Hello all,

I have just recently purchased an R3, and run a roll of film through it.

A line from the top of the film to the bottom, varying thicknesses, orange to redish in color in the prints, it looks blue-green on the negative, has occurred on most but not all of the frames.

Is this a light leak because foam is gone (the foam is not good), or something terrible in the processing?

Yikes!!

-- brooke anderson (dbanders@videotron.ca), February 13, 2002

Answers

You got it - bad foam. I got the identical marks from an R4 I was borrowing to try some lenses. (My marks were on slides, but still orange-yellow). The foam around the little film window in the back had turned to cappucino.

Black tape over that film window is a temporary fix - or you could return it (depending on how recent "recent' is).

It's an easy repair and I think you can even do it yourself - Leica Parts dept. sends you the new foam, which comes with adhesive backing - the hardest part is cleaning off all the old foam for a good seal.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 14, 2002.

Brooke - Andy has it right and it is a very easy repair to make yourself (30 mins or so) once you have the replacement foam. Most Leica repair technicians will send you the foam free (they also could send you a replacement strip for the along the door hinge as well). Scrape away the dud stuff with a toothpick or the like. There will be lots of sticky crud left behind... Dab this with a cotton bud soaked in methanol / methylated spirits (DO NOT USE ACETONE this will break down the glue holding the window in place). After dabbing the remaining foam, you will find it much easier to remove ALL of it from around the window. Make sure everything is removed, then peel off the backing strip on the new foam surround and stick it in place. I used 3200 film straight away, and had no problems at all. Until foam arrives, just stick some black electrical tape over the window as Andy suggested. The repair itelf is very straight forward, so don't put it off longer than you have to. Good luck - Andy McLean

-- andy mclean (andrmcln@aol.com), February 14, 2002.