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Chasing a light leak on a Pentax K1000 for three days before I realized it was the foam around the mirror bumper crumbling off
Took me four hours of swapping lenses and checking the shutter curtains before I spotted tiny black specks on the film pressure plate that turned out to be old foam fragments reflecting light back onto the frame, has anyone else dealt with foam degradation causing phantom light leaks?
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kai_west11d ago
Got a buddy who spent two weeks thinking his Nikon F2 had a shutter issue. He kept getting these soft white streaks on negatives. Took it to a repair guy who pointed right at the crumbling foam around the mirror box. The tiniest flakes were catching light and bouncing it back onto the film. He felt pretty dumb but it happens to everyone sooner or later.
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barnes.brian10d ago
Honestly, your friend’s story is almost right but that fluffy foam in the F2 is actually around the mirror bumper, not the mirror box itself. It’s a super common mix-up since both areas get crusty over time and cause the same flare issues. Ngl, I’ve done the exact same thing and felt like an idiot for weeks before figuring it out.
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