I have a IIIc, randomly on 1 of every 5 4"X6" prints or so there is a bright 1" overexsposed bright band fully across. It was suggested by a repair person that possibly as the shutter wheel spins my finger might be slightly touching the dial. He said that might account for sometines the band is quite bright and sometines hardly noticible and most of the time not there at all. He previously repaired the camera for this problem and found a small chip in the shutter mechanism, removed it, did a CLA, and thought the problem was solved. He is quite willing to take another look at the camera. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

-- Gerald Widen (gerald@sfa1.com), April 30, 2001

Answers

Try making sure you shade the camera well from bright light when and if you are changing lenses, and always keep the lens cap on except when actually taking a photograph. If this cures your problem it means you have light leaking under your shutter curtain.

-- Sait Akkirman (akkirman@clear.net.nz), May 01, 2001.

Hi Sait, thanks for the reply. It is definately not a light leak. The band is always perfectly vertical and the edges are always parallel. It is probably one of the curtains occasionally dragging across the film plane causing a bright band. It could be two pictures in a row then not appear for a a dozen or so. There is no pattern. The reason for the problem is another matter. Tired of just shooting test rolls.

-- Gerald Widen (gerald@sfa1.com), May 01, 2001.

1) It could be a light leak when you're windng the film and the two shutter curtains aren't as tightly closed as they should be. 2) He might be right about your finger dragging on the shutter speed dial. 3) There may be another piece of crud he missed intefering with the smooth movement of one of the shutter curtains. I'd take him up on having another look inside.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), May 01, 2001.

Sounds like a definite problem with the shutter curtain hanging. Had this problem on an old Exacta once--had to get rid of it because no one in town could fix it. But most Leicas can be repaired forever...

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), May 02, 2001.