Voigtlander Bessa I Light Leak

graciemansion · Aug 4, 2018

I've been having light leaks with my Voigtlander Bessa, as you can see in this photo here. They're not on every negative, and they're usually not this bad, but they're always in the same spot and they're a pain in the ass to fix. I understand light seals are easy to replace, but I've looked at the corresponding light seal and it looks to be in OK shape (the camera has 4 very tiny light seals in the corners of the door). Other than the light leaks the camera works perfectly. Any suggestions for fixing then? Or has anyone else had similar light leaks?

shutterfinger · Aug 4, 2018

The leak is in the top left about 1/8 inch in from the corner. Should be able to easily find the hole that the light is getting through. Slightly bent back, bad seal, bellows pin hole.

Dan Daniel · Aug 4, 2018

shutterfinger said:
The leak is in the top left about 1/8 inch in from the corner. Should be able to easily find the hole that the light is getting through. Slightly bent back, bad seal, bellows pin hole.

I'll also mention the possibility that a leak happens when the film that shows the light strike is actually either the frame before or after the frame being shot. So in the sample shown by the OP, the light might be coming into the source film spool chamber from the top, a bit before the roller leading to the film gate. The hard line on the right edge of the leak (referring to the image posted above) could be caused by the roller itself. Is there a window of some sort on the top in this area? I seem to remember something but it's been a while.

Open the back of the camera and put the film in as it was shot. Also move the film back one frame and forward one frame to see where the light leak spot ends up before and after exposure by the lens. The possible locations of the leak will usually make themselves known. And as with any light leak, be very methodical. Make one change, test, make another, etc.

graciemansion · Aug 5, 2018

shutterfinger said:
The leak is in the top left about 1/8 inch in from the corner. Should be able to easily find the hole that the light is getting through. Slightly bent back, bad seal, bellows pin hole.

I don't think it's coming from the bellows. It's a bit hard to tell from the scan but the leak shows up on the edge of the film, outside of the area of the image.

Dan- I will try that, thanks. The windows are on the bottom of the camera, towards the center.

Dan Daniel · Aug 5, 2018

graciemansion said:
Dan- I will try that, thanks. The windows are on the bottom of the camera, towards the center.

Oh, windows may have been the wrong word. Is there a counter or such on the top right of the Bessa 1?

I just had a very similar light leak on a Kodak Medalist that I am modifying. The combination of position and the hard edge had me thinking it might be at the upper roller on the right/source side, and yep, I had removed a secondary roller in the area and did not seal the axle hole.

graciemansion · Aug 5, 2018

Dan Daniel said:
Oh, windows may have been the wrong word. Is there a counter or such on the top right of the Bessa 1?

Yes, there's a little window which shows if you're ready to take a picture or if you need to advance the film. In the window is an arrow, and after you release the shutter the arrow points to the film advance dial. Once you advance the film enough the arrow points to the shutter release. the Come to think of it, it'd make sense if that's where the light leak came from. The arrow switches right when you release the shutter and it's almost exactly where the light leak is.

thuggins · Aug 9, 2018

Unless they made a significant change in design, the Bessa I does not use light seals. Mine has a light baffle design like pretty much every other folder I've seen. With any folder I assume a light leak is coming from the bellows.

Get some black 3M 850 tape. This stuff is less than .002 Inch thick and among it's "Application Ideas" is tape hinge, sounds like a bellows to me. It is really expensive to buy a full roll, but there are places that repackage it and you don't need very much. You can put it just on the corners or cover the entire bellows. Short of contacting the Custom Bellows folks in the UK (great company, great bellows, BTW) this is the best fix I've found. If the leak is too far inside the camera to get a piece of tape in, try using black fabric paint on the inside. I've had issues with paint staying tacky, though, so be careful with it.

shutterfinger · Aug 9, 2018

Golden Heavy Body Acrylic Artist Paint #1040 Carbon Black diluted 1:1 with water painted on in thin layers with a fine bristle artist brush works very well for patching pin holes. It works better than tape or cloth paint.
An inexpensive brush is fine.
https://www.goldenpaints.com/products/colors/heavy-body

Greg E · Feb 15, 2022

I recently bought a Bessa II and it started to show light leaks after the first couple of rolls. They would would vary in intensity - sometimes strong and sometimes very faint. I put a small but powerful LED light into the extended camera, turned out the lights in my darkroom, and waited for a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. Nothing - the camera was light tight.

I know this post is regarding a Bessa I but I thought I'd share in case anyone was experiencing something similar - it might fix their light leak issue.

My issue wasn't a light leak in the bellows or back - It turned out that the pressure plate had moved so it wasn't adequately keeping the film against the frame gate. So light was leaking into the feed roll when making an exposure (essentially pre-flashing the **next** exposure) as the pressure plate wasn't sealing properly on that side of the gate. The intensity of the leak varied as the exposure varied. I expect I caused the pressure plate to move when I was loading some film, or poking and prodding things as I familiarised myself with my new (and first) folding camera.

Thankfully it was easy to fix - just made sure the plate is now centred over the gate, and using a piece of black electrical tape stuck to the door I made a quick reference to check if the plate has moved from where it should be.

AC_NMC_1 · Mar 30, 2024

Greg E said:
I recently bought a Bessa II and it started to show light leaks after the first couple of rolls. They would would vary in intensity - sometimes strong and sometimes very faint. I put a small but powerful LED light into the extended camera, turned out the lights in my darkroom, and waited for a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. Nothing - the camera was light tight.

I know this post is regarding a Bessa I but I thought I'd share in case anyone was experiencing something similar - it might fix their light leak issue.

My issue wasn't a light leak in the bellows or back - It turned out that the pressure plate had moved so it wasn't adequately keeping the film against the frame gate. So light was leaking into the feed roll when making an exposure (essentially pre-flashing the **next** exposure) as the pressure plate wasn't sealing properly on that side of the gate. The intensity of the leak varied as the exposure varied. I expect I caused the pressure plate to move when I was loading some film, or poking and prodding things as I familiarised myself with my new (and first) folding camera.

Thankfully it was easy to fix - just made sure the plate is now centred over the gate, and using a piece of black electrical tape stuck to the door I made a quick reference to check if the plate has moved from where it should be.

Thanks for this post, I have a Bessa and it is doing things similar to yours. The camera had new cloth bellows when i got it, and I've checked as best I could find no light leaks on the bellows. But you've given another explanation that I'll look into because mine varies too on different rolls.

Voigtlander Bessa I Light Leak

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