bobygunn Posted October 23, 2008 Share #1 Â Posted October 23, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello everybody, Â I'm experiencing a curious problem with my M7. There appears to be light leakage on negatives but only intermittently....... Â I develop my own B&W film but have also used jessops to process colour film, the same problem has occurred so I'm sure its not a problem related to my developing technique. I process 5 rolls at a time and some will show apparent leakage and some not, and even then its not across all negs but in the bottom left corner (generally)of random frames......... Â I have inspected the camera inside and out and can find no fault. Even if the felt seals on the back were worn out, which they are not, there still doesnt seem enough of a gap to be producing such interruptions on the negs. I recently shot 6 long exposures in my house to try and reproduce the problem and then taped up the whole of the back and bottom of my camera, finished the roll and shot a few more rolls, I'll soon develop them in the hope of narrowing things down somehow...... Â any help or advice would be most appreciated.......even advice on where I might have the problem cured in a cheap and timely manner. Â Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_goode Posted October 23, 2008 Share #2 Â Posted October 23, 2008 Rob - have you checked the shutter curtain? With the back open, advance the film and then release the shutter and look for any small tears in the fabric. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_x2004 Posted October 23, 2008 Share #3 Â Posted October 23, 2008 Can you post an image? The internals are so complex light leaks are a guessing game and pretty much the only way you can identify is if you know what leak writes that pattern. Often it is not the most obvious answer, and in any case you cant fix it. Back to service with a couple of prints to show the technicians what they are looking for, and they will replace all the seals. Hopefully they will check their work if it goes to solms, but no guarantees there. Â Ps ... Sorry, you will get a "written" warranty for the work they do. No guarantee that they will run a roll through it and make sure its worth the paper its written on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted October 24, 2008 Share #4 Â Posted October 24, 2008 Yes, an image would help. Â There have been a few instances of light leaks reported which end up coming from the viewfinder/rangefinder area, which I suspect is the case with your camera, in which case it has to go off to Leica to have some internal seal replaced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrewer Posted October 24, 2008 Share #5 Â Posted October 24, 2008 Strap lugs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
perfect1964 Posted September 24, 2014 Share #6  Posted September 24, 2014 Hi Rob  I have a very similar light leak problem. Did you get to the bottom of yours - how was it fixed. I'd appreciate any feedback or help.  Kind regards  Sol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted September 24, 2014 Share #7  Posted September 24, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi Rob I have a very similar light leak problem. Did you get to the bottom of yours - how was it fixed. I'd appreciate any feedback or help.  Kind regards  Sol Sol,  Welcome to the forum!  I hate to break it to you but you've responded to 6-year old thread and Rob (bobygunn) hasn't posted here since August 2008 so I doubt that you'll get a response from him.  Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 25, 2014 Share #8  Posted September 25, 2014 Hi Rob I have a very similar light leak problem. Did you get to the bottom of yours - how was it fixed. I'd appreciate any feedback or help.  Kind regards  Sol  In the meantime things have moved on and with the advent of 10 stop ND filters all sorts of people with all sorts of Leica's are seeing a common light leak with long exposures. The light leaks around the lens and body flange around where the cutout for the focusing cam is on the lens. It looks typically like a crescent shaped arc in the bottom right hand side of photographs. Anything over thirty seconds seems to do it. The answer is to use a black ladies hairband/scrunchy around the base of the lens/body to act as a light baffle. It looks a bit sissy but the photograph is more important.  This is not the same as light leaks with short exposures, or where the camera not had the shutter open and has simply been left in the sun, where seals are most often the culprit.  Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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