Pimpin'!

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A thing of beauty is a joy forever. What better way to kick off a new blog than with the zenith of customised cameras, a Leica M4-2. Pimpmeister Jeffery Smith asked US company cameraleather.com to supply the leather and do the work and the result is pure class.

Jeffery (check out his website and blog at http://www.400tx.com/) decided to act when the Leica's black vulcanite started to part company with the body. He plumped for walnut brown kid leather. Personally, I have nothing but respect for that young goat - it was the ultimate sacrifice.

One of the reasons Jeffery chose that colour was to act as a bridge to soften the contrast between the black body and any chrome lenses that it might be paired with. Jeffery says, "The results were, in my opinion, very nice. The leather fits the camera body perfectly, with the holes perfectly lined up with the tiny screws on the body. Now I am impatiently waiting for vulcanite to fall off of my Leica IIIf or Leica M3 so I can give them a face lift as well."

Maybe not quite a pimp - a pseudo pimp? -is the mating of the M4 with a 50mm Zeiss Planar. Nice! The only way Jeffery might improve on this is if he saves up for a black OM1 and pulls the same trick with the brown kid leather;-)

Think you can beat Jeffery's tasteful debut? Let's see 'em then!