Covering the RED DOT, Need Suggestions PLEASE!

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I'm looking to cover the red dot on my Leica M6 Classic and have been hearing many different suggestions for the types of tape to be used. I hear the duct tape does very well but can leave a residue after use, and I don't want the value of my Classic to go down in price.

Any suggestions on this matter ?

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002

Answers

Grant, you're crazy. No one pays attention to the damn red dot.

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), May 14, 2002.

DON'T TOUCH THAT DOT! It's part of the nuclear early warning system. Covering it will damage out missile defenses. Consider yourself warned.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), May 14, 2002.

Gaffers tape, if you must. It'll stick well, and if you change it every couple of months, won't leave any residue. Find it at any pro photo shop, film/video production supply place, B&H, etc.

-- drew (swordfisher@hotmail.com), May 14, 2002.

spray paint

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), May 14, 2002.

Can Grant use the same spray paint he uses for tagging?

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), May 14, 2002.


About a decade ago, I held my new M6 up and said to my neighbor, "Look what I have here." She replied, "A Leeka?"

At a Little League game several years ago, I was shooting my son with my R7 and 400mm f/6.8 Telyt. The Telyt attracted quite a bit of attention. A Contax shooter approached, studied the label on the pentaprism and said, "What do you have there - Oh, it's a Leica. When did they stop making those?"

That is the pinnacle of the general population's knowledge of the marque. You might as well be shooting a Holga for all they care. That's one of the beauties of the Leica. Nobody knows, or cares, what they are. Especially thieves do not recognize a Leica as someting of value. But they do know that a Rolex equates to wealth. Cover your red dot if you must but it will make no difference. I can spot any M from 100 yards. You have to get closer to spot a R - much rarer.

Good shooting.

-- Doug Landrum (dflandrum@earthlink.net), May 14, 2002.


does a holga have a red dot? i only use cameras with red dots...

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002.

Seriously Grant, black darkroom tape works ok, comes off easy won't hurt things. I think a better thing to tape is the bottom and top plates, for scratch protection.

Of course, if you really want to preserve its value, just put it back in the box, and get another camera!

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), May 14, 2002.


I paint red dots on all my cameras. I have a PinHolga, but it didn't come with a red dot. I painted on a red dot on it, and now my Holga pinhole shoots much sharper.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), May 14, 2002.

Leica should borrow an idea from Nokia. If you don't like the red dot, you should be able to snap it out and snap in a designer dot of your choice. Yellow, purple, green. I think $50 per dot would not be too much. This alone could keep Leica solvent. How about commerative dots for things like Casmir Pulaski's birthday?

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 14, 2002.


If you must cover the red dot and - why not - all Leica lettering, use black electrical tape, and change it often. I do it. No bragging and, for candid shooting, no one trying to read what's written on the little black camera out there. And, I don't know, I think the M looks more sober, classier, understated. Of course your M is black, right?

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 14, 2002.

Try used bubble gum. Licorice of course.

Jerry

-- Jerry Pfile (Jerry Pfile@MSN.com), May 14, 2002.


What's the big deal about preserving the red dot, anyway? When your RF gets adjusted, they peel it off, throw it out and slap on a new one that they peel off a sheet of them. It's not like this is some sort of one-of-a-kind item that needs to be preserved. Paint it over with a felt pen and be done with it.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), May 14, 2002.

Actually, the cool custom modification is to replace the red dot with a black dot (a part from the LHSA special editions.)

-- Phil Stiles (stiles@metrocast.net), May 14, 2002.

if i got the black dot, would that improve my photos any? or is it just the same...

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002.


This Red Dot thing has been on the LUG and other mailing lists for years. My M4 didn't have a Red Dot - - - but my earlier M6 did. With that M6, my wife and I have been to Alaska, Mexco, across the US, France Belgium, Holland, England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, and Zew Zeland . No one - - and I repeat - - no one recognized our M6.

This "black tape to cover the Red Dot" is merely something that idle hands on this list have to stirred up to keep the pot boiling.

