mysterious flash in MIR/Zorki4 picture

[Robert Vote]

I just go my first pictures from my MIR Camera back from the lab. There are flashes in several pictures. And some picture have a darker right side while the left part of the picture is exposed correctly.

Does anyone have an idea- what could be the reason?


Thanks !
Robert

 

[flashover]

it appears to be a light leak. possibly the shutter curtain

 

[whereshaldo]

I doubt this is the issue but ever since I read it on the Yashica-Guy site, I've been wanting to post it. He mentions that rewinding film too quickly back into the camera can cause static electricity discharge inside the camera. As I'm typing this I'm thinking about the zorki, and I doubt its possible to turn that little knob fast enough to cause static, but maybe...

Hal

 

[Robert Vote]

yes it is very strange. is there a relation between the dark right side and the flashes?

 

[optikhit]

The images look great! I think it should be the problem of the shutter curtain.

 

[fidget]

I agree that it seems to have at least one shutter problem. It may have both a capping shutter and a light leak or more probably a hesitating shutter. A good starting point is to check the simple operation of the shutter at several speeds. Use the "shutter tester" from Rick Olsens site, quick, easy and often very revealing.
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-135.html
Good luck, let us know what you see.

 

[Robert Vote]

optikhit: I like this camera really because of the bright vf. And the J8 is doing a good job after I CLAd it.

I just tried the shutter test. The speeds seem to work alright and the fade test also. But I noticed that there is sometimes one small slit more to see. Some of the pictures are completely alright.
I have no idea what to search for.

 

[pvdhaar]

Flashes from static electricity discharges? The metal body of the camera will act as a conductor that will lead away any charge that wants to build up. This more likely occurs if you rub a polycarbonate camera against a cat 🙂 Besides, what are the odds that static discharge is identically shaped in two frames?

If only some pictures are affected, you may want to consider this being a light leak. If the pictures where it's worst are taken with the longest time between them, this is most likely. The light leak may have had time to do its damaging work. When you shoot a couple of frames in a fast sequence, that time may not have been there. It also depends on circumstances of course. Worse outdoors than inside.

 

[kbg32]

If it is not a light leak of some kind, these look definitely like static electricity charges. Rewinding film very fast on a cold day can produce these. Plastic reuseable film cartrideges can cause these as well. Are you bulk loading your own film?

 

[Robert Vote]

I dont bulk load fim, but in fact I rewinded it on a cold day -6 degrees celsius. So maybe this is the flash problem. But what about the darker side of the pictures. Is there a relation between the flashes and the picture with the darker side? Or is this only a shutter specific problem.

Thanks for the replies!
Robert

 

[fidget]

optikhit:
I just tried the shutter test. The speeds seem to work alright and the fade test also. But I noticed that there is sometimes one small slit more to see. Some of the pictures are completely alright.

The shutter test can show more than one line crossing the film aperture. Although the speed of the shutter, that is the "slit" traveling from one side to the other, gives an exposure of say 1/125, this moves across the gap at only around 1/30th so has time to see another screen scan which should be of the same width. Do you mean that you saw two such lines or did you see an extra slit in the same position as the mark on the pics?
Looking again at the pics, particularly the first, looks like the curtains had set off on their trip across the aperture together and had partially jammed with a slight opening part way across the frame, before releasing. It looks to be jamming at one end of the curtain. This could be due to debris in the top and bottom curtain channel or dried grease in the curtain gears. You would see this in the shutter tests.
The way that the bright line starts wide and runs more narrow suggests that the top or bottom is jamming in the curtain channel, causing the hesitation. Check that each channel has enough clearance for the curtain lips and that no debris is lodged in there. I lube these channels (and the metal curtain lips) with a small amount of silicon furniture polish applied with a strip of cardboard. Don't spray in there, far too much will get in.
What was the orientation of the camera in these portrait shots. I wonder if the dark part is to on the left or right of the negative.

 

[Robert Vote]

What was the orientation of the camera in these portrait shots. I wonder if the dark part is to on the left or right of the negative.

It is on the right side of the picture.

Thanks!
Robert

 

[fidget]

hi, if on the RHS of the picture, the shutters are "capping". I guess that the first shutter is stopping about 2/3 across the film aperture. On some attempts, it looks like it stays there until the second curtain hits it, when they both complete the journey together. Given the shape of the light streak, I would say that the first curtain metal edge is catching something in the top curtain channel before being released. If you cannot see anything wrong in the shutter test at all the usual shutter speeds, perhaps this problem has cleared. You could load another film. This time (you should always do this with an unknown camera) fire a few frames with the lens covered. If you see marks on these pictures, you can be quite sure that they are caused by light leaks.
Good luck.

 

[fidget]

Just as an addition to my earlier post: if you clean and lube the shutter channel, be aware that there will be a curtain ribbon in each. Be careful not to damage it, better not to get it soaked in anything as this could wick along to the point where it is glued. If you cannot see a problem, better not try to fix it. I hope that the problem has gone away and that you can enjoy using the camera.