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Strange shadow in Leica M2 test shot. What is it?


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I shot my first test roll in newly acquired Leica M2. In precisely one frame, I got a shadow line on top of the picture (see below). It was shot at 1/500. There are other frames just before and after with same shutterspeed which do not have the same artifact.

 

Anybody seen this? My camera was supposed to be CLAed (I bought from Tamarkin). Rest of the frames are good, except only this one. I have warranty therefore I will shoot another roll to see what happens, but would like to know what tribal knowledge in this forum has to say about this.

 

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It is not uncommon to see cameras with issues form Tamarkin reported.

 

And even if he send it to CLA prior to sell... I had my M4-2 in service and CLA'd. For one thing and after service and CLA same like yours problem was worse. I had it back and it was tackled down, but didn't go away. I was told to make it fixed - new curtains needed. 

Others told me it is light seals on main light baffle. And who knows where else it could leak.

So, welcome to the world of Leica M light leaks.

Now, if you watch video where GW was advancing only before taking exposure and some other big names keeping lens cap on it should make more sense. This is what I do now as well. Only advancing before exposure and keeping lens covered in between.  

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It is not uncommon to see cameras with issues form Tamarkin reported.

 

And even if he send it to CLA prior to sell... I had my M4-2 in service and CLA'd. For one thing and after service and CLA same like yours problem was worse. I had it back and it was tackled down, but didn't go away. I was told to make it fixed - new curtains needed.

Others told me it is light seals on main light baffle. And who knows where else it could leak.

So, welcome to the world of Leica M light leaks.

Now, if you watch video where GW was advancing only before taking exposure and some other big names keeping lens cap on it should make more sense. This is what I do now as well. Only advancing before exposure and keeping lens covered in between.

Thanks for pointers. I went through other discussions on rangefinder forum and it does seem that it happened when I changed lens outdoors. I am going to put another roll through it and test this hypothesis. I also looked at the light seal around the frame window on lower side and it does seem to worn out a little. I will take a picture before loading it.
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I have exact the same symptom in random photos with my M4.

In my case the image is usually sharper inside the dark stripe, therefore it seems to be a light leak veiling the whole frame, except for the darker stripe.

Edited by ckuwajima
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I took the pic of light seal around the frame opening lower side. It seems to have worn out. I guess another roll of test is in order.

 

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