. The bad side is that the chipped leftover paint will show in the paint reflection.

[Bryan]

I like those small containers of automotive chip repair paint for stuff like that. 

[astrobeck]

there's also such a thing as "Saddle Soap" made specifically for  leather cleaning.
We used to use it on the farm for the saddles and bridles...etc. Good for shoes too.
You can find it at a tack or ranch and feed supply shop.

[Francois]

They also have some leather restorer at these places...

[cs1]

That black sharpie paint is really good. No primer is needed.
The advantage of doing it the lazy way is that you don't need to mask anything. The bad side is that the chipped leftover paint will show in the paint reflection.

I removed the paint with my power tool. I'll be using a little repair kit for black car paint. That should work properly. I'll keep you posted.

I like those small containers of automotive chip repair paint for stuff like that. 

Yup, that's exactly what I'll be using.

I'm making good progress so far. The most surprising / disgusting phase was using the extractor on the strap. I used water with a little soap and the extractor sprayed it on and vacuumed it and you wouldn't imagine how much dirt came out of the strap... I also worked on the leather with a leather restorer. It seems to have done the job but I need to redo a number of places with a second coating. I'm still waiting for the black fabric pen to touch up the "Canon" print on the strap.

[cs1]

Finished! I've managed to restore the Canon strap to some of its old glory. I've used leather repair paste to fix the worn-down leather, shoe polish to touch it up and I used a power tool to remove the paint from the rivet ends. My wife drives a black car an it happens to have a paint repair kit on board that I used to colour the rivet ends. Please note that in the photos it looks somewhat unclean but that's because it's metallic paint and in real life it looks quite cool -- almost glamorous. I used alcohol to clean the Canon badge on the leather part of the strap which worked really well.

Using and extractor to clean the strap was a really good idea because it was pretty disgusting how much dirt got removed from the strap. Here're some pictures of the work:


Restoring a Canon strap (Before and after extracting the dirt) by C S


Restoring a Canon strap (Repainting the Canon logo) by C S


Restoring a Canon strap (Repairing leather an rivets) by C S

[Francois]

That juice was really yucky looking.

[Bryan]

Nice job, especially touching up the fabric with paint, that came out looking perfect.

[cs1]

That juice was really yucky looking.

It really was. Especially the amount of stuff that came out there.

Nice job, especially touching up the fabric with paint, that came out looking perfect.

Thanks, I'm also very happy with the result.

[Bryan]

This is a better picture of the Canon strap that I have, I guess I didn't sell it with the camera.  The rivets are chrome and the construction looks a little different than yours.  It shows a little use but still in really good condition. 

[cs1]

Very cool strap. So retro stylish.

I went onto the my first photo outing with the restored strap and it was nice. I'll probably be saving it for special photo occasions because I have the impression that, in contrast to my Peak Design strap that I normally use, the Canon strap is a little aquaphobic and also the length adjustment is not robust enough (it gets longer over time). Comparing those two you can clearly see the advancements of strap design over the years.