Mysterious light leaks in Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 521

[ChrisLA]

Hello all,

I recently got back a roll I shot on a 6x4.5 Ikonta 521 with a f/3.5 Tessar and Compur-Rapid shutter. All shots were at 1/500 except for one at 1/250 (due to 800 speed film). All have mysterious light leaks (?) in the center right area of the image, ranging from faint to extreme. They are all white or bluish, suggesting the leak is coming from the front and not the back, and all are in the same area of the frame, suggesting they are happening at the time of exposure. I checked the bellows with an LED light, and dry fired the shutter while looking through it (it is not closing slowly or imcompletely, or slipping open when being cocked at 1/500).

The samples below are cropped due to file size. The second is the most extreme one, and from the frame shot at 1/250. The third seems oddly like there is some sort of flaring in the lens happening. Any ideas?

ChrisLA

 

[koraks]

all are in the same area of the frame, suggesting they are happening at the time of exposure.

Well, it suggests whatever it is, happens while the affected section of the film is in the exposure position. 'time of exposure' is kind of broad and in this case could mean the entire length of time between transporting consecutive frames.

Can you show some images of the actual negatives, please? Preferably several adjacent frames and including the space between frames and the entire width of the film. Thanks.

The first possible cause that comes to mind is a light leak in the seam between the shutter/lens assembly and the lens plate.

 

[ChrisLA]

Hello koraks, thank you for replying.

On the negatives, I don't see anything between the frames. If the light leak were happening during transport it would show up in other areas of the film.

I checked the camera again with an LED light and don't see anything.

 

[koraks]

Yes, perfect; this shows what I had expected and it's consistent with what you said before, but it's good to validate it.

I still think it's a light leak in the construction of the camera, somewhere around the bellows, lens assembly etc. It doesn't look like shutter malfunction because the flare doesn't appear to be focused, so the light seems to reach the film without passing through the lens. I'm thinking of something around the lens attachment because I can see how a fairly small hole/slit could be there that's difficult to spot with the flash light (you may have to shine it at a particular angle and also observe at a particular angle to see it).

 

[Dan Daniel]

Looks to me like a bellows pin hole. The variance would be from sun angle, angle of the camera, etc. Maybe do a little pushing and prodding of the bellows in the dark to see if it shows up?

A good light for testing bellows is the classic small Maglite. The one where you unscrew the front to turn it on. If you remove the front lens assembly, the small halogen bulb is sitting there glowing in 180 degrees. Makes it more likely to find a leak, not being so directional. See if you have some small 'glow ball' light, not a directional light, for finding the leak? LEDs are great, but their directional light isn't always the best.