clemenshankwitz

Okay, this is one of the most extreme examples of this kind of light leak I have. When I shot this image I had carried around the camera over the shoulder in bright sunlight for hours before (remember: it's always the next frame which is affected). But I made tests later (with photographic paper), with/without black adhesive tape around the edges of the film chamber door and so on, and my results were evident: The cause is definitely the lock mechanism. Yes, I also prefer the haptic of the old ones and I'm kinda sad about that, but: I have two of them. In one I replaced the seals by myself (with original Mamiya seals), in the other one they were replaced by a specialized camera workshop and nevertheless, both are not light tight. I'm just tired of failed images and until now (that's already another couple of years now) the ProTL works fine...

I know that this is a quite old thread and I hope "peterphotography" has solved his Problem in the meantime. But I have to add a few comments, because I had the same Problem (see attachment): The 645's most common light leak is not at the hinge of the back, but at the lock. The cause is that the lock bolt is scraping over the sealing material and damages it. The mean thing is: The affected frame is always the next one, because the "wrong light" hits the piece of film between the supply reel and the film gate. The "razor sharp edge" is the shadow the supply reel casts. This also explains, why it is not at the same position in every picture: At the film start, wehn the reel is full, it is higher up than at the end. Unfortunately, I have not come up with a real solution yet. So after many desperate attempts to get this camera light-tight, I switched to a 645 ProTL.