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  #1  
Old 9th December 2012, 05:05 PM
KeithM KeithM is offline
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Default Leica IIIg - Light Leakage?

I have put four b&w films through my IIIg, processed them at home, all were fine. Put a colour film through it and have just received the negs back from the Lab. The image below shows the worst frame and the frames either side, No. 20 being portrait orientation. Frames 20 & 22 are affected but to a lesser extent. The puzzle is that not every frame is affected e.g. No. 1 is not, No. 2 slightly, No. 3 not. Similarly with camera orientation, some portrait are, others not and ditto for landscape. Camera light leakage or something that took place later?

When I rewound the film I rewound the leader all the way in and when I posted it I used AG Labs mailer without putting the cassette in a plastic tub. When light leakage first came to mind, I did vaguely wonder if the cassette had been 'squished' in the mail and perhaps the light-trap slightly affected. Suggestions as to the likely culprit would be welcomed! Anyway, probably best if I run another roll through and see how that comes out.

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Old 9th December 2012, 06:02 PM
big paul big paul is offline
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hi keith I don't know how your camera back opens,, but once I opened the back of my Nikon camera thinking it was empty but there was a fully exposed roll of film in the camera it was not wound back in to the cassette I shut the door fast wound the film back in to the cassette and later developed it and it came out just like yours has ..

could you or somebody have opened it buy mistake ..good luck
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Old 9th December 2012, 06:10 PM
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Thanks for the suggestion, Paul. However, the Leica IIIg (1957 vintage) does not have an opening back - the film is loaded and removed via the bottom by removal of the bottom cover. Apart from the loading and unloading process the camera was in a half case the whole time, so I know it was not touched.
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Old 9th December 2012, 06:32 PM
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It's happened in the cassetteafter exposure, so you've learnt the lesson not to use the plastic tub.

When you first rewind the film it's wuite tight on the spool but with lossen up and move a bit, you've print through of the sprockets which jsut won't happen as you say in a Leica.

Ian
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Old 9th December 2012, 07:25 PM
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well it looks like the spacing of the light leak is matched with the frame spacing. That wouldn't happen on the spool except where one frame equals one wind on the spool. So I suspect a few things.
It could be overly tight winding onto the takeup spool. It could be over heating in combination with overly tight. It could be condensation. It could be the lab processor with a light leak or even contamination.
Film being left in camera a long time between images can put serious kink in film which may cause problems in processing, especially if camera gets hot or overly tight.

I think best policy is to run a test roll through camera and have it developed to see if same happens. It could just be a one off.

p.s. if it were light leak from spool in post then you would expect first frames on spool to be the worst affected and not those in the middle or end.

p.p.s. was film ever frozen for storage ?
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Old 9th December 2012, 07:59 PM
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The affected frames are not in a consistent sequence or pattern and the degree to which affected frames are damaged also varies. The film was loaded on 21st Nov and posted to the Lab on the 2nd Dec.
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Old 10th December 2012, 11:22 AM
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The way film sits in a assette partially unravelled a light leak on a corner of the light trap wouldn't necessarily affect the film sitting against the outer casing.

You're looking at a very slight light leak here, nothing else like heat or damp can cause that fogging through the sprocket holes.

Ian
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Old 10th December 2012, 11:50 AM
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Thanks for further comments. Prior to receiving the film back from the Lab, I had loaded another colour-neg roll. Have now replaced this with a roll of Tri-X which I will dev at home, so that I will have the test result rather more quickly than having to send it off to a Lab (Christmas post and all that). Will update the thread when the test is complete.
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Old 11th December 2012, 03:14 PM
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Well, I ventured forth Mon afternoon in similar conditions to when I shot the colour film (i.e. bright early afternoon sunshine). Finished off the film this morning, developed it and have just taken it from the shower cubicle. Bummer! A small number of frames are affected and the attached image of the leader shows the typical areas. The other frames are Nos 4 and 7. The colour film had 30% frames affected. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I have just looked at the films previously put through the camera and found that the last one (April) has 50% affected. In my defence, at the time and in my ignorance, I put this down to something going wrong when I developed it. Films previous to that are OK.

The consensus seems to indicate a light-leak from the base, but I cannot see any likely light-path. I did notice that the number engraved in the base-plate is different to the camera ser. number. Below are some images of the base plate etc. If anyone can point a finger at a potential culprit, please do so!
Attached Thumbnails
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ID:	1658  

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Old 11th December 2012, 04:27 PM
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While it may look odd is there any way you can put the camera into a black plastic bag from say a 5x7 pack of paper. It will need a tight hole cut for the lens and viewfinder. Run some film, even a few frames, and process. If that is OK then it is the camera if not it may be that it is the cassette. Are you loading in subdued light? If possible can you load the film inside a changing bag or darkroom? That would eliminate light leaks in the cassette.

Are the marks at points where you are moving location and the film is static for a while? If so the leak will be very small and hard to find. Mind you if it is in a half case it is hard to see how light can leak through the base. A real puzzle.

Not the easiest thing to do but the only way is to eliminate things one at a time.

Bill

Last edited by Bill; 11th December 2012 at 04:34 PM.
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