-- George C. Berger (gberger@his.com), May 14, 2002.


my pot is full of refried beans...

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002.

i used black flat fingernail polish applied with a fine brush. i also used a sparkie on/in the leica m6 engraving, the camera looks much better. it's like taking off the car dealer's badges off your car.

these mod's are easily recoverable: acetone for the dot and toothpick then liquid paper for the engraving. i initially filled the top plate engraving (leitz_not_leica) the same way, changed my mind, and redid the white, looks the same.

i'm serious - no problema

-- steve (leitz_not_leica@hotmail.com), May 14, 2002.


Yeah, I have a suggestion. Go out and take pictures and forget about the silly little red dot. I promise it will go away if you ignore it for a while.

Anyone who cares what you're shooting with will recognize it with or without the dot. I used to tape over the brand markings on my Nikons, especially since I work in some pretty rough areas. I'd be willing to bet that theives would much sooner recognize the word "nikon" than the little leica dot.

If you must cover it, or any other part of the beautifully-designed M6, use gaffers tape. It won't leave a residue.

-- Noah (naddis@mindspring.com), May 15, 2002.


I've only ever met two people who knew what a Leica was. Odly enough it was with my IIIc and M2. And neither of them even has a red dot!

One was a very old Japanese gentleman, who spotted my IIIc. He had purchased a black LTM god knows when and was very pleased to see a long lost friend. It was very touching. I was almost ready to give him the darn thing.

The other time was about two months ago at a demonstration. I'm not a pro, but the event was happening just a few blocks from my house, so I grabbed my bag and ran over. I was shooting away when a photojournalist (with a big Nikon) spotted my M2. We got to talk and he asked if it was the new M7. He looked a little confused, when I told him it was a M2 from the early sixties...

But most people just crack a line like: "That's a funny old camera you got there!".

But chicks do dig the LTM. ;-)

feli

-- Feli (feli2@earthlink.net), May 15, 2002.


i use black gloss paint followed by black gaffer tape and if its still showing through you can cut out a small black circle from some thick card and tape over that using 3/4 rolls of gaffer tape..

-- stewart weir (weirs99@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

this holga has a red dot..

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/leica-h/

or i think it's a holga...

-- ken (kk353@yahoo.com), May 15, 2002.


Don't cover the red dot, or I won't be able to recognize that's a Leica. How did you think I got mine, these things are expensive in the shops man.

Reinier

Don't bother, no thief will know the value of a Leica

-- ReinierV (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), May 15, 2002.


IN RESPONSE TO GRANT'S QUESTION:

Black masking tape from an art store - looks similar to black PHOTO tape but costs about 1/4 the price since it isn't light-tight. I cut out a circle the same size as the dot for both my M6 and M4-P.

Also makes a great cover-up for missing vulcanite.

I don't care one way or the other about whether anyone 'recognizes' my Leica or not - I just want cameras as quiet and unobtrusive visually as they are mechanically.

Back when I had Nikon F3s I used sharpies to blacken the red stripe next to the handgrip for the same reason. Red is, by evolution, a color that attracts the human eye (vz fire engines and other emergency lights).

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), May 15, 2002.


Man, if you are THAT close that people are going to notice the red dot, I think they might notice that some shmo is pointing a camera at them. While red is, in fact, the most noticeable color, the human eye is adapted to subtle shifts in light. Light coming off a lens, or a giant black thing occluding a once bright face are much much more likely to attract MY eye than a tiny red dot on a dark think blocking a face. Your actions make you unobtrusive, not your camera markings. I mean, holy. That dot is how big? Crickey.

Personally, I love my red dot. I makes people think I own a camera made by 7-UP.

-Ramy

-- Ramy (rsadek@cs.oberlin.edu), May 15, 2002.


I love this topic here!

And I've already said the following here somewhere once before but can't help repeating myself (to try and help you out, yeah?).

Either tape it over, or, just use a small, sharp knife (e.g. a scalpel) and pry the red disk out and get rid of it. Or glue it somewhere else, of course.

