Leica LTM What's wrong with my IIIc

[Mephiloco]

I got a IIIc over a year ago here and have run maybe 5 rolls of film through it. First one came out fine with the blank frames near the ending looking weird (light leak I think), the camera sat for a while and I just ran another roll through it and developed that roll as well as the one that had been sitting in it. Both rolls have black lines in every frame, essentially ruining two rolls of film. I was going to send it to Youxin Ye anyways to replace the beamsplitter but I was wondering what is wrong to make it ruin all my film. I have some stuff I wanted to shoot this coming weekend and I'd rather wait to send it off if there was anything I could do myself to fix it. Here are a few examples I just scanned.

 

[batterytypehah!]

I'd take the lens off and check if the shutter curtains are overlapping like they're supposed to when you advance. Hard to see though since the back of the camera doesn't open. There shouldn't be a gap, obviously, and in fact during the advance, the following curtain should gain a tiny bit on the leading one.

 

[colyn]

I suspect a shutter tape has come detached causing a gap in the shutter curtains. This is common with Leicas that have not been serviced. An easy fix for a trained repairman who should also do a complete CLA..

This will sometimes cause a bit of wrinkling of the shutter curtain which should be visible once you remove the lens and try advancing..

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Could simply be dirt/film chips in the channels causing the curtains to hang up.

Could also be a light leaks at the bottom of the camera as I see a lot of it at the top of the photos.
Check to see if the black stripes also go over the sprocket holes on the negatives.

 

[Mephiloco]

Yeah the stripes go over the sprocket holes. My research leads me to believe it's a capping issue, the stripes make me think there's a light leak too

 

[lem0n]

I don't know if this is of any help, but I had similar issues with my Zorki-1. One of the four screws in the front had fallen off and it caused similar effects. I'll post an example. Of course, with the Zorki the fix was easy, just a bit of black tape to cover the hole 🙂

 

[Mephiloco]

I don't know if this is of any help, but I had similar issues with my Zorki-1. One of the four screws in the front had fallen off and it caused similar effects. I'll post an example. Of course, with the Zorki the fix was easy, just a bit of black tape to cover the hole 🙂

Well if that's the case, I know a screw fell out of the front a while back, I guess I'll need to unpack the camera and test this out.

Edit: Just unpacked it, the screw on the bottom left was missing, just put some gaff tape over it. It's worth nothing I have the bands on frames shot with the lens cap on so maybe this is what's causing my problems. My frames exhibit the same 'hairyness' seen in the bands in lem0n's picture

 

[lem0n]

Well if that's the case, I know a screw fell out of the front a while back, I guess I'll need to unpack the camera and test this out.

Edit: Just unpacked it, the screw on the bottom left was missing, just put some gaff tape over it. It's worth nothing I have the bands on frames shot with the lens cap on so maybe this is what's causing my problems. My frames exhibit the same 'hairyness' seen in the bands in lem0n's picture

Yep, it's the bottom right screw (viewing from front) missing on my Zorki-1. Too bad it happened to me while on a trip to Budapest, and I noticed it a bit late and fixed it with tape even later (didn't think for some reason it would lead to any light leaks), so almost one whole roll has these stripes on them. But you live and you learn 🙂

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Yeah the stripes go over the sprocket holes. My research leads me to believe it's a capping issue, the stripes make me think there's a light leak too

The stripes extending over the sprocket holes of the film is normally a good indication that the problem is not related to the shutter or the curtains.

Good to see you've tracked it down to a missing screw. Easily remedied 🙂