Bessa R: light leak between frames?

[Cleber Figueiredo]

hello everybody,

i've been shooting with my bessa for some months now, and twice i noticed something quite new for me, and i'm not sure what kind of issue is that: if it is the camera, the lens or if it is just my ignorance.

twice i've made photos were the sun was on the very edge of the picture, and on the end of everything, the sun's light leaked a bit to the frame it was close to.

you can see it better on the pictures...

oh, yes. the combo is bessa-R plus industar 61. i'm absolutely loving it!!!

i've searched the internet, but couldn't find anything on the subject... so i'm relying in your wisdom now!

thanks a lot!

 

[pvdhaar]

Stands to reason, and there's nothing wrong with your camera or lens. Because of the film rails, the film doesn't sit flush against the back of the film gate. The good thing is that this setup prevents scratches across the frame during advance and rewind. The down side is that there's a narrow slit that's not 100% light tight between frames.. so light can in principle reflect off the film into that slit and cause exposure at and over the border of the frame. But you'll only notice this in these most extreme cases with alternating dark and overwhelmed (at the border) pictures.

 

[P. Lynn Miller]

In the thumbnails that you posted it does look like internal reflections. But you should know that some film, especially old style B&W emulsions, like Efke 25, and very high-speed B&W films such as Delta 3200, can have 'lightpiping'. This can happen when you get a very bright light source, such as the sun, in a dark area of the frame, such as the frame edge, the film 'bleeds' light and this can easily extend into the next frame or even down into the sprocket holes. I have had this happen with almost every camera I own with the right(or wrong) film.

Here is a classic case of lightpiping...

 

[Keith]

Lightpiping ... I'd never heard that term before but it fits for me and I too have had that happen!

 

[kossi008]

Yup. Different camera, same thing.

 

[Cleber Figueiredo]

nice... i thought that was the answer, but had to be sure!

thank you again!

 

[Windscale]

Yes. It looks like lightpiping. It is especially common with Bessa and Bessa II. It is because Voigtlander were very generous. Many of their supposed 6x9 were actually 6x8.9cm (or even 6x9.2cm in one of mine) compared with many other brands which gave from 8.4 to 8.7cm. One way to lessen this effect would be when you start with frame 1, wind "1" just to the nearside of your rear red window. Do the same with each frame from then on. If you have taken a picture with strong light to the side, wind the next frame number to the middle or farside of the rear window. Or if you know the strong light source is to the nearside, wind on a bit more so that the number is to the farside before taking the next pic. This way you will have a couple of mms to play with.

Edit: I just realised yours was a new Bessa. In that case nothing much can be done.