You can also do the same thing (for the same reason or as a dry run if you need it for your M6) to the two red disks on your great Leica neoprene carrying strap 42162.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), May 15, 2002.


People who know Leica will recognise it regardless of whether it has a red dot or not. Other people will just think that you are using some cruddy antique picked up from the fea market. Covering it with black tape is like those guys who use sticky plasters to mend their broken glasses. ie it looks stupid.

-- Karl Yik (karl.yik@dk.com), May 15, 2002.

people don't recognize Leica, eh?

a couple of months ago, We went to Chinatown in New York...we had dinner in a restaurant "Hopkee."

i had the camera on my lap and i noticed that the waiters (yes, all of them) have this weird stare as they pass by our table. then a couple of minutes later, one of the waiters (probably noticed i was starting to freak out), came to me and said "we noticed you have a nice camera...that's expensive, right?" i said, "um...not really..." i smiled then i put the camera into my bag.

weird...of all places...

-- Dexter Legaspi (dalegaspi@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002.


If your camera has a red dot treat it with a course of ciprofloxin immediatly for ten days. This is contagious and can spread to other gear. I ignored the red dot and know all my lenses have a red raised dot on them. Send this letter to ten of your friends.

-- Art McL (captmcl1@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

ha, ok people...i was really just kidding....some of you got of it, some didnt....i really could care less about any dots on any cameras....let alone what camera you even use....

later...

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 15, 2002.


We do you people continue to flog this topic?!!!! Have you not heard of insurance?

-- pinhead (blieb@sheridanross.com), May 15, 2002.

Scotch Photographic Tape (Pressure Sensitive, Black, Opaque; 1/2-inch x 60 yd), 3M Industrial Tape Division,UPC 34-7022-6290-7.

-- Cosmo Genovese (cosmo@rome.com), May 15, 2002.

I know English is not my first language (it's French) but is this a new trend in writing or something? Sorry to be a bit off-topic, but so many people here don't use capital letters anymore at the beginning of sentences following a period. I noticed the same thing on another thread. Is it sheer laziness? Whatever it is, I'm sorry to say it is ugly and it looks rude.

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 15, 2002.

Hi Oliver, I hope that this is not offensive to a French speaker, Mon Ami: The omission of capital letters in sentences is only too soon to be followed by omission of periods at the end of sentences. This is due to the influence of the poetry of ee cummings. It is a little known fact that ee, before the dramatization of "Cats", foresaw the red dot as the marque of the "Bourgeois Cat". ee’s “Proletarian Cat” advocated the elimination of all red dots as the cause of the masses. Identifying himself with “Proletarian Cat”, ee advocated the elimination of capitalization as an excess of the ruling classes. ee was about to advocate the elimination of punctuation as equally a ruling class excess when the commercial success of “Cats’ made Andrew Lloyd Weber fabulously wealthy. It is also little known that becoming wealthy, Andrew Lloyd purchased a Leica with a red dot. In the contract with ee’s heirs, Andrew Lloyd promised to show none of the red dots on his Leica as a symbol of the elimination of the excess of punctuation. That’s when 3M invented gaffer’s tape to obliterate the red dot. 3M sent out a bunch of posts on the LUG to sell the imperative of the elimination of the red dot. So you see, this is a misguided hoax to sell tape. Regards, Doug

-- Doug Landrum (dflandrum@earthlink.net), May 16, 2002.

Doug, your comments are the absolutely funniest thing that has appeared on this forum in months. Congratulations. I think we shd start a Leica literary magazine that is a running commentary & critique on the deep, inner feelings of Leica photographers, who, it is well known, are incredibly sensitive souls, often anguished & misunderstood. You can be the Editor. We'll the new mag, The Red Dot.

