Unknown Light Leak Hasselblad 203FE

Hello,

 

I'm having an issue and I'm hopeful someone has encountered it before.

 

A few of my negatives over the last year, but not all, have come back with a strange light leak on them. My initial thought was that it was my film back, and I suspect that may be correct, but before I invest in a new one I was curious if anyone had seen this. The fact that it does not always occur within even the same roll has me puzzled.

 

The zig zag pattern is always the same shape, although sometimes it moves a bit left and right.

 

http://www.andrewdrozpalermo.com/Leak-1.png

http://www.andrewdrozpalermo.com/Leak-2.png

Thank you in advance for any help you may provide!

 

Cheers,

Andrew Droz Palermo

I am wondering if the pattern is due to a shutter curtain that is not moving smoothly. This would be in the body and not the back.

That looks a bit like glare or lens flair.

 

Does it extend into the rebate?

 

Same lens?

Has your film been through airport security at any time? Zigzag patterns are typical of X-ray damage,

Has your film been through airport security at any time? Zigzag patterns are typical of X-ray damage,

 

It most certainly has. I travel a lot, and figured 400 ASA was safe from X-Rays. Very good guess.

I am wondering if the pattern is due to a shutter curtain that is not moving smoothly. This would be in the body and not the back.

With your note in mind, I'm going to use my Polaroid back a bit more and see if the issue stills continues, which would point to a problem with the shutter.

At least here in the USA, you can either ask for a hand inspection of your film at airport security (TSA) or use a lead lined bag so scanning will not be as much of a problem. I prefer hand inspections and they always oblige. This way, no scans, no xrays, no issues. I would lean toward your having the film scanned at security as the reason why you have the problem. Yes q.g._de_bakker was pretty sharp with his observation.

Strange that an X-ray scan would affect the film in the same position on every frame though. No?

 

I think the circumference of a 120 roll is slightly less than a frame plus inter-frame spacing. So an X-ray pattern would repeat at less than one frame intervals.

 

OTOH, that fogging pattern is unlike anything I've ever seen from a light leak. Internal camera reflection from loss of blackening? Lens fault?

 

A focal-plane shutter would have to move in a very strange way to give that patterning, but I suppose it's possible.

 

Were the affected exposure all taken at a high shutter speed by any chance?

 

Intriguing!

Yes, it would be strange to see the same pattern in every frame in exactly the same spot. But then, we've only seen two frames, perhaps even adjacent ones,

I don't know, of course. But the only thing i know that causes such swirl patterns is an x-ray machine, can't think of anything in the camera, moving or not, that would cause such a pattern, and do so consistently.

I asked before, does the "leak" pattern go into the rebate?

 

This information is useful for diagnosing. If the source was external x-rays, then it will be in the rebate too. If it was lens flair or shutter related, it should not.