Petri 7S -- foam or no foam?

I've just acquired a Petri 7S (thanks again, Pablo!!), and after

correcting the problems Pablo was frustrated with, I need to know if

this camera needs foam light seals around the film door. I've just

finished scraping out the residue of some very deteriorated foam, but

that leaves a geometric light trap all around the door similar to

those on some of my old, pre-foam medium format cameras. To my eye,

it doesn't look like foam is a necessity here -- but if it needs foam,

it's certainly no big deal to order an Interslice kit and seal it up.

 

Anyone know for certain?

I have a Petri 7S and a 7S PRO. They both have foam in them. Very nice cameras!<p>Randy Jay

Cool. Thanks! Off to eBay -- I've been meaning to get some foam and redo the mirror bumper in my Spot anyway...

Good luck with it. I put enough foam in my first Olympus 35-RC to float a battleship, but still have a light leak. With that in mind, I averted my eyes from the scabby light seals in my Minoltina, and haven't seen evidence of any stray photons yet. Might be worth shooting off a couple rolls before you improve things.

Mike, I've already scraped out the gooey old foam -- it was sticky enough the back was hard to open. However, as I said, the geometry doesn't look to me as if foam is critical, except possibly by the door hinge; I might block the hinge with a piece of the dark gray weatherstrip I just light sealed my bathroom door with (yes, it'll be a darkroom before too many more weeks) and drop a roll of Tri-X into it to see what's what. Or I might visit the local craft store and grab a small ball of black yarn to stuff in where the foam was. Probably cost more than an Interslice kit, but it's local and I can get it while I'm out getting o-rings for the rewind shaft...

Have you seen "FOAMIES" found in the craft section of Wal-Mart? (or Hobby Lobby) The stuff comes in colors (and black), is 2mm thick, and comes in sheets of 9X12 inches for about 37 cents each, (if I remember correctly). I have used it in some applications with success. Sometimes good for a quick fix.

 

JF

The Walmart foamy stuff is definitely cost effective; I've used it to good effect a couple times. The black yarn idea sounds worth a try to me in the Japanese rangefinders as they were originally furnished with a very thin layer of light seal. If you use something too stiff or thick I think there is some danger of raising the back and letting in light rather than preventing that from happening. I think I might just try that in the Olympus - thanks for the inspiration.

Donald - I would advise against using the grey weatherstrip door seal stuff - it is too thick and would cause strain on the door hinge. Use the velvet strip from the mouth of a film cassette.

Donald, I can mail you a couple of strips from Jon Goodman's kit.

 

But I highly advise you to get one. I have replaced the seals of at least 5 cameras with one.

Well, I shot two test rolls today, camera out of the everready case and exposing the door hinge (the only likely seeming source of a leak) to direct sun on several occasions. We'll see what I get when I develop the film (hopefully tomorrow).

Okay, on the one roll I got developed, there are leaks between frames in two locations where I specifically exposed the door hinge to direct sun -- it appears this is the only significant leak location, however; the geometric light trapping around the other edges of the door seems adequate in itself.