ktran
Established
Hello Everyone,
Can you please give me your opinion on what looks to me like a light leak in the following shots? It shows up in the same place, but it doesn't always show up, and I can't seem to find a pattern as to how or when it'll occur. Do you think it's a light leak, or might it be the shutter curtain "hesitating" for a bit during its travel, causing an overexposure? Thanks in advance!
Can you please give me your opinion on what looks to me like a light leak in the following shots? It shows up in the same place, but it doesn't always show up, and I can't seem to find a pattern as to how or when it'll occur. Do you think it's a light leak, or might it be the shutter curtain "hesitating" for a bit during its travel, causing an overexposure? Thanks in advance!
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
A shutter problem should be of the same width across the frame. If you expose a colour film, it will be possible to say whether the light is coming from the front or from the back.
Beemermark
Veteran
Looks like a light leak. depending on aperture/SS/ Film speed and how you hold the camera it will not always be the same.
ktran
Established
Just my luck that both rolls of colour film I've run through the camera thus far have come out just fine! (I don't know whether to be happy or curse this 
)
The streak seems to be in the same place and be of the same shape every time. Since it's wider at the top, this would imply a leak from the top of the camera, and not the bottom door?
)The streak seems to be in the same place and be of the same shape every time. Since it's wider at the top, this would imply a leak from the top of the camera, and not the bottom door?
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Image inverted, so top = bottom.
Ron (Netherlands)
Well-known
Just my luck that both rolls of colour film I've run through the camera thus far have come out just fine! (I don't know whether to be happy or curse this
The streak seems to be in the same place and be of the same shape every time. Since it's wider at the top, this would imply a leak from the top of the camera, and not the bottom door?
The picture is upside down mirrored in your camera, BUT, these type of cameras were made in such a way that they normally could not have a light leak. As with most of these cameras it is probably the shutter.
Test: put a film in the camera: next: put the camera without a lens cap in much light for some time (of course with the shutter closed). Then put on a lens cap and rewind the film and watch how the film comes out. You could do the same test by triggering the shutter.
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ktran
Established
Oops! Right, inverted (and to think, I spent days recently setting infinity focus on an old Halina 35X by projecting the *inverted image* onto a translucent screen!)
@payasam: here's a colour shot on slide film I found. Does it offer any more hints?
@Ron: Interesting. I'll give it a shot with some old expired film I have lying around...
Thanks to all for your help so far. I'm open to any other ideas/hints/opinions/etc.!
(and to think, I spent days recently setting infinity focus on an old Halina 35X by projecting the *inverted image* onto a translucent screen!)@payasam: here's a colour shot on slide film I found. Does it offer any more hints?
@Ron: Interesting. I'll give it a shot with some old expired film I have lying around...
Thanks to all for your help so far. I'm open to any other ideas/hints/opinions/etc.!
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
The IIIc has -- and maybe other Leicas with slow speeds have -- a groove or slit in the body coming down (at a slant?) from the slow speed dial. This is, I understand, covered with flocking.
Question: Is the problem related to shutter speed(s)?
Question: Is the problem related to shutter speed(s)?
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ktran
Established
Good question. I've been wondering about that myself. I don't know, since I've taken two shots in succession on a roll, and one has no problem but the next one does (no change in shutter speed or aperture). But I can try to "seal" around the slow speed dial with some blu-tack to see if that makes a difference on a test roll...
Luddite Frank
Well-known
Do you have the Barnack in an "everready" case, or are you shooting it "naked" ?
If it's in a case, then it is unlikely that your issue is a leak around the bottom plate.
If naked, you could try covering the seams with electrical tape.
Make sure all the screws are in place around the front and top plate of the body.
Your color shot looks like you had the sun at your back...
If it's a light-leak, shouldn't it be there all the time ?
If it's in a case, then it is unlikely that your issue is a leak around the bottom plate.
If naked, you could try covering the seams with electrical tape.
Make sure all the screws are in place around the front and top plate of the body.
Your color shot looks like you had the sun at your back...
If it's a light-leak, shouldn't it be there all the time ?
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John Shriver
Well-known
A light leak on color film, at least if through the base of the film, would be red or orange.
This looks like an irregularity in the travel of the shutter curtains. Do a sequence of shots at the same exposure value, using a range of different shutter speeds and apertures. I suspect you'll find this happens only at the higher shutter speeds.
