Re: Leaky Realists etc.

[P3D <PTWW@xxxxxxx>]

> I seem to remember reading somewhere that there was another potential 
> source for a light leak in Realist stereo cameras, other than a loose
> fitting back cover....

> Somewhere in the distant past (sorry, I can't recall the
> source), someone told me that light leaks can occur at the focus wheel -
> camera body connection.  The "light trap" material in the Romney photo
> would seem to corroborate such a contention.  The problem I have with
> that hypothesis is that the only time I've ever seen such a light trap
> was in the photo I'm referencing to.  I've owned, and have had several
> Realists pass my way, and I have never seen the light trap in the flesh.
>...
> Excuse the pun, but can anybody shed some light on this?  :-)

> Allan C.

In my leaky Realist, the light damage always occurs by a frame boundary,
and the light streaks are always separated by a multiple of 10 perfs.
(One of those "fortunately/unfortunately" situations: fortunately only
the edge of an image is damaged, so the damage can be cropped out; un-
fortunately, two images, from two different pairs, are almost always
damaged at the same time.)

Thus it seems the Realist light leak is slight enough that film is only
damaged when the film is "at rest" (i.e., not being advanced or rewound).
Shouldn't it be possible, then, to narrow down the list of potential
sources for the leak by holding an uncut strip of damaged film in a
properly aligned at rest position inside the camera?

On my leaky Realist, this appears to be consistent with the leak being
where the camera back meets the camera body.  As best as I can determine,
if my leak were coming from where the focus wheel attaches to the camera
body (or more specifically, where the metal bar to which the focus wheel
is attached passes through the camera body), the damage would appear in
a different position within the frame.

The spot that appears to be the source of the leak is immediately
adjacent to where the focus wheel's *DOF scale* attaches to the camera
body, if I am properly interpreting what I am looking at.  Could this
be the source of the confusion?

Could someone with a more intimate understanding of the Realist camera
offer some feedback on my hypothesis, observations, and conclusions?

Have other owners of leaky Realists observed the same patterns of light
damage on their film?

Paul Talbot


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