Fixing the Leica 14405 handgrip for film cameras.

Recently I had a problem. I had acquired a newish nearly perfect Leica 14405 handgrip to use with my Leica MA. When it arrived, I was shocked at the state of the base. It originally had a felt layer on it to protect your camera and stop it from scratching up the baseplate of any Leica Film camera.

Mine like a lot of these Leica 14405 Handgrips was definitely showing its age, the handgrip’s felt was worn and cracked and if I used it would result in scratching of the base plate of my camera. So I started to look for a solution. Off I went to the Leica Mayfair Store and asked them if they could sell me something, the response was that they had nothing available as it is too old. I then started to look around and see if I could find anything on any forums putting in “Leica 14405 handgrip replacement felt”. And nothing! So I did a bit of guess work and found that if I searched Amazon for Black Adhesive Felt Sheets, I found something that would do the trick nicely. I went with one that is only 0.5mm Thickness and opted for Self-Adhesive Water Resistant Fabric Sticky Back Sheets Black Sheet in A4 Size. (Here is the link for the specific one I went with.)

I cut a paper template and tried it out a few times to get the correct fit and to allow for the tripod screw thread in the base. Once I was happy with my template, I cut a piece of material and fitted it. With the end result looking like this.

You will notice that I also added a tiny little bit of tape around the top protruding piece of plastic originally I tried to see if that would be good idea so that it does not dent the body covering on the camera when mounted. I have removed it as it does cause a little indentation in the camera that I do not want to create. I might even file that a little so it does not rub against the camera body as it is the only thing that worries me about the 14495 handgrip.

I will see how this  application of felt goes as it has been the only way that I have found to restore these Leica 14405 handgrips, to make them useable on Leica Film cameras again.

At the top, you can see it attached to the bottom of my Leica MA, notice that the 14405 Handgrip does not go all the way across the bottom of the camera body. At first I did not like this idea. However after using it a little I have got to the point where I like how it feels on the bottom of the camera more so than that of the full width handgrip that I have for my Leica M11. Ergonomically, it just works really well.

If anyone else has found a better way to refurbish these Leica 14405 handgrips, please let me know, as I would be interested in hearing what others think and have done to address this issue.

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