Weird light leak thing -- help!

[cmedin]

I just replaced the seals on my SRT101 and all seems fine. However, for some reason the first two frames on a test roll got some light streaks through them. The rest of the frames are perfect, so I'm assuming it's not a regular leak... I loaded the roll as I should--pull film across, stick in slot, close back, wind and click until the counter is on '1'.

Here they are (crappy Walmart scans, I usually get the $2 cd with my XP2 since it's a quick way to review them):

http://www.beyondthematrix.com/FL000024.jpg


http://www.beyondthematrix.com/FL000023.jpg

 

[Doug]

From the looks, these two sample shots were made in close sequence at the same occasion, so the film didn't sit in one position too very long. To me, this along with your comment that these were the two first frames, the rest of the roll was fine, and the shape of the light hit, lead me to a suspicion that the film cassette might have been handled in bright light after removal from the camera, and the exposure light came in through the slot after the film had been rewound back inside.

 

[cmedin]

Thanks.. I did some more googling which suggests the same; maybe the cassette was questionable or the minilab did something bad?

 

[charjohncarter]

I recently ebayed an Olympus 35RC for $21, so I didn't expect much (but got a pleasant surprise). I had never seen one so I bought it just for a look. The first roll I put through had a light leak on the first two frames. I left it open over night, and ran another roll through. Out of 48 frames the first two were the only bad ones. I haven't exposed roll three yet, but maybe it is like we used to say about pistons (in cars) they (in this case light seals) have to seat. Oh, it was obvious, and this may or may not have any bearing on your case, but this camera from the state and type of the battery had not been use for a very long time.

 

[cmedin]

The rest of them turned out ok, though I think the meter on the SRT needs a little tweak; the negs seemed a stop or two overexposed.

The bokeh is a little weird on this one, not sure if it's the Rokkor lens or the scan:

 

[Bill58]

You can see John Goodman's reseal instructions here: http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/seal/Minolta_SRT.pdf if you still have a problem.

 

[cmedin]

That's what I used. 🙂 Jon is a great guy, and I don't think I screwed up anything following that PDF... hopefully it was just a lab screwup, we'll see next roll!

 

[erik]

I think the mini lab processing is the key clue here. To feed the film into the roller transport processor the operator has to extract the film leader and attach it to a card that gets pulled through the machine. This is done in the light so one can see how a little fogging can occur if the film isn't extracted just so. I think your camera is just fine, just a random processing glitch. BTW, your meter may be just fine, the scans may be just a little hot. Slide film is the best test for a meter, I think.