My Brick leaks.

Stephanie Brim

Mental Experimental.
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Or something. Dunno what else it could be, though...I have no bends in the film and it's on every single frame.

Shame, too...this one seems to have an excellent lens.
 

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That's an interesting leak.
Have you looked through the camera at a bright light to see if there are holes in the shutter, or on bulb to see if there's some strangeness causing flare in the lens?

Peter
 
No, but that's a good start. I'll do that now.

One possible answer is that the viewfinder/rangefinder area isn't light tight. It's right above where the light leak seems to be forming.
 
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Steph, it sure looks like a leak. Look it over carefully and see if there are any missing or loose screws.

Jim N.
 
Someone on APUG also mentioned that it could have been from bending the film before development, but I'm still kind of questioning that diagnosis. It's too uniform.
 
You can test for RF/VF leaks with a dark room and a fairly powerful small flashlight (I use a Mini Maglite).
Open camera back, turn out lights, wait a minute to allow eyes to adjust, turn on the flashlight and shine it in the RF/VF (shielding it with your hand so that not too much light leaks past) while looking into the back of the camera. Move the camera around while looking into the back to see if you can see any little bright spot.

Peter
 
I actually think I may have found it.

The latch that holds the camera back closed seems to be very loose...and it would account for the strangeness of the light leak. I'll shoot another roll around the house tomorrow and let you know.

The light leak aside, this camera is a pleasant surprise. I don't know why I haven't used it more before now.
 
My reaction was the same as the apug one - it does look like the film got kinked during loading. But if you find the leak in some other place then more power to you. It's very similar in appearance, though, to that type of damage. Steel or plastic reels?

allan
 
Crappy plastic ones.

I'm going to explore both options and see which it is. There doesn't seem to be any damage of the emulsion nor does there seem to be bends or creases in the film to suggest that I bent them...but it's possible.
 
Steph,

If you had only one or two marks with that shape on a whole roll, then the kinking theory might hold up, but to have it on every frame, in the same place and same shape would suggest to me that it is a light leak. One other thing to try would be to shoot four or five frames in rapid succession with the camera inside your changing bag, and wind on again - if you don't get the shape on these frames, it's definitely a light leak.

Just a thought
 
Yeah, it's a light leak. I'm going to do the thing I should have done to this camera a long time ago...tape the hell out of it with electrician's tape. Stealth Brick, perhaps? :p
 
Steph,

Maybe just new leatherette? Rick Oleson has templates on his Argus pages for all the panels, perhaps that would fix it?

Of course, if you really want to go for that "undercover" look.......

I will be working on a brick with a stuck shutter over the coming weekend, hoping that they are as simple as Rick makes out. I have some nice thin leather to recover it with.

If I can't fix it, it will probably become a pinholebrick :)
 
There are rivets holding the latch mechanism- are all 4 of them in place and tight? The uniformity and distinctness of the marks look to me to be in line with those rivets. They also look to be trailing, how many turns of the wind knob to advance the film? The three photos have the same very distinct mark in the same place, but others with different spacing.
 
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