Light leak...I think...Yashica Microtec Zoom 70

Not sure if this is the best place, but a while back included in an auction I won was a Yashica Microtec Zoom 70 camera. Doesn't seem to be anything special about it, but it seemed to be functional. It has a panorama switch on the back, that basically masks the frame, but it's visible in the viewfinder, which makes composing easy. I looked it up and a couple people reviewed and said they weren't bad cameras for what they are. I thought I'd run a roll of HP5 through it just for fun. It was actually pretty freeing to just frame and shoot, and I just got the roll back yesterday, and turns out the lens is really sharp! I'm actually impressed as a number of other rolls from other cameras didn't look nearly as sharp.

Anyway, about 75% of the frames had what looks to be light leak on the right side in a round shape like the lens shape. I've had light leaks before, but never that distinct or in that shape, they're usually more abstract, and blended. I'm wondering if it has to do with design of the lens. The lens housing punches out more as you zoom in from 35-70mm. I've included a couple shots of the camera lens, and an example of the effect in an image. Some of the images it's lighter, but the same shape, others it's really intense like the included photo, and a few of the shots on the roll, don't actually have any issues. It's obviously not something I want to throw much money into, but I'd at least like to try and understand what is going on/where the leak is. The shape of it makes me think it might coming in through joints in the telescoping lens housing.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

AC_NMC_1 said:

I've included a couple shots of the camera lens, and an example of the effect in an image.

Click to expand...

?? No images attached

Sorry about that...I had to resize them again.

Doesn't seem to want to let me post the photo of the camera, even at 316k image.

AC_NMC_1 said:

The shape of it makes me think it might coming in through joints in the telescoping lens housing.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it sure looks that way.

AC_NMC_1 said:

Doesn't seem to want to let me post the photo of the camera, even at 316k image.

Click to expand...

Resize down to a jpeg, quality 80%, 1000 pixels on the longest dimension.
You can get away with something slightly larger, but that is a really reliable target.

That was my first camera when I was 18. Toted it around Europe for a year as an exchange student and used it through my university days. The lens was good and I was always happy with my results. The camera died prematurely unfortunately and it wasn’t cost effective to get it repaired- digital cameras were taking over the market also at that time. I think your guess about the source of the light leak being from around the extending lens is correct. First thing to look at would be at any baffle or flocking behind the lens when you open the camera. Not sure what the light seals inside the lens are like but you’d likely need to open the lens mechanism to reach them.

pthornto said:

That was my first camera when I was 18. Toted it around Europe for a year as an exchange student and used it through my university days. The lens was good and I was always happy with my results. The camera died prematurely unfortunately and it wasn’t cost effective to get it repaired- digital cameras were taking over the market also at that time. I think your guess about the source of the light leak being from around the extending lens is correct. First thing to look at would be at any baffle or flocking behind the lens when you open the camera. Not sure what the light seals inside the lens are like but you’d likely need to open the lens mechanism to reach them.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to give your suggestion a try, but it will have to wait as I put a new roll of film into it before I got the results of the first roll.