[Isolette] Is this a bellows leak

I bought an Isolette II from a local market for a very cheap price, attracted by the condition of the lens and that there was a film in the camera I could process.

A fresh roll of Delta to test the camera has produced these results. Do these look like bellows light leaks?

You'll see frame 7 in subdued light has less / no issue, likewise frame 14. Frame 8 with hard shadows shows the pattern the best, but there's also a strange pattern around the centre of frames 17 and 18. All frames have a slight overlap image in the top left.

I'd like to spend some money / time on this camera but would like to know if the bellows are the issue.

Thanks!

I would say yes, they can be hard to find.

Ian

Could be; could also be where the shutter/lens assembly connects to the front stand or where the bellows connects to the front.
If it's the bellows proper you should be able to see it fairly easily using a flashlight in a darkened room.

IMO a bellows leak would be more like a pinpoint or a line.

Test in a darkroom with a flashlight.
I got my bellows from sandeha lynch (in the UK)

new bellows and changing them are not so expensive, if the shutter is working and lens even Apotar is a good performer for landscapes.

*but then there are other cameras.

Well, it is a light leak. I think it is more likely a separation of the rear of bellows from the body, rather than a pinhole, but a flashlight in a dark room should clarify. The problem is that an Isolette II, fully repaired, is not worth the cost of a new bellows. Isolettes were sold in the US as Ansco Special models. A junker body may donate a working bellows, as I repaired my Ansco Special 4.5 version. They are quite easy to work on, so if it is just a body separation, you can just glue it back together.

There is a repeating pattern on the light leak:



The offset in the light leak implies it's coming from the right side, as the film gate shadows the near edge. But the repeating pattern implies someone sitting on the film plane. Hard to determine what is going on without looking at the actual camera.