Bright White and Dull Circles on Film with Leica IIIF

todders

todders

Messages
2,008
Name
adrian
Edit My Images
No
I recently purchased a Leica IIIF with Elmer 50mm f3.5 lens. I have put the first film through and I have these bright and dull white circles at the bottom 1/3 of the picture.

It is on all of the negatives in some sort of form. The film is Kodak Max 400 developed at stock speed with Pyro 510.

Is this possible light leaks through the shutter curtain or something else ?

I would be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction

thank you

Uploaded for film testing purposes and diagnosis by Adrian Jones, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Is it the same brightness across the other photos, i.e. one hole is really bright, whereas the others are faded/less bright?
Edit to add: Is it the same uniformity (one hole right on the left hand edge, with three others)
 
Last edited:
Well I have never seen anything like this before. That bright hole is much brighter than the overall exposure, suggesting it's a permanent leak through the curtain. I'm not familiar with the camera or how it works, but I'd be expecting to see a fading line (if there was a hole in the curtain that "moved", allowing light in, as it sweeps left to right or whatever) rather than dots.

Can you get in a dark room and shine a light through the lens while looking at the curtain to see if you can see anything shining through?
 
Harlequin565 said:
Well I have never seen anything like this before. That bright hole is much brighter than the overall exposure, suggesting it's a permanent leak through the curtain. I'm not familiar with the camera or how it works, but I'd be expecting to see a fading line (if there was a hole in the curtain that "moved", allowing light in, as it sweeps left to right or whatever) rather than dots.

Can you get in a dark room and shine a light through the lens while looking at the curtain to see if you can see anything shining through?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your suggestion on this I will have a look at it shortly to see if I can see anything in a dark room, really appreciate the help thank you.
 
Harlequin565 said:
I'm not familiar with the camera or how it works,
Click to expand...
The Leica rangefinder cameras all used a self capping cloth shutter. Unless Adrian replaces the lens cap after each picture, any hole would be allowing light through continuously, so your diagnosis could be correct. The less bright circles are more puzzling. Perhaps they're internal reflections of the main defect?
 
Whilst inspecting the shutter curtain the plate behind this has a white mark in the corner which seems unremovable not sure whether this has any bearing on the issue or not.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5010.jpeg
    IMG_5010.jpeg
    151 KB · Views: 31
AndrewFlannigan said:
The Leica rangefinder cameras all used a self capping cloth shutter. Unless Adrian replaces the lens cap after each picture, any hole would be allowing light through continuously, so your diagnosis could be correct. The less bright circles are more puzzling. Perhaps they're internal reflections of the main defect?
Click to expand...
Thank you Andrew there is always something to learn every time with film cameras. Off to shoot another test roll and I will post results later tonight. Thanks for your help.
 
Also, you may want to revise the thread title to something more eyecatching as there are quite a few people here more knowledgeable than me. It's almost certainly not a developing issue. The only non-camera related thought I had was wondering whether there might have been a pinhole in the metal film cannister or something.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Also, you may want to revise the thread title to something more eyecatching as there are quite a few people here more knowledgeable than me. It's almost certainly not a developing issue. The only non-camera related thought I had was wondering whether there might have been a pinhole in the metal film cannister or something.
Click to expand...
That does make sense I have changed the title and thank you for your assistance it is most appreciated.
 
Gonna keep adding other thoughts... There is some halation around the chrome on the chairs. Was this fresh film or something expired off eBay?

Either way, if you're putting another roll through, that should rule out film issues. Unless it's an identical film bought as part of a batch.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Gonna keep adding other thoughts... There is some halation around the chrome on the chairs. Was this fresh film or something expired off eBay?

Either way, if you're putting another roll through, that should rule out film issues. Unless it's an identical film bought as part of a batch.
Click to expand...
The film was a fresh roll of Kodak Tmax 400, iam just developing a roll of ilford fp4 so that hopefully should rule out any issues with the film.
 
Just a quick update, the issue is still there wit the new film i processed and on every negative unfortunatley. Iam in contact with the seller and i have sent an email detailing the issue. Thanks for all the help.
 
I think you've done everything to prove it's the camera at fault. It's definitely a weird one though and I'm surprised no one has chimed in as I'm very curious.
 
Harlequin565 said:
I think you've done everything to prove it's the camera at fault. It's definitely a weird one though and I'm surprised no one has chimed in as I'm very curious.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ian yes iam still curious as well, i even tried scanning different negatives making sure it wasnt a scanner issue you never know. Hopefully somebody else may have an idea at some point.
 
Dunno if it means anything, but the spots have consistent spacing.
Spots 1 and 2 are half the distance of spots 2 and 3.
Do you have a scan of the negatives as a strip showing more than one individual frame?
 
Last edited:
Could it be a single hole in the curtain, stopping in different places across the gate as it is wound on by the knob winder? The very bright hole being the last place it stopped, thereby getting much more exposure.
 
I was wondering the same but the blobs aren't parallel with the bottom of the frame in the posted shot. Of course, the shot might have been rotated slightly to straighten it - maybe the OP could tell us if he did tweak it a little.
 
I assumed a hole in the curtain would reproduce as a smear rather than distinct dots... Am I missing something?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top