Kiev 4am film fogging from lens change

[pschauss]

This is my fourth Kiev 4, but my first of the more recent body style with the captive takeup spool. My first roll of film came out well, perfectly spaced with no sign of any light leaks. Half way through the second roll I changed the lens, replacing the Helios 103 with a Jupiter 9. When I developed the film, the two frames prior to the one in the film gate were fogged all the way across, including the sprockets. The area fogged was approximately the length of one frame running from about 1/3 of the way into the first to about 1/3 into the second.

Apparently some stray light was allowed into the camera between the film gate and the takeup spool when I swapped lenses. Has anyone else seen that?

 

[samsnch]

You mean something like this? It happened on my Kiev 4A. Never changed lenses or film, in fact, this was mid-roll. Mine runs on the left side, though quite not much visible.

I suspect it's with the "yak yarn" used to light-seal the back.

 

[sevo]

This is not normal, and not wear related either. When they are not broken, cameras with the Contax metal rollerblind shutter are unusually light tight for a pre war design. Probably some past repairer forgot to reinstall the baffle/cover inside the shutter box.

 

[oftheherd]

This is not normal, and not wear related either. When they are not broken, cameras with the Contax metal rollerblind shutter are unusually light tight for a pre war design. Probably some past repairer forgot to reinstall the baffle/cover inside the shutter box.

My first thought was about a shutter problem as well. My 4am currently has a problem that prevents the top shutter from engaging the lower shutter when advancing the film and cocking the shutter. I was wondering if based on shutter speeds used, that is happening, but only on slower speeds (as with mine). I haven't fixed mine yet but have it partially disassembled to do so.

If it were baffling, wouldn't it fog all the film? But I do seem to remember reading once that the Kiev cameras could produce light leaks in some hard to diagnose places. I guess it might be that some baffling is loose and in turning the camera to change lenses, it slipped but with use, dropped back into place?

 

[sevo]

There are fairly common issues with the top latch not engaging - but that will create a exposed strip at the bottom, not fogging all over the frame and beyond, and it will not be limited to lens changes.

My suspection is that the inner cladding of the shutter box is loose or incomplete, that being the most obvious place where light might actually shine around the shutter.

 

[oftheherd]

There are fairly common issues with the top latch not engaging - but that will create a exposed strip at the bottom, not fogging all over the frame and beyond, and it will not be limited to lens changes.

My suspection is that the inner cladding of the shutter box is loose or incomplete, that being the most obvious place where light might actually shine around the shutter.

I was just going by what mine is doing. It appears to close when fired, but doesn't latch at slow speeds (sometimes you can hear it click latched moments after firing), so on winding it, there is a slit that travels all the way up the film plane.