Spent a whole evening trying to fix a weird light leak in my Bronica

I got a roll back from the lab and every frame had this thin, bright orange line along the top edge. I figured it was the film back seals, so I ordered a foam kit and replaced them all. The next roll still had the leak. I checked the lens mount, the focusing screen, even the dark slide slot. Finally, after maybe five hours total, I shined a flashlight into the camera body in a dark room. The light was coming from a tiny, almost invisible crack in the mirror box itself, right near the hinge. I had to send it out for a repair that took three weeks. Has anyone else had a light leak that turned out to be something really weird like that, not just the usual seals?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole35711d ago

Found a leak on an old Mamiya that drove me nuts. It was a pinhole in the shutter curtain cloth, only visible at a certain angle. Ended up dabbing a tiny bit of liquid electrical tape on it as a last resort, which actually worked.

stone.sarah11d ago

That mirror box crack sounds like a nightmare to track down. My old Hasselblad had a leak from the dark slide slot gasket, which looked fine until you really bent it. A thin strip of black velvet fabric glued in place was the weird fix that finally worked for me.