This looks like an irregularity in the travel of the shutter curtains. Do a sequence of shots at the same exposure value, using a range of different shutter speeds and apertures. I suspect you'll find this happens only at the higher shutter speeds.
ktran
Established
Thanks everyone for all of the info/opinions. As soon as it stops raining here, I'll test both the fast shutter speeds and for light leaks with some black duct tape...
Vince Lupo
Whatever
I'd say that it's an irregularity on the shutter travel as well -- look like it exposes properly, then slows down, then speeds up. Is this with all shutter speeds or just certain ones?
ktran
Established
le huh?
le huh?
ok, now this is really weird! I ran another couple of rolls through the camera, with and without black electrical tape around the bottom door, and at shutter speeds ranging from 1/1000s to 1/60s outdoors. I could not reproduce the problem over 36 exposures. At all.
Furthermore, I went back to the roll of colour slide film I took earlier, and the "leak" (for lack of a better term) also appears on frames in the unexposed leader and at the end of the roll. This leads me to believe, that there's a light leak in the bottom door, or I may not have shut it properly, and light leaked in during a really, really sunny day.
If it is/was a shutter issue, then maybe it's working now because it needed a bit of "working up" after some years of inactivity, but I don't think this is the case because of the "leaks" appearing at the beginnings and ends of rolls.
Clear as mud, eh?
le huh?
ok, now this is really weird! I ran another couple of rolls through the camera, with and without black electrical tape around the bottom door, and at shutter speeds ranging from 1/1000s to 1/60s outdoors. I could not reproduce the problem over 36 exposures. At all.
Furthermore, I went back to the roll of colour slide film I took earlier, and the "leak" (for lack of a better term) also appears on frames in the unexposed leader and at the end of the roll. This leads me to believe, that there's a light leak in the bottom door, or I may not have shut it properly, and light leaked in during a really, really sunny day.
If it is/was a shutter issue, then maybe it's working now because it needed a bit of "working up" after some years of inactivity, but I don't think this is the case because of the "leaks" appearing at the beginnings and ends of rolls.
Clear as mud, eh?
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
The bottom plate is a fool-proof design. If it can be closed, it will be closed properly.
LeicaFoReVer
Addicted to Rangefinders
I had similar problem with IIIf. Does the film go/fit through during you load, where the curtain is, smoothly? Or do you feel it stuck somewhere? If it stucks and film gets little wrinkled it may push the curtain up.
Philip Whiteman
Well-known
Are you using re-loadable film cassettes? That band looks to me like the kind of thing you get when light gets onto the film through either the cassette's velvet light-traps or the rotating sleeve, when it's not correctly located.
ktran
Established
No, I'm not using reloadable cassettes, but rather just regular off-the-shelf rolls of kodak, ilford, and fuji film.
I'm new to LTM, and I've just been trimming the film leader with scissors by hand/eye... The film seems to wind properly, but could this be a cause?
I'm new to LTM, and I've just been trimming the film leader with scissors by hand/eye... The film seems to wind properly, but could this be a cause?
Philip Whiteman
Well-known
It's odd that your bright bands are coming and going; however, from the examples you've posted they seem to be occurring in the same position on the image. On reflection, this suggests something like the shutter curtains – or perhaps just the second curtain – dragging at one point in their/its travel, giving a band of overexposure.
I've experienced a horizontal band of fogging in M Leicas, which is caused by the felt light seals of the internal tinware shifting/becoming compressed. My own IIIC's shutter lost its 'light-tightness', which manifested itself as overexposed blobs on each image, the degree to which they were apparent depending on how long the lens cap was left off before the next exposure was made.
It could also be that your shutter has lost its tension and is wrinkling slightly – but I would expect this to give fogging at the top and bottom of the image, and not the bright band you see.
I hope this is of some marginal help, but do persevere: screw-thread Leicas really do perform and, having had my own IIIC refurbished, I am very much back in love with them.
I've experienced a horizontal band of fogging in M Leicas, which is caused by the felt light seals of the internal tinware shifting/becoming compressed. My own IIIC's shutter lost its 'light-tightness', which manifested itself as overexposed blobs on each image, the degree to which they were apparent depending on how long the lens cap was left off before the next exposure was made.
It could also be that your shutter has lost its tension and is wrinkling slightly – but I would expect this to give fogging at the top and bottom of the image, and not the bright band you see.
I hope this is of some marginal help, but do persevere: screw-thread Leicas really do perform and, having had my own IIIC refurbished, I am very much back in love with them.
John Shriver
Well-known
Make sure you don't drag your finger(s) on the shutter speed dial while taking the photo. That's sure to cause uneven exposure. Common LTM newbie mistake...