M5 - light leak or hole in the curtain?

micromoogman

micromoogman

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Can you tell, from the picture, what this M5 is suffering from? This leak phenomena are visible on many pics, all in daylight. I have checked the only seal I can find, on the film door, and it looks OK. What else could it be? The curtains with holes I've had were much more concentrated, and smaller. Same lens has been sitting on it all the time.

Thanks for help!

leak.jpg
 
It might be a flaw in the light shields for the curtains. Pinholes in my experience are much sharper on the edges. The light shields are fuzzy strips that are around the curtain edges.

There are also light shields that block holes from the rangefinder/shutter stage and the film chamber. Perhaps one of those shields has dislodged. The glue can get brittle from age.

In any case, light shield leaks are a hard to track down.

Pinholes are easy to find, in a dark room using a flashlight.

Vick
 
I actually found two super small holes. I ordered that liquid stuff, will see if it works. Which side again?

You wanna see pinholes? I once had a FED 1 with curtains you could use as a strainer...

lekpark.jpg
 
Hi,

If you imagine the pinhole acting like a f/800 - or worse, depending on its size - aperture and the lens cap like a shutter you will see why they vary according to how long the film was there before being wound on and, of course, how long the lens cap was off in that time.

That's why they vary so much from one extreme to the other. Obviously taking a sequence of shots may mean that the light doesn't get to the film for long enough and walking about in sunlight with the lens cap off will guarantee a mess on the negative

Regards, David
 
micromoogman said:
Yours is more likely to be a regular light leak. Tape the film door, take some pics, tape the whole bottom plate, take some more.

Good luck with yours!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Right now I am confused because having developed and just now scanned a roll taken AFTER the roll with the two problem exposures, I don't see any problems. I have some more rolls to develop from a recent trip and I'll see if the issue is back.
 
micromoogman said:
I actually found two super small holes. I ordered that liquid stuff, will see if it works. Which side again?

You wanna see pinholes? I once had a FED 1 with curtains you could use as a strainer...

lekpark.jpg
Click to expand...

Christmas lights! And in appearance very unlike the problem with the Leica: the "pinholes" on the Leica curtain must have been made by a much larger pin.
 
Hi,

Film can spread light around. I did some tests once and a frame with a very long exposure on it spread light to the frames either side of it .

Having said that I'll agree that the sample shown is very vague. And doesn't look like, say, a bubble in the developer.

Regards, David
 
David Hughes said:
Hi,

Film can spread light around. I did some tests once and a frame with a very long exposure on it spread light to the frames either side of it .

Having said that I'll agree that the sample shown is very vague. And doesn't look like, say, a bubble in the developer.

Regards, David
Click to expand...

Hi David,

I'm sure you're right about the light spreading character of film. Maybe these were long exposures . . .
 
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