Faulty film shot with ensign autorange 820

[ericzhu]

Just borrowed friend's ensign autorange 820. But the 8 trial shots of a full film showing there is sth. light leaking. Pls. refer to the pictures.

I find no holes in bellow. The leakage seems serious, I guess it's due to the aperture leaf, which is not closely tightly.

Any thoughts?

 

[Brian Legge]

Sounds possible. I had that issue with a Minolta Auto Semi with somewhat similar effects. For me though, it was a little less defined and much more of ambient leak; it looked more like fogged film.

With something that dramatic, you could probably open the back and move a flashlight around in front of the lens to see if you see it leaking around the blades. It took a few minutes with my camera to find the right angle but it was definitely visible.

 

[jnoir]

It's strange in that it is more common to find lines instead of curves, when dealing with light leaks. It may be a blade that is going slower than the others when closing back after exposure, or misplaced, or a different thing entirely. But only from those two images, I could not say. Probably someone else with more knowledge than me will pop up and give a final answer.

Anyway, send your camera to a good repairman, I tend to believe that, if you use something not ready for it, things may go worst... And your Autorange is a camera that _deserves_ to be taken good care of. You have a valuable (in terms of potential performance and potential selling price) camera in your hands, treat it gently and you'll be rewarded 😉

 

[ericzhu]

Last night, I found there are at least 4 sand holes in the bellow after using a flash-light to check. Hope the faults are due to these tiny holes.

 

[jnoir]

It may be, as the leaks do not seem consistent and produces only "similar" marks. And I'd say, in that case, you have pinholes in both corner sides of bellow's top part. Try covering those pinholes with some black tape and shoot a test roll for diagnosis. Ensign bellows do not tend to degrade as Agfa's or others, but nevertheless you'll need to replace it together with the CLA, mask tape / black paint / liquid vinyl are temporary solutions at best.

Keep us informed of your progress! 😉

 

[ericzhu]

It may be, as the leaks do not seem consistent and produces only "similar" marks. And I'd say, in that case, you have pinholes in both corner sides of bellow's top part. Try covering those pinholes with some black tape and shoot a test roll for diagnosis. Ensign bellows do not tend to degrade as Agfa's or others, but nevertheless you'll need to replace it together with the CLA, mask tape / black paint / liquid vinyl are temporary solutions at best.

Keep us informed of your progress! 😉

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I am sending the camera for CLA. It has so many minor problems: some clouds inside the lens element, slow shutter speed delays, 2 images in the rangefinder window not merging completely, viewfinder cloudy, etc.

 

[jnoir]

Great! You won't be disappointed, it is a good investment.

Just out of curiosity, to whom did you send the camera for CLA?

 

[ericzhu]

Great! You won't be disappointed, it is a good investment.

Just out of curiosity, to whom did you send the camera for CLA?

I am in Beijing, so I find a local repairman here.