My Kiev 4M has a light leak too!

[Malcolm_J]

It must be the season for light leaks. What puzzles me in this case is that I had no problems with the first roll I ran through this camera and it is only an intermittent problem with this second roll. It must come from the bottom of the camera and from the front. Is this familiar to anyone? I attach one photo with the problem and one without. I was thinking it might be leaking around the boss for the tripod mount.

 

[Edward Felcher]

That looks like flare and not a "light leak".

 

[Xmas]

Do the rebates include the flare, if not you need to use a lens hood.

Noel

 

[Mark Wood]

I think first picture looks more like a light leak than flare.

I had a similar looking intermittent problem and suspected the gap between the baseplate and tripod bush on my 4a. I put a thin strip of foam between the edge of the right hand side of the film gate casting and the spring in the take-up spool side and also used a marker pen to blacken the tripod bush and the back locking catch on the take-up spool side. (In my case, the leak went right to the edge of the film and appeared to be from the front of the film as it was white, not orange on colour negative film.) I might be barking up the wrong tree entirely but this seems to have cured the same problem on two cameras (although I'm waiting for a film to be returned from processing before I can be absolutely certain). If this is the solution, I'm not too sure how you could fit the foam in with the fixed spool in the 4m.
I'd thought of putting a thin ring of foam around the tripod bush but the thinnest I could find lifted the back away far enough to let light in over the top of the door!

 

[Malcolm_J]

Do the rebates include the flare, if not you need to use a lens hood.

Noel

Sorry to be thick, do you mean the parts of the film strip outside the frame of exposure? Now I come to look at these parts closely there is a regular "patch" on the edge just outside the sprocket holes, between some of the frames. Also, for pictures that had the problem, the film just outside the exposed frame is marked in a very thin band along the edge where the faint streak starts, at the top of the picture. What I don't understand is, why is the problem intermittent? It does not relate to whether the camera was in the case or not, nor whether I was using the tripod or not.

 

[POSTI-Tuomo]

I must have gone blind, but I do not see the fault in the second pic.

 

[Xmas]

Posti

Your English is too too good, Malcolm has posted one photo with the problem and one without... I know three words in Se, please, thanks and hello, and I am real proud.

Malcolm
The rebate is the word some people use for the area out of frame, sprocket holes, etc.
I have read your words and they are nor clear enough for me and I'll think but for the moment I cannot visualise what is wrong.
If the leak is from the top of the picture it is from the bottom of the camera. There are few mechanisms for this.
Instead most leaks will be from the bottom of the picture as the viewfinder floods the top of the camera with light and the baffles which prevent leaks are black paper, black string and glue.
You may have to scan two frames including the rebates, if you can.
You could try the rubberised black paint and check that you have black string.

Noel

 

[POSTI-Tuomo]

Posti

Your English is too too good, Malcolm has posted one photo with the problem and one without... I know three words in Se, please, thanks and hello, and I am real proud.

Noel

Heheh, how embarrassing. I'll go sulk in the corner now. 😱

Gotta read posts properly in the future.

 

[Xmas]

Posti

I'd not feel bad, I did not see the text either, it is close to subliminal.

I can spell dyslix 20 different ways as well...

Noel

 

[Mark Wood]

Update to my post earlier in this thread. The processed film has just arrived back and no light leaks at all. That's two films through the same Kiev 4a since my experiment with the foam and marker pen and no signs of the fogging problems. Also, having cleaned all of the washers etc. on the take-up spool fork as I mentioned in a post some time ago, the frame spacing is also fine and regular whereas it used to start off VERY wide at the beginning of a film and only settle down mid-roll.

A properly working 1975 Kiev at last....!!!