Would this be a light leak?

[Daniel.E]

I always thought that the light leaks would be even all around but near the edge you can see that the negative is fine. I'm a newbie still and I'm probably wrong.
Any ideas? thank you!

149130

[Michael E]

Looks like a light leak. But not while the film was in the holder, the edge is also affected. It probably happened in the box or before processing. How do you develop your film?

[Daniel.E]

It's odd because I loaded 6 sheets when I loaded that particular one, same conditions, same way. It was the same unloading them and only that one had that light leak.

[Jac@stafford.net]

It looks like the film wasn't loaded into the film holder properly.

[Ken Lee]

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/SqueezeBack.jpg

Light leaks are most likely to occur when we insert and remove the dark slide. Even when the camera has a spring-loaded back, it only takes a little wiggle to let the light in.

It's best to keep things tightly shut with one hand, while we manage the dark slide with the other.

[Daniel.E]

Thank you! that's very good to know. I never thought of doing that. I did remove the dark slide and I took probably 10 minutes to take the picture because I started talking to somebody. Although I didn't think that would make a difference.

[Old_Dick]

+1 thanks.

[Michael E]

The light didn't enter on the side where the dark slide is inserted. And it got under the flap. Just saying.

[Ken Lee]

The light didn't enter on the side where the dark slide is inserted. And it got under the flap. Just saying.

Since Daniel is new to Large Format, could he have loaded the film with the notch pointing towards the bottom of the holder ?

If the back is really loose, can't it come away from the holder at the flap end too ?

[Daniel.E]

Since Daniel is new to Large Format, could he have loaded the film with the notch pointing towards the bottom of the holder ?

If the back is really loose, can't it come away from the holder at the flap end too ?

Negative, the negative was loaded with the notch in the correct position. The back is pretty tight and felt normal, nothing that would indicate otherwise.

[Fred L]

was the dark slide fully seated when you pulled the holder out of the camera ?

[Daniel.E]

Yes I believe so but if it wasn't wouldn't it have done more damage towards the edge?

[Fred L]

dunno, depends on how the light entered. just throwing this out there ;)

[Michael E]

Since Daniel is new to Large Format, could he have loaded the film with the notch pointing towards the bottom of the holder ?

If the back is really loose, can't it come away from the holder at the flap end too ?


was the dark slide fully seated when you pulled the holder out of the camera ?

The image shows the outline of the side rails and the closed flap. But even those usually unexposed borders show the light leak.

Edit: After staring at the image again, I thought of another scenario. With the film holder out in the open, if the dark slide was pulled just enough that the flap opened a bit, it would have made the shadow that can be seen at the top of the image. The light coming in at both sides of the flap could have crept under the side rails. The pattern suggest the old style thin metal rails, right? I would expect more light at the main gap the dark slide left, though. Mysterious...

[Ken Lee]

The image shows the outline of the side rails and the closed flap. But even those usually unexposed borders show the light leak.

Edit: After staring at the image again, I thought of another scenario. With the film holder out in the open, if the dark slide was pulled just enough that the flap opened a bit, it would have made the shadow that can be seen at the top of the image. The light coming in at both sides of the flap could have crept under the side rails. The pattern suggest the old style thin metal rails, right? I would expect more light at the main gap the dark slide left, though. Mysterious...

Yes, I think you're right: if we don't lock the dark slide, it can slide open, enough for this to happen.

[Daniel.E]

Yes, that's interesting. I can't tell you for sure if that happened but I'll make sure to lock the dark slides from now on. Thank you!
I don't know if I have an old style thin metal rails, what would the new ones be made out of? the holders are Riteway.

[Doremus Scudder]

The light didn't enter on the side where the dark slide is inserted. And it got under the flap. Just saying.

Yep! The light leak is from the opposite side of the holder from the darkslide, but it didn't get "under" the flap, but past it. It looks to me as if the holder did not seat correctly in the back at the bottom. But Michael's idea about the holder getting accidentally pulled sounds reasonable too. Still there could be a small seating problem or gap in the light-trap material that over 10 minutes caused an insignificant light leak to show up more aggressively.

For that reason, Daniel, you should check the seat in the camera back and whatever sealing material there is there (felt, cloth, etc.) for gaps or bumps that would keep the holder from seating properly and/or let in light. Also, play around with a holder and the back and see if it's possible to insert the holder too far or somehow seat it incorrectly (I have a Wista that I need to be careful with in this regard).

At any rate, limiting the time your darkslide is out of the holder to a minimum and locking the darkslide in when the holder is out of the camera should help this. FWIW, I use quart-size ZipLoc bags for each holder. They are small enough that they prevent the slide from coming out.

Best,

Doremus

[Randy]

Since Daniel is new to Large Format, could he have loaded the film with the notch pointing towards the bottom of the holder ?I am not new to large format (have been loading 4x5 film holders since the late 1970's) and have always had the notches at the bottom of the holder, not at the top where the dark-slide is inserted. Have I been doing it incorrectly all this time? - and if so, why is one way correct and the other not. FWIW, I have never had anything go wrong in the holder and I have probably loaded, shot, processed, and printed 10,000 sheets (I was a USAF photographer for 10 years and we shot 4X5 in studio).