Re: [Leica] shutter light leaks

[Thomas Kachadurian <kach@freeway.net>]

Jesse:

I had this exact problem. Your felt pads are out of place and can be
adjusted. You shouldn't have to hide your M to change lenses. If you get it
repaired you won't have to. Try Don Goldberg.

Tom

 At 11:26 AM 1/1/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Greetings again -
>
>I've looked over this roll of film with light leaks, and further analysis
shows
>almost certainly that they are leaks encountered when changing lenses. On
this
>roll, I had alternated between 35, 21, and 50. The only leaks are on frames
>which sat behind the shutter while no lens was mounted. There are only 3 such
>frames on the roll and this is almost a total fluke:
>
>This M6 and its shutter really are fine - everything is clean and working.
The
>above data corresponds with [something posted by another LUGr which I
can't see
>right now from this mail program] about changing lenses and having raw light
>spill in. Where's the worst leak on the roll? It happened on the first
frame of
>a portrait of another photographer - taken just after I had the lens off and
>was showing him the virtues of the M-body / how far in the non-retrofocus
>lenses fit against the shutter. Another was at a flea market, where an
>old-timer spotted the Leica and started telling me about his friend who
burned
>a hole in his shutter in the 50's because the lens was left pointing at
the sun
>(HAH! Another LUG topic!) - so off came the lens again as we talked about
>Leicas. Boom - next frame has light leaks.
>
>I don't think this would happen with more care. I do absolutely know that
this
>is a leak around the shutter edges, top and bottom. If you screw the head
off a
>MiniMag or other small flashlight, and hold the lit bulb near the lens
side of
>the shutter, you can see faint light spilling over to the film side
through the
>upper and lower shutter curtain channels. (I'd post an image from the roll on
>my website, but my scanner's down right now for want of a SCSI card.)
>
>Synopsis: Just be careful when the lens is off and the light is bright. I
don't
>think this would happen with a lens mounted.
>
>- Jesse
>
>-- 
>"CIA Clears Self in Crack Probe"         - Headlines
>                                           SJ Mercury News 97/12/18
>
>                                    Silicon Graphics USA
>  Jesse Newcomb                       Mountain View, CA
>  jessen@sgi.com                     tel 650 933-2026
>  http://reality.sgi.com/jessen_esd  fax 650 390-6159
>
>
>