Olympus XA Light Seals...bad enough to cause problems?

[Nathan Allworth]

I recently liberated a few cameras from an early grave. One of them is an Olympus XA—the others are an Zeiss Ikoflex Ia with a malfunctioning shutter, and a Canon G-III which seems OK but needs a battery. The light seals on the Canon and the Olympus look pretty grody though. Attached is a photo of the Olympus. Is this bad enough to cause leaks? I'm running a roll through it now but I'm only a couple of shots in; if this is bad enough to cause issues I'll rewind what's there and fix it before shooting anymore.

(PS: I wasn't sure if this belonged in the repair forum since it looked like most of what was there was for homebuilt cameras, apologies if I'm in the wrong place!)

 

[MattKing]

If they feel tacky to the touch, they are ready to disintegrate.

And when they disintegrate, you can have real problems.

 

[gone]

A lot of those Ikoflex cameras seem to have bad shutters.

You could always tape up the back w/ electrical tape. I have been doing that on an Argoflex TLR for a year now because I'm too lazy to put seals in it.

Or you can buy some thin foam sheets from Malwart for seal material in their crafts department. I decided that the easiest way is to buy some black knitting yarn from the same place and unravel an appropriate length (you only need one strand, as its too thick w/o unraveling it). Then take a knife and clean out the old stuff in the camera, but don't do a through job. Leave some residue in there, as this will be your "glue" that holds the yarn in. Then cut your yarn to size, stuff it in there w/ a wooded coffee stirrer or the like, and close the camera up and let it sit over night. Easy peasey.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Light seals are easy to replace and they are cheap. It is a good place to start. Also cock and fire the shutter at each speed many times to free up the dust and dirt that have collected over the years.

 

[Nathan Allworth]

Well after pulling the film out (tried to wind it up to reuse it but the end of the roll came loose from the spindle inside the 135 canister, go figure) it looks like more of the seal foam came apart and got stuck on the opposing surfaces within the camera. I have some foam on the way and will use some isopropyl to clean everything nicely before applying new foam. Otherwise the camera is in wonderful condition, barely used at all it seems.

Happy to give these things new life!

I'll leave the TLR as project for a rainy day for now. Lots of good info on the Googles about fixing the Prontor and Compur shutters. Might just be gummy works which seems an easy fix.

Thanks!

 

[Kirks518]

On the G-III, there is one light seal that usually is overlooked. It's at the double-exposure/rewind button on the bottom. Remove the bottom cover, and replace that when you do the rest of it, otherwise you may end up with a light leak that will drive you nuts looking for it.