Light seals when are they suppose to be replaced?

Vsanzbajo · Jun 23, 2011

If you buy the film camera brand new, how many years on average do they last? Any ideas?, Opinions?

tomalophicon · Jun 23, 2011

Ages.

Vsanzbajo · Jun 23, 2011

what do you mean ages? Any more concrete facts?

edp · Jun 23, 2011

Decades usually. Depends on the material -- some kinds of foam go sticky and useless before others do, velvet ones tend to lose their resilience and stay compressed, and storage conditions have an influence, but they all last for years and years.

Pick a camera, any camera. Chances are the lights seals still work, and if they don't they are very probably trivial to replace.

Excalibur2 · Jun 23, 2011

If the seals have gone gooey, they are so cheap an easy to replace by yourself....a guy on the bay called "interslice" provides kits and instructions.

benjiboy · Jun 23, 2011

About 15 years to or until the camera starts letting light in.

Mike Wilde · Jun 23, 2011

I have bought several times from Jon Goodman, aka interslice off of the 'bay. Always have been satisfied; prompt shipping and great products and instructions.

I have a bit of a habit of picking up older distressed cameras for a song, and then bringing them back to life and passing them on to a new to film user. Seal replacement is almost always required these days on the late 60's and early 70's cameras I frequently dael with in this way.

MattKing · Jun 23, 2011

Of all the cameras I've owned, I can think of just one that I bought new, close to when it was manufactured, and then later replaced the light seals.

That was after owning the camera for around 30 years. And the existing seals probably could have lasted longer, but I thought replacement prudent as part of a CLA.

tkamiya · Jun 23, 2011

It all depends on how they were used and stored. I've seen most of them that came my way that are older than say 20 years old needing replacement. Some of the newer ones don't even have foams as they use light trap designs.

When they go bad, they either start to crumple when touched, or become a goo like half-dry glue.

Not something to be overly concerned about since replacements are usually cheap and easy. I also bought from Jon Goodman. He sells great kits.

Brac · Jun 27, 2011

Cameras from the 70's and early 80's are very likely to need seals replacing, as I have found out when buying on ebay (it's a subject sellers rarely mention). As others have said, the Jon Goodman kits are excellent. I have replaced seals on a couple of cameras, it's a bit fiddly (especially the mirror foam), but do-able. Just give yourself plenty of time.

benjiboy · Jun 27, 2011

Usually by the time the seals either turn to goo or black dust the whole camera needs a CLA, so I ask the repairer to replace them at the same time.

BetterSense · Jun 27, 2011

I wish they just made the cameras with competent light-traps so that seals weren't necessary. My Agfa folder doesn't need light seals, why is that?

BobD · Jun 27, 2011

BetterSense said:
I wish they just made the cameras with competent light-traps so that seals weren't necessary. My Agfa folder doesn't need light seals, why is that?

German mfrs didn't seem to use foam light seals much. At least not on the
German cameras I've owned. Seems like this was mostly a Japanese idea though
not all Japanese cameras used them either. As I recall the Nikon F had no seals
around the film chamber but did have a foam mirror bumper. The Japanese foam
light seals seemed to come in around the 1960s, when the German camera
industry was in decline.

Anyway, this is an advantage to buying the old German cameras -- usually no light
seals to replace.

John Hermanson · Jun 27, 2011

From what I've seen, seals can last up to 20-30 years. That will vary with the quality of the original foam and how camera is stored. John

CGW · Jun 27, 2011

Hinge seals--crappy/missing ones--have always been the cause of light leaks for me on 60s and newer SLRs. Mirror foam seems to last longer and really isn't that hard to replace. Hinge seal replacement is a no-brainer. Despite near-hysteria about guacamole foam, the channels around the back are usually designed to trap light quite effectively.I've removed sticky foam there on Nikons and never replaced it with no subsequent leakage issues.

brucemuir · Jun 27, 2011

^Hinge seals

Yep, these are critical because if you use the wrong thickness (too thick) it can put stress on the hinge and wear out the pin.

I scored a cheap Nikkormat FTN recently and the bumper foam looks like 1/8-1/4 in. hard rubber type material. Haven't tested it yet (will just switch it out) but looks like it holds the mirror into the image area during exposure.

Those crazy eBay sellers

CGW · Jun 27, 2011

brucemuir said:
^Hinge seals

Yep, these are critical because if you use the wrong thickness (too thick) it can put stress on the hinge and wear out the pin.

I scored a cheap Nikkormat FTN recently and the bumper foam looks like 1/8-1/4 in. hard rubber type material. Haven't tested it yet (will just switch it out) but looks like it holds the mirror into the image area during exposure.

Those crazy eBay sellers

A friend bought an SRT 101 last year from under the big auction tent. Previous owner had used something resembling fake fur--jeesh, could have been REAL--for a mirror bumper.

brucemuir · Jun 27, 2011

hahaha,
fake fur.

Now I've found some interesting material in hassy back darkslide seals...
velvet and ther fuzzy stuff but no fur so far.

Leigh Youdale · Jun 27, 2011

I've just replaced the seals on my two Nikkormat FTn bodies. They date from the mid 60's. So- almost 50 years old.
One of them had been replaced by the local camera shop at outrageous cost in 2003 after working in a hot climate for some years and the other not at all.
The 2003 replacement needed doing again as the material had gone sticky after five years lying unused in the tropics and travelling through China and Tibet for three years. I don't know what material was used in the original replacement
So this time I got two kits from Interslice and replaced the seals on both cameras myself. An easy DIY job if you follow the instructions.

Light seals when are they suppose to be replaced?

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