Hi guys, looking back at my previous posts about Streaks on my M3, I have discovered that even my M4P and new M6 classic have some perculiar performance in bright sunlit sea scenes.

When I shoot with the later 2 bodies at 1/1000 at about f8, there seems to be BLACK STRIPES running parallel to the film ACROSS the image. I dun get this with SLRs or Bessars.

These black stripes occur mostly in scenes with the clouds as background, and in very sunny days.

I believe the M curtains, with their horizontal shutter slit moving across the film during exposure may be UNEVEN in speed and width, even in new Ms, causing uneven exposures across the frame in high shutter speeds, HENCE THE BLACK STRIPES ACROSS the pic. Slower than 1/1000 speeds are FINE, in my experience.

I would like to seek your experience with these scenes.

I will post some sample pics if there are enough collective evidence to my point.

Thanks.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), May 13, 2002

Answers

Travis,

Are these vertical stripes, at the edge of the frame? If they are, your camera may be afflicted with "shutter bounce," a slight problem with the brakes on the shutter curtain that causes the curtain to rebound into and slightly overexpose the edge of the frame. I had the problem with an out-of-the-box M6 a few years ago. Leica fixed it in under a week under the Passport warranty.

Chuck Albertson Seattle, Wash.

-- Chuck Albertson (chucko@siteconnect.com), May 13, 2002.

Travis

It seems to me there is only one way to solve this self-analysis - send your bodies off to a suitable Leica repair person ASAP. They can tell you if something is wrong and what it will cost to fix it. If nothing is wrong then I guess you should move on from M photography or try to fix what ever is causing it from your end as it won't be the Leica. To the best of my knowledge this has never been considered to be a any kind of serious issue with M cameras, but you do seem to be having problems. Leica NJ will certainly tell you if something is wrong and you will then have it from the "horse's mouth".

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), May 13, 2002.

travis -- the effect you describe is by no means endemic to leica m cameras. moreover, if you are talking about black streaks on prints (i.e. un/underexposed areas on the neg), there is no way such marks could be made by a faulty horizontal travel shutter -- unless it was coupled with general VERY GREAT underexposure. if the shutter is tapering, the film will be unexposed at high speeds or very much underexposed. some areas of the negative (corresponding to relatively darker areas of the scene) may not reach the threshold required for initial exposure, and these mite record as clear spots on the neg, surrounded by very underexposed spots. however, it is unlikely that consistent streak patterns would result frame to frame. moreover, it almost impossible that all of your cameras would be similarly afflicted simultaneously. thus, it may be a problem with your lens (unlikely -- even assuming you are using the same lens on all three bodies), but more likely it is a problem with either your processing or your film. x-rays can cause weird probs. however, since this is an UNDEREXPOSURE prob, i'm guessing it's processing related.

-- roger michel (michel@techfoundation.org), May 13, 2002.

M4P, DR 50, TCN 400

See the stripes?

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), May 13, 2002.

to my way of looking at things, those stripes are PERPENDICULAR (not parallel) to the film. those certainly could be caused by uneven movement of the blinds, bounce, etc. needless to say, it is still very weird that all of your cameras are thus afflicted. but i guess somebody has to be the statistical outlier. anyway, get the shutters checked. you seem to be spending a lot of time on the beach . . . sand in the mechanisms perhaps???

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), May 13, 2002.

Is that shot with the camera held vertically? If so, the "stripes" *are* parallel to the film travel and can't be related to the shutter travel. All Leica shutters in my experience have uneven travel at 1/1000 but the result is a barely-perceptible gradient of about 2/3 stop from one side of the frame to the other. Unless you're shooting slides of a montone subject with a lens known not to vignette, you probably would never notice it.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 13, 2002.

Looks most likely to be processing flaws/artifacts rather than a shutter problem.

Shoot some high-contrast transparency film (Velvia) and see if the problem occurs.

-- John Hicks (jhicks31@bellsouth.net), May 13, 2002.

Travis,

I tend to agree with John. Before sending the camera(s) off to be serviced, try shooting a roll of Kodachrome 64 and send to Kodak for processing. That should tell you whether the problem is in the camera or in the processing. LB

-- (lberrytx@aol.com), May 13, 2002.

jay -- it doesn't matter which way you hold the camera. the stripes are perpendicular to the film strip AND parallel to the slit.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), May 14, 2002.

Roger, I held the camera in portrait format, so I believe the shutter slit would be perpendicular to the image. Therefore, the stripes are perpendicular to the shutter slit and parallel to the image.

As to whether the stripes are parallel to the film , i dunno. As IMAGE FORMAT may differ from FILM FORMAT.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), May 14, 2002.

I have had a couple of frames with streaks - light leaks as they were the frames when I changed the lens and didn't shade the body enough. They are very similar to what I am seeing on your sample.

-- Johann Fuller (johannfuller@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002.