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), May 16, 2002.

doug, i get it now thank you fascinating story where did you learn that it reminds me of the time the french wanted to reform the orthograph they wanted to get rid of all unnecessary letters you know the ones that you never hear but have to write anyway and god knows there are so many in french like évidemment could be written évidaman and appareil photo could be written apareï foto and so on there was a huge outcry of course and they never did it this is why french remains still such a difficult language to learn even for the french and why french people who write for a living like me are so sensitive to orthograph and punctuation this being said i may read ee one day cheers and happy shooting

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 16, 2002.

English is spoken in England. We don't follow the same rules here.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), May 16, 2002.

Hello Doug,

The "new" news, which you imply in your post, is that that ee cummings is the author of the poems entitled "Cats". Ohhhh dear! Those holding the copyright on T.S. Elliot's works are going to be very, very dismayed about this. To paraphrase,

the naming of poets is a serious matter, it's not just one of your every day things, name them wrong they'll get mad as a hatter, you'd better duck when the couplets they fling!

;-)

-- Margaret (fitz@neptune.fr), May 16, 2002.


Further, in the spirit of accuracy, the Broadway/London show "Cats" derives from T.S. Eliot's book of light verse, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" (1939).

Oddly enough, all of this makes Mr. Eliot (or his estate, really) Broadway's most commercially successful playwright.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), May 16, 2002.


To continue in the mode of literary pedantry, the most famous dot in modern literature is found in James Joyce's "Ulysses":

(from a NY Times review by eminent Joyce scholar Richard Ellmann of a new edition of "Ulysses," 1986)

"A famous instance is the final dot at the end of the penultimate chapter. This was assumed to be a flyspeck and dropped, when in fact it was the obscure yet indispensable answer to the precise and final question, ''Where?'' Joyce gave specific instructions to the printer to enlarge the dot rather than to drop it. "

Clearly, Leitz chose the red dot to answer a metaphysical question so complex that it now rates a host of Internet fora to explore it.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), May 16, 2002.


Hello Margaret:

Of course T.S. Elliot wrote the poem that Andrew Lloyd Webber attributed for the play "Cats". But you have over looked the fact that T.S. and ee belonged to the exclusive "Poets with Obscure Initials Instead of Real Names Society". It is a little known secret of the PWOIIRNS that ee described a dream to T.S. involving cats. T.S. published a poem about cats, based on ee's dream. T.S. was able to publish first because T.S. was rich and had an agent. ee, in a fit of anger, went to Andrew Lloyd Webber (who ee called al) to see if a play could be produced to eclipse the Elliot poem and send it into obscurity. al wrote the play based on ee's dream but - to avoid a copyright infringement law suit from T.S. - al bought the rights to the work of T.S. The purchase agreement required that al attribute the play to the inspiration of the T.S. poem and give no credit to ee. But the agreement allowed al to give ee 5% of the gross. ee consented to the agreement for a percentage of gross but ee also exacted the red dot promise. ee and T.S. then joined the "dEAD pOETS sOCIET". ee shifted his rule of grammar (for political purposes) - from no capital letters to all words must begin with a lower case letter but all other letters must be in capitals - for the empowerment of the masses. Punctuation was strictly forbidden. 3M understood that tape had to be produced to realize ee’s dream. Mass production of tape ensued. The rest is gaffers tape history.

Regards, Doug

-- Doug Landrum (dflandrum@earthlink.net), May 16, 2002.


>>English is spoken in England. We don't follow the same rules here.
Then again, many of our frequent contributors to this forum are from member countries of the Commonwealth where English is widely spoken.

-- Fred Sun (redsky3@yahoo.com), May 17, 2002.

If you want a tape which won't leave a residue or cause damage, try a specialized take used to mask on drywall. Both Lowe's and HD have it. At my store, it came in two colors. Purple and red. The purple looked stupid, so I used the red. I used a cork borer to produce the little round thingy. It has lasted for months; so far. ;<))

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), May 17, 2002.


Apparently even William Shakespeare had problems with red dots on his Leicas. The reference to "out, out damned spot" in MacBeth referred to a blood spot if I remember correctly. Wonder what model Leica he as using? Dang, it has been a LONG time since I read that. :-) LB

-- (lberrytx@aol.com), May 17, 2002.

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