Blank frames across two rolls

[DillonVFX]

So I recently got my Leica M6 back from repair by the official Leica authorised repair centre in Australia and I've found that across two of my most recent rolls I've run through it I'm getting some blank frames. I'm not sure what's causing it, it could be I'm so incompetent that I'm completely blocking the lens so that no light at all is hitting the film when I fire off a shot but that hasn't happened at all with my M 240 that I've been using while my M6 was being repaired. My Leica M6 was originally sent off for repair because the advance lever jammed so that I couldn't cock the shutter to fire. Is it possible that somehow the shutter is intermittently misfiring and causing my blank frames?

You can see photos of the two rolls here https://imgur.com/a/hOicN
The first roll shown has frames 16 & 27 blank, the second roll has frame 26 blank.

 

[Huss]

You sure you didn't leave the lens cap on for those shots? All the other shots before and after the blanks look fine. And there is no signs of exposure at all on those blank frames. Normally a shutter issue would show something.
Or... the repair allows you to advance the film even if the shutter has already been cocked, thereby leaving a completely blank frame.

 

[Ronald M]

Perhaps the slit between first and second curtain is not opening. The easiest place for this to happen is 1/1000 where slit is very small.

Open the back and see if you can find a particular speed or if fully advancing does not cock the shutter 100% of the time. Or if you can get it to fire without it being fully advanced.

 

[papaki]

As Ronald said. I had exactly the same problem with my M4-P. At 1/1000 both curtains where traveling at the same time.

 

[DillonVFX]

It's definitely not from me having a lens cap on because all the instances were from where I was actively shooting and whenever I remove my M6 from my bag the first thing I do along with that is taking the lens cap off. It could be the shutter curtain acting up at 1/1000 but the shots where the problem happened are instances that I was probably using between 1/500 to 1/30 settings.

 

[Fraser]

First off I would look in the camera and fire at all shutter speeds.

 

[Huss]

First off I would look in the camera and fire at all shutter speeds.

That makes far too much sense. (do this with lens off, pointing at a light source)

 

[DillonVFX]

First off I would look in the camera and fire at all shutter speeds.

I've done that and I didn't notice any obvious issues. I'm going to continue testing some more rolls and let the repair centre know about the issue now so if I come back to them about it in a few months to get it fixes they'll know I raised the issue a while ago.

 

[mooge]

It could be an intermittent thing - like maybe the shutter acts up on 10% of the cycles at a certain speed, or in a given orientation... so run it through a few times I guess.

or another trivial thing - could it be that something's pressing your shutter button while the camera's in your bag or something? I get blank exposures every so often when the camera's over my shoulder or I'm putting it down and pile crap on top of it or whatever.

 

[DillonVFX]

or another trivial thing - could it be that something's pressing your shutter button while the camera's in your bag or something? I get blank exposures every so often when the camera's over my shoulder or I'm putting it down and pile crap on top of it or whatever.

I can see on the rolls that the moments it blanked on me where times when I had my M6 in my hands while walking around and shooting.