Tried shooting a roll at an old fairground and lost half the shots to light leaks

I was at the Remlinger Farms fall fair up near Carnation a few weeks ago, right at golden hour. My old Pentax K1000 has this foam seal that I knew was getting crunchy, but I figured one more roll wouldn't hurt. Well, about 11 out of 24 frames came back with these milky orange streaks on the edges. I should have just cut some black craft foam and replaced the seals before I went, it takes maybe 20 minutes. Now I keep a roll of adhesive felt in my camera bag as a backup fix. Has anyone else had a whole day of shots ruined by something small like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

mia_lee29d ago

Nah, I see it the other way. If you know your gear has a known issue like crunchy foam seals and you don't fix it, that's on you, not bad luck. It's like driving on a donut tire for months and then acting surprised when it blows.

nathan85129d ago

My buddy Bill took his Nikon FM2 to the county fair rodeo last summer. He had loaded some Portra 400 and spent two hours getting shots of the calf roping and barrel racing. When he got the scans back, every single frame had a purple haze along the bottom edge. Turns out the little rubber light seal strip inside the back door had just turned into dust. He was so mad he almost threw the camera in the trash, but I talked him into ordering a seal kit for like 12 bucks. Now he replaces those seals every two years no matter what.