Test of Leica IIIf

[PFMcFarland]

Last month it was time to test the Leica IIIf I recently purchased as it was made the same year I was born. I mounted a Yashikor 5cm 1:2.8, and loaded the camera with Kodak Tri-X 400.

There are two issues. This is the first one.


Building Toppings by P F McFarland, on Flickr

Those striations are in the negative, not a scanner fault. And if you noticed a little flare in the right lower side (under the dark window), you're not mistaken. Here is a worse example (I cropped it out of most of the uploads).


Gated Alley by P F McFarland, on Flickr

It is coming from the front of the camera, as the sprocket holes are not involved, and the film gate frames it perfectly. It's also in the same spot, so nothing while on the take-up spool or in the film canister is causing it. And as it is on the bottom of the image, that means it hits the top of the film gate. Meanwhile, here are some other examples from the roll.


1967 Ford Galaxy 500 Fastback by P F McFarland, on Flickr


Beautiful Downtown Lowery, VA by P F McFarland, on Flickr


Bedford, Late Afternoon by P F McFarland, on Flickr


Water Meter by P F McFarland, on Flickr


Removed People by P F McFarland, on Flickr

See the rest at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJtsGRR

PF

[Brazile]

I got similar striations on film from a Rolleiflex ("Old Standard") that happened because the film was being pulled over something other than the appropriate roller, apparently I misloaded it. Not saying you did that here, but IIIs can be a pain to load on a good day, so I wonder if something went awry? I certainly have had my share of loading issues with my IIIc, as much as I like it otherwise.

Robert

[Julio1fer]

It is so regular that it might be a defective curtain. i.e. light leaks through the cloth. I wonder what would happen if you half roll for a frame, i.e. about half a turn, and leave the camera in strong light. Would the striations appear in the space between the frames? Would they appear if you release shutter with the lens capped, after some minutes of exposure to light?

I have never seen anything like these striations. The other light leak is more mundane.

[PFMcFarland]

I'm starting to lean towards an old shutter curtain. But I need to test all my LTM lenses, so I'll burn another roll from a different batch to see what the results are.

PF

[alexvaras]

If that model has rollers for film I would say it was rollers and they need to be cleaned, for curtains... next roll, one frame just flash it in front of one unshot/blind frame and see if there are some points of lights, the alternative is to take out the carcass out and check them directly.

About the light leak, if it's as well in the border of the negative, the leak comes from the back/up, my guess.

I wish I be there with my tools

[PFMcFarland]

If that model has rollers for film I would say it was rollers and they need to be cleaned, for curtains... next roll, one frame just flash it in front of one unshot/blind frame and see if there are some points of lights, the alternative is to take out the carcass out and check them directly.

About the light leak, if it's as well in the border of the negative, the leak comes from the back/up, my guess.

I wish I be there with my tools

No rollers involved, Alex. And the film gate keeps the leak from reaching the sprocket holes, so it is definitely coming from the front.

PF

[alexvaras]

The next test I would do is to load the camera, flashlight the lens and then in dark make a shot to go to the next frame, this way you should know if there is a leak from the upper left side where rangefinder is or there is some internal reflection when the shutter is opened. I think IIIf and the IIIa I did recently are similar in the lens chamber/shutter function.

[PFMcFarland]

It has been determined that the striations are cause by deterioration of one of the curtains, in this case the second one. The first curtain looks like it was recently replaced. As to the leak, I still need to do a lens test so I'll do that before shipping the body off for repair.

PF