Camera Equipment Gaffering Service

Introduction

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1. What is gaffering?

Gaffering is a process of sticking cloth-finishing tapes (namely Gaffer Tapes in this case) on cameras, lenses or any other equipments that need protection.

Nikon Canon Camera DSLR Lens Photography Equipments
2. What is the main purpose of gaffering?

Additional Protection
Gaffering provides an extra layer of protection on your equipments. It eliminates the possibility of your equipments being scratched on their surface areas covered by the tapes, keeps plastic finishing shiny, and prevent paints on metal surfaces from peeling off. It even reduces* the damages on your equipments after a fall on the ground.
For tripods, esp carbon fiber tripods, gaffering prevent scratches on the tube surface.
Increase Resale Value
Gaffering keeps the finishing of your equipments as new as when they were bought even after years of usage. And hence raise their resale value.
*Gaffering DOES NOT PREVENT damages to your equipments, it only reduces the damage to their outer surfaces.

Nikon Canon Camera DSLR Lens Photography Equipments
3. What other benefits do I get for gaffering my equipments?

Better Grip
Cloth-finishing tapes give you better grip even when you are wearing gloves in winter or with sweaty palms under the hot sun.
Low Profiled
Non-glossy black finishing of the tape keeps your equipments low-profiled.
Reduce Attention from Greedy Eyes
By gaffering the brand logos and model numbers, your equipments look less valuable to amateurs and reduces the chance of them being robbed or stolen.
Blend into The Nature
Desert and Forest Camouflage tapes are available for natural photographers who need to blend into the surroundings.

Nikon Canon Camera DSLR Lens Photography Equipments
4. What are the patterns you are offering and where are those tapes come from?

I am offering this service with black, forest camouflage and desert camouflage options.
The high quality tapes are imported from U.S. (black - Apollo, forest & desert camou - bogen).

Photos

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This page is still under construction, please refer to photos from my old site at this moment.

Rates

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Here are the rates of services I am offering.

Only lens and tripod gaffering is available at this moment.

All prices are in Singapore Dollar (SGD), click here for the latest exchange rate.

For standard SLR Lenses (Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron etc.):

70-200mm F2.8, 80-200mm F2.8 etc - $55

300mm F2.8 - $65

200mm F2 - $60

300mm F4 - $45

17-55mm F2.8, 24-70mm F2.8, 28-70mm F2.8 etc - $35

10-20mm, 12-24mm etc - $30

Optional add on:
Zoom ring & focus ring to be gaffered - from $5/item

Next day collection - from $15/item

For tripod gaffering:

All tripods - from $40 onwards

For return customer discounts, lens models not mentioned above and exact quote of tripod gaffering, please leave a comment here with the equipment model and your contact. Contact infomation will be kept confidential.

Please also refer to the Terms & Conditions.

Feedback

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Here are some feedback from my existing customers.

Feel free to give feekback or ask quetion by posting a comment under this entry.

"Thumbsup for professional gaffering service." - mace1980 from ClubSNAP
"Excellent individual with skills of handicraft. Here is a pic of my previous bigma. *link*" - dejected from ClubSNAP
"I saw myself on Tv with your work...." - westwest1 from ClubSNAP
"saw the handy work on the VR lens with camou gaffer.. CHIO!" - slaam from ClubSNAP
"great service you are offering, perfect skills you have! will contact you again soon." - Kirkaldy from ClubSNAP
"thanks my man! great work!" - MÝ Ðë©ËMBëR® from ClubSNAP

Terms and Conditions

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1. All prices are in Singapore Dollar (SGD).

2. Price is the same for all four colours including black, white, desert camouflage and forest camouflage subject to material availability.

3. Sending and collection (local only):

a. $20 deposit for each lens to be paid to the service provider on sending, full payment upon collection.

b. Customer must provide front & rear cap, hood too if it’s to be gaffered, for all lenses.
c. Customer must provide bag/pouch for lenses no smaller than the size of a standard 200mm F2.0 lens.
d. Collection will be 3 working days after sending. Both parties shall work out a convenient time & venue to meet for collection, however, not necessarily the time and venue prefered by the customer.

e. The service provider will handle the equipments with care, however, will
not take any responsibility for any damage to the equipments during the
transportation or the gaffering process, which are not direct incurred by the
gaffering service or by the service provider himself.

4. Overseas orders - I do accept overseas orders. However, the delivery process, timing and costs will be worked out on a case by case basis considering the extra procedures like collection and delivery, packaging and customs etc. Paypal is accepted.

FAQs

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1. Some of the tapes I used leave a white sticky residue on the surface upon removal, does this happen to your tapes too?

NO, there will be no irritating sticky residues left on the surface. This is because the adhesive used is a special kind of rubber instead of glue chemicals. Minor leftovers on the surface, if any, can be easily removed by re-applying the removed tapes on the surface.
" The adhesive used is a high quality synthetic rubber which leaves little or no residue when removed, in contrast to duct tape. " - Direct quote from Wikipedia.

2. " Sorry for the newbie question, but why would a person gaffer their lens and flash? "

Gaffering adds an additional layer of thin cloth tape on the surface of your camera equipment.
The basic purpose is for protection. I gaffered my 70-200 VR so the beautiful paint on the metal body won't be scratched off if my darling lens every happen to meet any sharp item or surface during shooting and handling. It's ideal for plastic lens hood too which can be easily scratched.

It also gives you better grip, the cloth surface have more friction compare to the original surface of the lens / body.
A camouflage gaffered lens is less observable in the forest and it's almost a must for all nature lovers.
With your equipments well gaffered, they gain higher resale values when you decide to let go.
There will be no residue or sticky thingy left on the lens upon removal of the tape.

3. So, how did you get started with this gaffering service?

Initially just wanted to find a way of protecting my own lenses, I started gaffering my own equipments in 2005. Very soon I realised my good handcrafting skills and saw a need of this service in the market.
In early 2006 I started to provide gaffering service to local photographers here in Singapore. My service also expands from camera lenses to camera bodies, tripods and camera flashes.