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I finally fixed a mysterious light leak on my Olympus PEN FV film camera.
It’s been bugging me for months. Changing the light seals did not help. In fact, I’ve done it twice, even followed the instructions by the website that pre-cuts them (aki-asahi.com/store/html/p…). Unfortunately, the leaks persisted.
So I tried something new. I loaded a donor (still good) roll of film and advanced it to frame 8. I then left my PEN in the bright sun for a day. Finally, I removed the strip of film that was wound up inside a dark bag, loaded it into a Paterson tank and developed.
The leak was apparent, but it didn’t align with anything on the back. Instead, it appeared as if the light was coming through somewhere above the wound-up spool. You can see it in the video here: youtube.com/shorts/y66XWAm….
I then remembered that I’d recently removed a loose screw from under the bottom plate. So I took the top plate off (thanks to this video, youtube.com/watch?v=9EX99e…) and found a hole where the missing strap lug screw opened up a gap for the light to get in.
I then re-fitted the strap lug with the screw I found earlier, which had fixed an issue that perplexed me for all this time. Finally, a leak-free PEN FV!
Fixing Polaroid SX-70 not ejecting dark slide as the motor drive runs continuously.
After returning from a multi-day hike, I found that my SX-70 would whirl its motor without stopping when I inserted a fresh pack but the dark slide would not come out. The articles online were not helpful and the repair manual called for the replacement of an entire block — which was as helpful as the 1-800-number the camera had printed near the rollers for a toll-free helpline.
Thankfully, I found a YouTube video that showed exactly the reason and a way to fix the issue: youtube.com/watch?v=BH8Q6X…. It was a little difficult to watch and there was an important part of the process missing: how to remove the rollers. Eventually, I figured out that the rollers (the entire block that pops open for the film to go in) could be removed by squeezing the left hinge which would free the assembly quite easily. I then followed the instructions (stretched the spring to replace the fragile plastic bits) and the issue was resolved.
The longest part of the process was removing the leatherette from the bottom of the camera which I prized for its distinct quality over the older models. It took a lot of ginger prying and alcohol. My brother found a glue (which I’m waiting for now) that should help me fix the leatherette semi-permanently so that it could be removed without much trouble later: mcmaster.com/7467A72/
Hope this helps someone!
How to (roughly) test your point-and-shoot film camera’s shutter speeds and aperture.
(In response to this thread on Mastodon: mastodon.social/@salemhila…)
1. Go outside in full sun. Point your camera at something brightly lit, and press the shutter button while listening and observing your camera’s lens. The shutter should be very fast and the aperture must look tiny. If your camera defaults to ISO 100 film, it should fire at about 1/125s with an f/16 aperture. It’s often the smallest aperture and highest shutter speed.
2. Go indoors and turn off your camera’s flash. Point it at a dim corner (some cameras will need a certain minimum of light, so look for the darkest spot your camera will work on). Your aperture should look the largest and the shutter should stay open noticeably longer, between 1/15th of a second and 2+ seconds.
3. Your camera isn’t working right if: a) it does not show a noticeable difference in shutter speeds between the outdoor sun and dim indoors, b) if your camera’s shutter is unexpectedly slow in the sun (i.e., like in this video: youtube.com/shorts/A0RTrKh…), c) if your camera’s shutter is unexpectedly fast indoors.
Note that this test does not verify your camera’s accuracy — just whether it works or not.
YouTube Video