Chrome coating is much harder than black paint. My 23 years old chrome ME is mint but the black paint of my 19 years old LX has worn through in several places. AFAIK only Leica uses black chrome plating - and looking at my 16 years old M6 it seems quite durable. All the best! Raimo Personal photography homepage at http://personal.inet.fi/private/raimo.korhonen -----Alkuper�inen viesti----- L�hett�j�: Chris Brogden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vastaanottaja: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> P�iv�: 03. elokuuta 2001 21:41 Aihe: Re: coatings >On Fri, 3 Aug 2001, Scooterman wrote: > >> There's a MX for sale where the brass shows thru. >> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1261428626 >> >> Someone else has an Electro Spotmatic for sale that does not. >> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1258573489 >> >> The MX owner kindly explained that "black bodies" just don't hold up >> well.... esp if used (at all). > >That's what I've noticed, anyway. It could be a problem with the nature >of the black coating, or the fact that wear shows up more on black bodies >than on the chrome ones, or even the fact that black bodies were once seen >as 'professional' (hey, there's a new definition! <g>) and so were used >more. Personally, I suspect it's a combination, but since the black >coating is a different material than the chrome-coloured stuff, AFAIK, I >would hazard a guess that the black coating itself has something to do >with it. > >> So why's the Electro Spotmatic in such good shape? > >The Electro Spotmatic is a hard to find camera in North America; it >doesn't seem to show up very much on eBay. I'm guessing that it was owned >by a collector, or by someone who didn't use it a lot and took care of it >when they did. > >Or maybe I've just seen more cameras that have been well used than ones >that have been collected or rarely used, and have a skewed opinion of >what "normal" wear is. :) > >> Amount & type of usage has a LOT to do with it. >> Possibly someone is handy with a paint sprayer. > >I believe the best process for affixing the coating involves baking the >enamel in an oven at some insane temperature. <g> > >> OR... Maybe the ES has black plating (bonded on a molecular level) & >> the MX was "just" painted... so we're comparing apples & oranges here. > >That's an interesting thought... I have no idea. > > >chris > > - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
