Leaf Shutter Problem? Bellows leak? Photo flaws

John Koehrer said:

Just another two cents here. If there was a long(ish) time between pictures having the camera in the sun
is a lot more light than any light you're going to have lying around the house soooo. If you
haven't found the solution yet you may want to set the camera in the sunlight for a while, then process the film.

Click to expand...

Yes the sun is much better but the reason I repeated my experiment is that I looked at the weather forecast and it doesn't look like we are going to see the sun again for a while.

I am still a bit puzzled about why only certain photographs are affected. The only explanation I can think of is that the light leak is highly directional. On my second experiment I shone the LED torch in exactly the direction I had when I found the leak and held it there for over a minute. Even then the mark on the negative is much smaller than seen when the camera was used in bright sunshine. I will fix the leak I know about and test with some film. I will just shoot the film as normal but I won't be taking important pictures. Then I will see if the problem is really fixed. I shall enjoy solving this! I plan to take my Super Ikonta with me on my annual hiking holiday in The Alps so all of this troubleshooting is fine with me. I had made a point of very thorough testing because I don't want irreplaceable photographs ruined and I hope to take some good ones. All of this is just learning to use the camera well and making sure it is fault free. It's been fun already. Now I know how to chop the leader off a roll film in the dark and to reattach the remaining film.

I would remove the lens/shutter and shine a bright light in from the lens mount with the bellows extended and back closed in total darkness.

@shutterfinger: Unfortunately, that kind of thing is beyond my ability and the camera is far too nice for me to damage. It is a coupled rangefinder. What I could do is shine a light in through then lens with the shutter open on bulb and the aperture wide open. I am fairly convinced I have the leak located. I know bellows would be the most usual cause of a light leak but in this case I don't believe it is. The only way to know is whether my fix works or not.

When I had similar leaks, the reason it is worse on some more than others, is simply because you might walk for a half hour not taking any pictures while the low leak continues to act for the whole time.

Then you take a few shots in a row rather quickly, and between shots ... the film is not sitting still for very long.

@Bill Burk : That makes a lot of sense. Just had a play with a torch again and it is also very directional. I think it's an easy fix. I'm not convinced the felt has even deteriorated, I think it has just fallen out of place. It's quite clear that the felt is there for a reason, there is the potential for a light leak at that point. Why it comes through from the front there I don't know but various things are riveted to the body there. Even if I am on the wrong track with the light leak thanks to Matt King I have now discovered that the film pressure plate was not attached on one side. I did wonder why one side of the pictures seemed slightly out of focus.....

With the back open and bellows retracted you should be able to unscrew the rear lens cell then unscrew the front lens cell and shine the light through the open shutter as you described. The shutter retainer ring will become apparent when you remove the rear cell. I was mainly stating how I would do it. I use ISO400 film for testing as it will show exposure errors and light leaks quicker than slower films.

@shutterfinger : I have taken the shutter off an Ikonta (not a coupled rangefinder) before and I regretted it because it was very tricky to put back on again. It really needs a tool fashioned from a piece of pipe to engage the slots in the retaining ring with the bellows extended. With the bellows folded they slightly overlap the retaining ring so it would be very easy to damage them. It would have been more sensible for me to use a faster film to detect the leak. I do have some Ilford Delta 3200 to hand but I was too mean and used some cheap ISO 80. Nonetheless I did detect the leak and it was were I thought it was. All I need to do is fashion a small piece of felt (or possibly just push the existing felt into place; it may have become dislodged) and stick that in. Assuming of course that there are no further leaks.

I fully respect that you know your limits when it comes to fixing cameras. I occasionally have to use a strap wrench to loosen lens cells that have been in place for many years. I fully understand that the coupled rangefinder could be a pain. I have encountered a few that have to be fully disassembled, parts machined then reassembled to get them to work.

A while back I found this lens spanner http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Tips-DS...272457?hash=item3f3a8d3589:g:GSwAAMXQlgtRq-UU on ebay for a reasonable price. It is rigid and the changeable tips make it versatile. You may want to consider adding one to your tool arsenal if you find one in country at a good price.

Some cameras used black yarn for light seals and black velvet has been used also.

Possibly the easiest fix ever. I was prepared to put some new felt in but all that had happened was that the felt had come adrift. I pushed the felt back in place with a small screwdriver and tested with a bright light. No light leak. Now I will run some film and see if the problem is solved. I would never have been so persistent in looking for this light leak without the encouragement to do so on this forum. Also I would never have found it if I hadn't taken the take-up spool out. When so much was pointing towards the bellows as the problem it was hard to think it might be something else. The loss of paint near the felt suggests tool marks to me and that this has been a nuisance before.

I also took the film pressure plate off as it was only attached by 1 of the 2 springs, cleaned all the dust behind and put it back on properly.

Update: I shot 2 rolls of film outside today and will report back when I have developed them. I deliberately walked around quite a bit with the bellows open and there were long pauses between shots.

Just developed 2X rolls of FP4 taped together on the same reel (fun doing that in a changing bag). Both shot outside in cloudy but bright conditions with occasional sunny intervals. I had the bellows open a lot waiting for the light to change. From inspection of the negatives no sign of a light leak. The little "bite" out of the edge of the negatives (unimportant) is caused by a stitch in the inside of the bellows near the film gate (I think) -will leave alone (no scissors going near those bellows!).

Thanks to everyone for helping me to diagnose and cure this problem. It was a really simple fix but not so easy at all to identify the problem. The bonus was I also noticed a film pressure plate that was only attached by one spring. That is sorted too and all the dust gone from behind it (took it off completely first bit of a fiddle to put back, noticed fingerprints on the blued steel, looks like putting it on properly defeated the previous owner. I wonder whether the light leak and the loose pressure plate were the reasons the previous owner got rid of it....certainly spoiled the photos).

good job!