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Photography Accessories

I Did the One Thing Every Leica User Will Cringe At

Chris Gampat
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Last updated on 05/21/2025
07/02/2025
2 Mins read
A camera with a colorful, cartoon-themed skin sits on a wooden table next to a white envelope.
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I absolutely adore my Leica SL2s so much so that even after 5 years or so of abuse, it’s still my main camera that I roll with despite all the cameras that I’ve got coming in and out of the office. But recently, it started to show the effects of the abuse with the autofocus starting to degrade and the hot shoe working intermittently. After sending it back to the shop for repair, it came back. And so I decided that it was time to give it a makeover. So I went full chaos.

I’ve seen so many photographers use the Alphagvrd skins for their cameras. And often, they’re a bit lacking for me. What I’ve mostly seen are the military camo look for those who probably make sure that their shutters are extra loud and attach the rumble pack to their Sony a9 III. But I’ve also just seen some plain colored ones. However, when my Leica SL2s was being sent to the shop, I decided that I’d probably have a bit of fun with it when it got back. When looking at the Alphagvrd website, I found the craziest option that I could, then I imagined what it would look like, and magically the money disappeared from my bank account.

A Leica camera, decals, and camera skin are placed on a wooden desk in sunlight.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A camera decorated with colorful cartoon stickers, placed on a wooden table.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A digital camera with a cartoon sticker strip on top, resting on a wooden surface.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A Leica camera with a colorful, cartoon-covered strap on a wooden surface next to black and white paper.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A colorful, cartoon-sticker-covered camera on a wooden surface next to some black and white photo prints.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A black Leica camera with colorful stickers on top, placed on a wooden desk with scattered items.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image
A camera covered in colorful cartoon stickers sits on a wooden surface, lens removed.
Alphagvrd Leica Sl2s skin prodct image

Nearly a month later, my Leica SL2s came back to me. After ensuring that it worked (it did, and very well) I began the process of its makeover. The Alphagvrd skin comes complete with tweezers and a smoother-outer-thing that makes the entire process feel a bit like plastic surgery. Granted, I’ve never done plastic surgery – but people are using AI to diagnose their medical symptoms these days so plastic surgery can’t be all that difficult, right?

I’m kidding…I’m based in NYC and this isn’t the coast that gets plastic surgery done.

It’s fairly simple to do if you start from a place where you know something has to be very precise. Then to just adjust the rest onto it slowly and smoothly. I’ll admit that I didn’t get it as perfectly as some folks might want. But whatever. It was $60; I’ve paid for stupider things.

So why do this? Well, it will add another layer of weather sealing for sure. But in addition to that, it’s not like I’m using it to shoot video or anything, so I don’t care about covering up some of the microphone areas.

But in addition to that, it satiates the itch that is GAS. This makes it feel and look like a brand new camera. And I couldn’t be happier right now.

alphagvrd camera skin fun leica Leica SL2s repair
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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