Light leak after CLA

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chipgreenberg

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I sent my Contax lla in for service to a well known (but not THE BEST known) repairman. This was my Dad's camera. I was the last one to shoot it, somewhere around the mid 70's and it sat in his dresser until I inherited it. When I got it it wouldn't fire so it sat on my shelf until I sent it off.

It came back with a light leak. It didn't have a light leak in the 70's. What are the odds the light leak developed during tear down/ reassembly vs from sitting unused?
 
It wouldn't just develop a light leak from sitting unused. And any proper CLA would check for light leaks as a matter of course -- or at least take steps to avoid creating light leaks.
 
Did you get a guarantee on the repair work? If so, correcting this should be covered at no additional charge.
 
Modern foam seals detoriate over time (even if the camera is unused). Your Contax IIa doesn‘t have such foam. It is definitely the repair person who created the light leak. Quite a complex camera btw but beautiful!
 
Horatio said:
Did you get a guarantee on the repair work? If so, correcting this should be covered at no additional charge.
Click to expand...


It is covered under warranty. I sent the camera back, 3 mos later I checked up on it and he had worked on it, ran a roll of film through it, and it still had a light leak.
What pissed me off ( IF this is his fault) is now I'm "back in the queue" rather than finishing the job. Who knows when I'll get this back. Try again. Nope there's a light leak, back in the queue every 3 or 4 mos?
 
chipgreenberg said:
It is covered under warranty. I sent the camera back, 3 mos later I checked up on it and he had worked on it, ran a roll of film through it, and it still had a light leak.
What pissed me off ( IF this is his fault) is now I'm "back in the queue" rather than finishing the job. Who knows when I'll get this back. Try again. Nope there's a light leak, back in the queue every 3 or 4 mos?
Click to expand...
Okay - I have to ask. ... Who is the repair person?
 
chipgreenberg said:
I sent the camera back, 3 mos later I checked up on it and he had worked on it, ran a roll of film through it, and it still had a light leak.
Click to expand...
Unlike the prewar Contax bodies (and their Kiev clones) the postwar Contaxes have few light leaks issues, especially re. light leaks coming from the front plate RF window and arriving on the film through the film advance sprocket, which is the common disease with the prewar Contaxes and which is sometimes impossible to fix with the Kievs.

I once had a light leak with a IIIa. A thin strip of black foam installed all along the throat that is at the upper side of the camera backside, where the camera back upper lip gets when you install the camera back, solved it for good. It had been easy to guess the light leak source : the film got veiled at the lower part of the horizontal photos, and with color negative film, the veiled areas were orange, which told for sure that the light leak source was behind the film, not coming from the front of the camera.

First thing with a light leak is to find out, where it comes from. Did you shoot color negative film and in this case, did the veiled parts of the photos show an orange or a blue tint ?
Orange : light leak coming from the camera back. Blue : light leak coming from the front of the camera and veiling the emulsion directly.

Without a few further explanations about what the light leak effects look like, we cannot tell you what may happen with your IIa.
 
Hi HWY 61.

I shot B/W XP2. I just looked and didn't save any of the scans that showed the light leak. I shot a test roll leaving the camera in the sun but covering the lens when exposing/advancing the film and there was clearly light leaks on the film. The lab didn't scan those cause they thought they were blank.

I'm going to give the repairman until the end of the month, which is about a month since we last spoke and see where he is. If I'm still in queue I'm going to press him.
 
Just finished a CLA on a IIIa and there are only a couple of light seals you disturb during a CLA.

If you scan a negative showing the leak we might be able to assist further.


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