M4 Scratched Negatives

[Bmoze]

This is a head's up for anyone who might encounter a similar issue. I have two M4's. Both have been CLA'd by Youxin within the last year. Both have worked properly before and after the CLAs. A few weeks ago, a scratch appeared on negs from one of the M4s. It was a long scratch the entire length of the roll, not quite in the center of the roll. Three rolls, same scratch, same place. No scratches from the other M4, developed using the same reel. No obvious source of the scratch; cleaning/blowing did not help.

I talked to Youxin. He advised me to remove the plastic cover that covers the film advance sprockets. (I didn't know there was a cover!) He said it was a known issue and the cover was not included in latter models. It removes easily with fine tweezers/sturdy toothpick. Problem solved - no more scratches.

Happy about that, because he said the next step would have been to switch the rear doors between the two cameras to see if the pressure plate was the culprit.

 

[Tom R]

This is a head's up for anyone who might encounter a similar issue. I have two M4's. Both have been CLA'd by Youxin within the last year. Both have worked properly before and after the CLAs. A few weeks ago, a scratch appeared on negs from one of the M4s. It was a long scratch the entire length of the roll, not quite in the center of the roll. Three rolls, same scratch, same place. No scratches from the other M4, developed using the same reel. No obvious source of the scratch; cleaning/blowing did not help.

I talked to Youxin. He advised me to remove the plastic cover that covers the film advance sprockets. (I didn't know there was a cover!) He said it was a known issue and the cover was not included in latter models. It removes easily with fine tweezers/sturdy toothpick. Problem solved - no more scratches.

Happy about that, because he said the next step would have been to switch the rear doors between the two cameras to see if the pressure plate was the culprit.

Please that this worked for you. I have two M4-P bodies and have sometimes seen scratches, similar to what described, but NOT the length of the entire roll.

I checked with Leica in New Jersey for the availability of a pressure plate and was told that they had been out of production and were no longer available. I suppose that a good repair person might have access to several "dead" M's whose plates were interchangeable with the M4 series ...

I will check to see if I have these plastic covers that you mentioned. Failing that, I'll continue to hone my in-painting skills!

T