Light Leak: what went wrong?

[giganova]

Wondering what went wrong here. I shot 20 photos (10 holders) on that day and these two were the only ones that had a light leak. Linhof V with new bellows and Fidelity Elite holders.

Maybe I didn't push the film holder all the way into the camera body and it wasn't seating right?
Maybe I kept the dark slide too long outside the film holder?

Thanks for your helps!

204100

[giganova]

Same inverted:

204101

[Mark Sawyer]

Looks like your first guess, the film holder wasn't pushed all the way in, or may have been pulled out a little as you pulled the dark slide. As the leak looks like it's coming from the side where the dark slide goes in, it's possible the light baffles were faulty, but that's less likely.

[Doremus Scudder]

Yep, learn to pinch the spring back to the camera body with your free hand when pulling/inserting the darkslide. Also, after inserting the holder but before pulling the slide, check to see that the holder is firmly seated (slots in the grooves) by pulling the entire holder back and forth a bit.

If, by some chance, that's not the culprit, do keep track of which holders were associated with the light leak. There's an outside (very minimal) chance that the light traps are bad. Likely not on two holders though...

Best,

Doremus

[Bob Salomon]

The later Fidelity Elite holders had a problem with Linhofs. They had a very sharp bottom edge that would hang up when inserted into the back and make you think that they were properly placed. After a few insertions that sharp edge wore down and the problem went away.
Or you could sand or file the edge smooth.

This was only with the later ones.

[John Layton]

that figure...lower left...almost human, and very dramatic!

[Mark Sawyer]

that figure...lower left...almost human, and very dramatic!

That's the Light-Leak Devil.

[giganova]

that figure...lower left...almost human, and very dramatic!
That's a huge tree. Frederick Douglas described it as the "hanging tree" when he was enslaved at the plantation a few hundred yards away.

Here is one of the photos that don't have a light leak:

204152