Things are getting more complicated. There appear to be two sources of light leaks where the bellows mounts to the back end of the camera (a Wista 45VX). The
1. It looks like the person who made the bellows used a clear glue to attach the bellows to the frame. It smells like Gorilla Glue. Where it's a thicker layer of glue, a bit of light can shine through.
2. The foam seals don't seam to be making good contact with the bellows frame. The seals aren't rotted out so they're either compressed, or someone replaced them with too thin foam.
For problem #1 a bit of silicone caulk should help by covering over the clear glue and filling in any spaces that weren't glued down properly. For problem #2, I could make thicker seals -- but that creates a whole new problem. The bellows already don't compress enough to easily fit into the body and allow the camera to fold shut. Making those seals thicker makes it impossible to close.
So now a new question... am I making a mountain out of a molehill? My test setup is a lightbulb equivalent to a 60W incandescent mounted to a lensboard and shining inside the camera. The light leakage is at the rear (sadly right next to the film) but it's within the cavity of the Wista 45VX body. It's only visible close in to the camera, looking straight into the body cavity from the lens side. I've been presuming that if I can see any light coming out -- anywhere -- then I can expect ruined shots due to light coming in, especially during longer exposures. What do we think? Are your cameras 100% light proof? Do you check?
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