Hi all, I've been lurking on this forum for some time, and thanks to you all, I've earned many things.
I've read through the light-leak section, but I have a few questions.
I'm currently using a Wisner 4x5 field and about 50% of my images contain light leaks. They appear to be random. For example, side A of a holder may show a leak while side B of the same holder produces a perfect image. The light leaks appear as a "spray" of light from the corner opposite the film notch. Sometimes it looks like just a spray, other times, half the negative is white. Other times there is a leak but it's barely noticeable. But in all cases, it seems to originate (or at least include) the corner diagonally opposite the ID notch. This tells me that the leak is originating from the upper part of the loading area.
In almost all cases, the leaks are "partial", in the sense that the image is still visible (though badly white-washed). I've had very few leaks that obliterated the image completely. All of this tells me that it has to do something with the way I'm handling the slides. The leaks appear to be transitory, momentary things rather than the result of prolonged exposure.
I'm fairly certain that the holders are well-seated before I remove the dark slide, and I remove the slide maybe 15 seconds before I fire the shutter, and replace it immediately. The leaks don't appear to be dependent on ambient lighting - photographing in bright sunshine doesn't cause any more leaks than shooting in a dark forest.
I also made many, many images with a Wisner 8x10 (with Lisco/Fidelity loaders) as well as a B&J 4x5 (with Readyloads), and I never had a single leak. Unless someone has a much better idea (a very likely possibility, believe me), I'm planning on doing a few dozen test shots in my basement to see if I can isolate the cause. But I'd rather shoot my images in the field :-(
There was one post in the light-leak section warning you to insert the dark slide squarely back into the holder. I admit that I sometimes put in a corner of the slide first before sliding in the rest of the slide. I was wondering if any of you had any experience or troubles with this type of thing.
I use only plastic holders, but I was wondering if some of them could be warped enough to prevent a tight seal inside the camera. I'm kind of hoping that I have a few duds and I just haven't been clever enough to identify them, but I think this is happening too often to be a holder problem. I guess this is another reason for a comprehensive test in the basement.
Any guidance or information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all in advance -
-John
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