strange fogging in my M6

[ywenz]

I've noticed a fairly consistent fogging recently on the prints from my M6 + CV 35 pancake II. I don't have an example image for viewing at this moment so please bare with me.

The fogging appears on the right side of the frame and then gradually disappears as it travels across the frame. There is no obivous pattern, but just that the blacks on the right side is much lighter than the left. On vertical shots, the fogging appears at the top of the frame. So far, two rolls of un-expired Tri-X has exhibited this.

Possible reasons:

Errors in my processing? - I'm shooting a roll of C-41 right now so I'll see if the fogging still shows up.

Light leak in the body? - The fogging is very gradual, I don't know if a tiny light leaks can create this pattern.

Light leak in the lens? - My CV 35 has a loose retention ring, as a result, the center core was able to move around quite a bit. This makes me think that the light was able to leak thru the lens..

I'm interested to hear your diagnosis.


*****EDIT****

Attached is an example.. not the best example to show the fogging.. however, you can still see that the blacks on the right side is much lighter than the left.

 

[OldNick]

The strange part of your description is that the affected area moves from the side to the top of the frame when you rotate the camera. Am I reading this correctly? Or do you mean that the affected area is always in the same position on the negative? If so, it could indicate a shutter problem.

Jim N.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

OK, so your M6 is not fogging, the film is.

Is this leak a pattern? Does it show consistently on all the frames? Does it show more on a frame which rested there a long time (there was a longer time between shooting that frame and the next)?

The culprit may not be the curtain, but your lens leaking the light; there's just more light coming in from that side, and therefore "more light" coming in to expose that side of the film.

What I'd do is, when you don't have film loaded, is set your shutter speed to B, hold the shutter open, and look through from behind, having the lens stopped all the way down. See if there is any peripheral light coming in from around the mount.

 

[aizan]

sounds like the second curtain is running slow.