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View Full Version : Trouble Shooting My Horseman VHR



Hugh Sakols
23-Jul-2005, 13:32
I just received the first two rolls of transparencies taken with my newly aquired Horseman VHR with Horsmena 6x9 back. Some of the images turned turned out well exposed. However, many of the images appear to have a haze that overlays the image. In some cases you can see a thin section on the edge where the exposure looked about right but then the haze overlays the rest of the transparency. Is there anyway I can post an example JPEG? Can anyone suggest what I might be doing wrong or what might be wrong with my set-up?

GPS
23-Jul-2005, 14:03
Light leaks somewhere. Perhaps around the film holder? Or the RF holder?

Will Strain
23-Jul-2005, 17:09
couple of things... are you putting the darkslide back in right away?

Are you rotating the back with the darkslide out?

grafloc sliders and such all nice an tight, or is there some play?

Leonard Evens
23-Jul-2005, 18:46
It does sound like a light leak. Here are a couple of suggestions. Make sure you are putting the film holder in properly and engaging the Graflok mechanism correctly. Also, you don't need to remove the dark slide entirely when taking a picture. There is a red line on one side, and it is enough to pull it out so that line is visible.

Try the following. Put the back on, and pull the dark slide out to the red line. Extend the bellows with no lens in place. In a dark room. place the head of a small flashlight into the opening for the lensboard. Look around the bellows and the film holder to see if you see any light leaks.

Simiarly, leave the lens board in place but don't open the shutter. Take off the back and place the flashlight in the back. Again look for light leaks around the bellows and the lensboard.

My old Horseman 980 has some foam in crucial places, and it had deteriorated over the years. I hadn't used it for several years, but I didn't want to try it in that condition. I suspect there would have been light leaks. I took it to Calumet in Chicago, and they replaced the foam and repaired it. At the same time, I had my lenses cleaned and adjusted. It now works fine.

Hugh Sakols
25-Jul-2005, 08:45
I think you folks were correct regarding the placement of the film back. I went ahead and tested the back as Leonard suggested and found that at times I didn't properly attach the back thus I could see light when shining a pen light through the front.

Leonard, I'm confused about the dark slide. Mine has a red handle but no red line on the slide. It sounds as though I don't need to completely remove the slide when ready to photograph.

Thanks again for all of your help.