squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
I recently bought a black repaint Canon P from flyingpalm on eBay, and it has a light leak. This camera is in great condition otherwise. Here's what the first roll I put through it looked like:
OK, pretty bad. I went through a round of troubleshooting, firing a flashlight through every conceivable hole, including the rangefinder window, without finding anything. The lower baffle was a bit rattly, so I stuck it down fast with some adhesive felt. I replaced the hinge seals. I replaced the advance lever (for cosmetic reasons) and discovered the old one had been installed incorrectly, with the washers in the wrong order; thought that might have been the problem. I installed the new one right. I put another roll through, a different film this time, in case the film had been put in the cassette wrong, and I got this:
Definitely not as bad, but that could be because it was cloudy or that I waited less long between shots.
If I'm not mistaken, the light is hitting the film in two places, from the top of the camera. (Right? The image registers upside down and backwards, correct?) The leaks are consistent, in that they appear in the same place on every frame, and one side is always a little worse than the other. It seems to me, logically, that the leak is happening either while the frame is behind the shutter, OR, while it is wound around the takeup spool. The latter perhaps seems more plausible; it would explain why there are two leaks, one worse than the other: that is, the bad leak is where the light is shining directly on the film, and the less bad one is the layer beneath it.
I have another P and can't find any differences. The only thing is that there is some kind of little stop piece under the lever on the unrepainted P that is not on the repaint:
...but I can't see how that should make a difference.
I asked Youxin if I could sent it to him, but he declined; I assume he doesn't has time to troubleshoot this. He suggested putting some black tape over the hinge, and maybe I'll do that...but that's ugly.
Any ideas???
OK, pretty bad. I went through a round of troubleshooting, firing a flashlight through every conceivable hole, including the rangefinder window, without finding anything. The lower baffle was a bit rattly, so I stuck it down fast with some adhesive felt. I replaced the hinge seals. I replaced the advance lever (for cosmetic reasons) and discovered the old one had been installed incorrectly, with the washers in the wrong order; thought that might have been the problem. I installed the new one right. I put another roll through, a different film this time, in case the film had been put in the cassette wrong, and I got this:
Definitely not as bad, but that could be because it was cloudy or that I waited less long between shots.
If I'm not mistaken, the light is hitting the film in two places, from the top of the camera. (Right? The image registers upside down and backwards, correct?) The leaks are consistent, in that they appear in the same place on every frame, and one side is always a little worse than the other. It seems to me, logically, that the leak is happening either while the frame is behind the shutter, OR, while it is wound around the takeup spool. The latter perhaps seems more plausible; it would explain why there are two leaks, one worse than the other: that is, the bad leak is where the light is shining directly on the film, and the less bad one is the layer beneath it.
I have another P and can't find any differences. The only thing is that there is some kind of little stop piece under the lever on the unrepainted P that is not on the repaint:
...but I can't see how that should make a difference.
I asked Youxin if I could sent it to him, but he declined; I assume he doesn't has time to troubleshoot this. He suggested putting some black tape over the hinge, and maybe I'll do that...but that's ugly.
Any ideas???
