Light leak, shutter issue or both??

I have a 'new' Yashica FX-1, whcih I have put a roll of Kentmere 100 through. About 1/3 of the images show some signs of what appears to a light leak or shutter problem. Rubberised horizontally travelling shutter. Light leak seems most likely. The most affected images appear to be those taken in bright conditions, and in some shots of the image seem to be most affected at the edge of the film (i.e shot 2). However, the affect seems to be right across the image in some cases, (i.e 1, 3 and 4) and is quite a straight line. It's more subtle in others (RHS of 5) and doesn't bleed into the film edges? I'm wondering if this could be a draggy shutter, or perhaps a leak at the hinge or door seal, or even both!. I replaced the seals prior to putting this film through, but the door foam was a bit more open textured than I would have ideally used. I have changed it for a slice of mouse mat rubber, but wonder what opinions there are out there.

 

Incidentally, other than this, a nice solid camera to use!

 

TIA

 

 

 

 

 

It extends outside the film frame, into the sprocket hole areas. That wouldn't happen with a shutter problem.

Redo the hinge seal with some thin adhesive-backed sheet foam that most craft stores sell. Easy DIY job. Don't bother with seal kits. Crappy/missing hinge foam is usually the culprit.

Use a strip of black electrical tape across the hinge area & see if that solves the problem, then replace the hinge seals per the above. Aloha Bill

BTW. It looks like you're over-developing the film too. The highlights look very dense.

 

Note the glaring white of the guy's trainers, and the lack of differentiation in the highlights.

 

Up the exposure slightly and cut the developing time.

BTW. It looks like you're over-developing the film too. The highlights look very dense.

 

[ATTACH=full]1233397[/ATTACH]

Note the glaring white of the guy's trainers, and the lack of differentiation in the highlights.

 

Up the exposure slightly and cut the developing time.

Quite possibly correct, although those are new trainers, and you obviously haven’t seen the blazing skies of Margate!

 

It was a test roll, and somewhere along the line I lost my thermometer, so I stuck the room temperature (maybe 17) bottles in the sink surrounded in warm water while I went in the loft to roll the film. I stuck my finger in the juice and it fealt a bit too warm, but it’s a 2 bath and not terribly temperature sensitive, so I went with the ‘wing it’ method. I thought I’d cut the time to 3.5 mins from the 4,but out of habit, forgot to do that! All very scientific, I’m sure you’d agree.

 

To be honest, I don’t use any of the various cameras I have sufficiently or with consistent film stock to work out personal film speeds etc. and tend to just urge on the side of fairly generous exposure as most of the time I shoot B& W in good light. I use the ‘ Thornton’ 2 bath, out of convenience, as it lasts ages, and to be honest, I normally have flatter negs that need G3, despite having a condenser enlarger. No doubt careful workers would find this all quite horrific, but it works for me, which is all that counts. I’ve re-done the hinge and door seal (what do you call the seal at the open end of the door??) so here’s hoping that when I use it next, it’l be fine!

 

Thanks everyone for the input

Edited February 19, 2018 by stuart_pratt

It's a leak. I recently resealed some old Nikon FMs using yarn and white glue. Not hard at all.