[Mamiya Rz67] White bars on scans/negatives

delvier · Jan 16, 2020

Hello everyone,
I recently developed first roll of my mamiya rz67, Ilford Delta 100.

On film I got 8 pictures which 4 of got strong vertical white bars (bottom 4 pictures), which are thicker on the bottom and getting slim on the top. Those pictures with strongly visible white bars where taken at 1/30 sec~ in strong daylight, after the sunrise. The second part of role was taken with 4-8sec exposure (top 4 pictures), where they do not have additional white vertical line.

What's your thought about the issue, what can it be ? light leaks or shutter issue ?

Thank you in advance for helping out !

MattKing · Jan 17, 2020

Welcome to Photrio.
That looks like a classic light leak - most likely the light seals need replacing..
It wouldn't be a shutter issue, because your RB67 uses leaf shutters in the lenses.
It might be some sort of internal reflection, but that is less likely than a light leak.
Instead of showing us scans, may we see a photo of the negatives themselves, lighted from the back and showing the edge rebates as well as the image area?

soulstar89 · Jan 17, 2020

delvier said:
Hello everyone,
I recently developed first roll of my mamiya rz67, Ilford Delta 100.

On film I got 8 pictures which 4 of got strong vertical white bars (bottom 4 pictures), which are thicker on the bottom and getting slim on the top. Those pictures with strongly visible white bars where taken at 1/30 sec~ in strong daylight, after the sunrise. The second part of role was taken with 4-8sec exposure (top 4 pictures), where they do not have additional white vertical line.

What's your thought about the issue, what can it be ? light leaks or shutter issue ?

View attachment 238291

Thank you in advance for helping out !

do you have a rz67 or rz67 proii? the proii doesnt ave any light seals so it wouldnt be that problem. the first rz67 does though. one of the reasons the rz67 proii film backs are more expensive is due to this.

Dan Daniel · Jan 17, 2020

Put the negative into the back as it would have been shot- upside down and reversed. Hopefully the negatives are still attached, at least two shots together. You want to look at where the film lies BEFORE or AFTER exposure. What you have looks like a reflection off of a silver roller- one relatively hard edge with a smear from reflection off of the roller.

By looking the how the film travel through the back you should see the spot where the leak happened. Now you just have to track down where the actual leak is.

Go very methodically on light leaks. Yours looks very much like a simple seal problem. You might seal up the area you think is causing the leak with black tape and shoot another roll if the bad seals aren't obvious.

delvier · Jan 17, 2020

Thank you for comments @soulstar89 @MattKing.

I will later try to post photo of negatives.
The strange thing for me is that only half of pictures shows light leaks, and the ones that shows those light leaks are not burned out totally,
but only a little bit over exposed.

soulstar89 said:
do you have a rz67 or rz67 proii? the proii doesnt ave any light seals so it wouldnt be that problem. the first rz67 does though. one of the reasons the rz67 proii film backs are more expensive is due to this.

I have RZ67 back film so the light seal are probably the issue.
Yesterday I also take a glance on those light seals of film back, and they are look a little bit used off.
The seller wrote me to clean film back seals, but that's not convincing me at all that will solve the issue

GLS · Jan 17, 2020

delvier said:
The strange thing for me is that only half of pictures shows light leaks, and the ones that shows those light leaks are not burned out totally,
but only a little bit over exposed.

That could be due to variance in the intensity of the ambient light falling on the film back from scene to scene. The ones which don't show it are in a shaded wood on a fairly dull day, whereas the bottom ones are on open beach on what looks like a brighter day.

abruzzi · Jan 17, 2020

also, if it is a leak caused before the the frame is advanced to the gate, or after the frame has been advanced past the gate, then the leak could be mild and the visibility is caused by how long the camera is in the light before the next frame is taken and the film advanced.

EDIT: the other, important question no-one has asked yet is: does the leak extend past the picture frame and into the rebate area (I'm assuming it does, but it important to determine whether the leak is in the back or something on the camera side.

Jeremy Mudd · Jan 17, 2020

Definitely looks like a light seal that needs to be replaced in the back. Its fairly typical to see it in some frames and not others depending on the ambient light (ie, often bright sun), the orientation of the back/camera, and the length of time between frames. Assume that any backs that have seals would need to have the seals replaced when you purchase. That's the safest bet. Seals are cheaper than film and easy to replace on your own.

soulstar89 · Jan 17, 2020

delvier said:
Thank you for comments @soulstar89 @MattKing.

I will later try to post photo of negatives.
The strange thing for me is that only half of pictures shows light leaks, and the ones that shows those light leaks are not burned out totally,
but only a little bit over exposed.

I have RZ67 back film so the light seal are probably the issue.
Yesterday I also take a glance on those light seals of film back, and they are look a little bit used off.
The seller wrote me to clean film back seals, but that's not convincing me at all that will solve the issue

no worries bud. if you got it from ebay. get a refund and invest a little more in the proii film back as nothing really can go wrong

[Mamiya Rz67] White bars on scans/negatives

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