Light leak Leica M4

[ekbladfred@gmail.com]

Hey everybody,

I got this beautiful M4 at an auction for a great price but it is leaking light somewhere.
I can't find a pattern for when it happens and I really need your help to do some testing.

The attachment shows the leak. You can see on the top of the film between frame 8-9 how the light plays with the sprocket holes somehow. And then the big leak that's very visible on the frame farthest right.

The leak is always on the same place on the frame trough the film.
The frame with the big leak is a longer exposure maybe 1/15th of a sec with no strong light hitting the camera from the back, top or anything, dim light.

I've just had more obvious leaks before but this is new to me so any help is highly appreciated!

I like to fix my cameras myself so would be nice to try before sending it to service. I've googled images and searched forums but have not found anything similar to this.

Link to picture: http://s27.postimg.org/3md8y25zn/image.jpg

Goodnight folks!

 

[Dan Daniel]

It looks to me as if there is shading on the top edge of the left frames, like a dark echo of the sprocket holes to the left of each actual sprocket hole. As if the light was going through one sprocket hole and hitting film beneath it. SO- take up spool area, bottom? Many times it is the angle of the sun, how you hold thecamera, etc. that can make a leak vary.

Here's a thread of someone tracking down a leak in a Canon P-
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149704
The little LED glow ball he made to stick inside his camera is a nice idea. An SR44 battery might fit in your camera better.

 

[ekbladfred@gmail.com]

Thank you all for replying!

That led lamp idea is great! I have a roll of TMAX 3200 in the camera now and taped the film door so after processing I can role that out.
If the backdoo is not it then I will try that led+battery thing.
The vulcanite is a draped of a boy around the ISO dialer thing. Could that be it maybe?
I will let you know how it went after this roll of film and then the LED lamp!
Thanks a lot!