Is this an A12 light leak or something else? Need help.

[tore h.]

Lately I've been having some dull white smudged stripes appear on my

negatives. They have a sort of cloud-pattern. I have never seen

stripes like these before. There seems to be no pattern as to where

they appear, except that they are never along the edges. They can be

anywhere on the roll, appearing and disappearing across the middle.

They do not come in regular interval as if it was a case of light

entering from one side of the developement spool or the film spool. In

this example photo, the streak is inbetween frames.

 

I have tried two different lenses and two different Hasselblad bodies,

but only one A12 magazine. Also the film is from the same batch, but

several films from the same batch is free of annoying stripes.

 

I know I should replace everything one piece at the time, but I'm

hoping for a quick answer since I have a job coming up and there is

little time to follow false leads. If it is a leaky A12 it's probaly

going to take to fix here in Norway.

 

To sum up:

 

Different camera bodies

Different lenses

Different rolls of Agfa APX 400 film but from same batch

Different developer

Same Film magazine

Same fix

Same developement tank and spools

 

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Would be extremely happy if

someone has an answer to this little mystery.

[tore h.]

Couldn't get the forum upload to work. Here is the example photo:

 

<br>

<br>

<img src="http://www.cookiefactory.no/layout/photos/possiblelightleak.jpg">

</br>

</br>

[Aoresteen]

Replace the light seal. You can do it yourself with a jewler's screwdriver and a seal kit for less that $5.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Tore,<br><br>Can you post other, full frame samples too? The one you posted doesn't really show enough to say.

[tore h.]

The one I posted is the clearest one, I think. It's pretty clear, isn't it? Here is another typical one at the bottom, but it is less clearly defined.

 

And as far as I know there are no $5 light seal kits here in Norway. The magazine would have to go into the service place, and prices for work there start at around $85 if I remember correctly. Then there is the parts, which will be at least $20. And there will be waiting. Weeks of waiting. If I want to order such a kit or two from the states I would need to find a place with a secure online payment system since sending money order or cheques is very difficult. No paypal either. Doesn't work from here, I've tried. And ordering stuff from the states takes at least three weeks because of the absurdly slow postal system.

 

 

<br><br><img src="http://www.cookiefactory.no/layout/photos/possiblelightleak2.jpg">

</br>

</br>

[john_hicks___]

Sure looks like darkslide-slot light leaks to me. For a quick but cumbersome fix, cover the darkslide slot with black tape and only uncover it when changing film.

[esben_jensen]

I've had trouble with my dark slide slots but the streaks were only within the pictures and never between frames and they looked more straight and radiationlike.<br>

Still if you wish to change the light seals you can get parts and instructions for 13$ <a href=http://home.earthlink.net/~blackbird711/HasselbladTrapSealSets.htm>here</a>.

<br><br>

By the way I live in denmark and the seals arrived with regular airmail (they're really small) 4 or 5 days after I placed my order.

[tore h.]

But isn't it odd that the light streaks are on parts of a film where I didn't take the magazine off inbetween any of the shots? That just occurred to me... mostly I use a Flexbody and take the magazine on and off all the time, but on this one roll there are a few stripes as well. And I shot that roll with a different camera. How could light get to the middle of the film and not the edges if the back was on all the time?

 

Thank you for all thoughts and suggestions so far!

 

P.S: I tried to order two sealing kits from your link, but they go through Paypal so it doesn't work. For some reason Paypal is unable to verify my Norwegian Visa cards. Have tried to register regular Paypal accounts with them before (this was a Visa shopping cart and not a PP account payment). In case of the Paypal accounts, they do manage to deduct the $2 registration fee for foreign customers, but somehow they don't manage to verify the card so that they can give you an account. Shame on me for falling for that scam twice.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Tore,<br><br>Am i seeing correctly and is there a band in between the frames in your first sample? That definitely is <br>not</b> the result of a leaking seal. Couldn't be.<br>The mottled look and irregular edge of the blob are also pointing towards something else.<br>You will have to look elsewhere to find what's causing that. Bad fixing or exhausted fixer is one "likely suspect".

[tore h.]

I have found a new clue! A very important one. I stumbled upon a test film I took last year with a Diana camera I bought. Hadn't really looked at it before because I knew that all the photos were crap anyway. Here you can see the white stripes more frequent and distinct than on any other roll. (The stripes run the same way, it's only the film that runs horisontally through the camera as opposed to vertically in a Hasselblad back).

 

I think that fixing could be an interesting area to look at, like you say. Don't know what I have suddenly started to do wrong during fixing though. Maybe the storage bottle itself could be replaced. I always use fairly fresh fixer, but I haven't thought about the bottle I keep the solution in being contaminated.

 

<br>

<br>

<img src="http://www.cookiefactory.no/layout/photos/possiblelightleak3.jpg">

</br>

</br>