Guessing light leak source on IIIf

[Toni Nikkanen]

Ok I have been occasionally wondering about various effects with my Leica IIIf, which most of the time works excellently. Now I have come to the conclusion that it must have a light leak problem that manifests only under very specific conditions. The last roll I shot and developed has blue (on colour negative) light leak effects on three frames, the rest are perfectly OK. All frames that had light leaks were shot in low light. Maybe it's got something to do with the shutter speed used or the shutter speed dials? What do you think this could be coming from?

I've tried to look for the leak of course, but with a closed-construction camera like that it can be hard..

About the middle picture that's in portrait orientation: I take portrait shots by rotating the camera counter-clockwise.

 

[xxloverxx]

Somewhere on the right of the top plate I think. Or on the shutter curtain.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

I've been thinking further that these problems seem to appear only at the beginning of the roll... mayyyybe it's the frame counter disk!

 

[Steve M.]

It looks like a light leak, but my experience w/ these cameras says it's the shutter, especially when you say it happens in low light at low shutter speeds.

 

[ktran]

My IIIc had a light leak around the slow speed dial, but it showed up on the other side of the frame, so that's probably not it... So if it is a leak, it might be from the rangefinder or viewfinder windows. The best thing to do is to get it checked out by a qualified tech.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Could be coming in around the rewind lever.

 

[newspaperguy]

You're in Europe? You might want to send an email to Oleg in the FSU.

Try him at www.okvintagecamera.com/

He does excellent repair work at reasonable prices.

(Yes, you can tell him I sent you,)

Rick

 

[Mr_Flibble]

leak on the first and last one looks like it could be coming from the slow-speed dial for me, but that doesn't match with the position in the second one

 

[Dwig]

...

I've tried to look for the leak of course, but with a closed-construction camera like that it can be hard..
...

You leave off one critical piece of information. Does the fogging stop at the edge of the image or does it occur on the rest of the film (sprocket area & gap between negs)? Additionally, if it is present on the sprocket area are their images of sprocket holes as if the fogging occured while several layers of film were wound on a spool when the fogging occured?

If the fogging stops cleanly at the edge of the frame then the light is getting around the shutter or into the body cavity and fogging the film during the exposure. If it is spread outside of the image area it is coming through the body shell (strap lug fitting, ...). If there are shadows of sprocket holes the fogging is occuring somewhere around the takeup spool where there are layers of film wound on top of each other.

One good way to locate the source is to load the camera in total darkness and advance the film to around frame 3 while still in total darkness leaving the camera wound and cocked. Now bring the camera into the light and take a single picture but DO NOT advance the film. Fiddle with the dials if you think this might be part of the problem. Next, return the camera to total darkness and rewind the film. When the film is processed you will have a single image to aligm with the film gate and only one instance of the fogging. The location of the fogging will be easy to identify.