Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/06

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Subject: [Leica] Shutter Problem??
From: Richard DeLuca <odyssey@spectra.net>
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 20:49:11 -0500

Dear LUGers,

Just in case any of the details turn out to be important, let me tell you
the minutest details I can recall.  The camera involved is an M6 about six
or seven years old.  It was returned to Leica USA two years ago for a stuck
film advance.

I just got a bunch of color prints back from the camera store (Kodak Pro
400) and was startled to see some kind of problem. The film's expiration
date is still a few months away, and it was stored in the refrigerator.
Unfortunately, the exposed film had been sitting in the camera since early
October. Yes, I know.... I don't usually do that...:)

All the indoor and low-light pictures appear to be evenly exposed.  And
most of the outdoor photos are also okay.  However, three of the ' outdoor
daylight' photos have problems.

Two of the three have a lighter area (less than half a stop, I would guess)
running vertically along the extreme left edge, most noticeable in the top
third where there is blue sky. This light streak covers only about 1/10 of
the picture area.  The third photo shows a thin dark vertical streak at the
extreme left, followed by an equally thin light streak followed by another
dark streak. The total area affected by this is the left third of the
photo. The dark streaks in this last photo are at least one stop
underexposed.

Interestingly enough, these three photos are number 5, 6 and 7 on the roll.
Outdoor photos immediately after these three appear unaffected.  In the
next few days, I'll do a test roll of outdoor photos to see if the problem
occurs again.

In the meantime, does anyone (maybe many of you) have an idea about what
the problem might be?

Many thanks for any thoughts,
Rich