[Leica] iiif happy ending

[Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>]

folks,

i just wanted to say that the problem i was having with a recently
purchased iiif (described below in my original post) has been happily
corrected, wiped away, as it were, with a cla from klaus kettenberg at
professional camera. he explained to me that the streaky frames i was
getting were the result of the shutter curtains not firing properly at fast
speeds - 1/500 and 1/1000. the first curtain was slow to fire and was
'dragging' the second curtain (as opposed to triggering it, i suppose).
whatever the case may be, it's working fine now (i've already put a couple
of rolls through it), and i wanted to let those who responded to my
original request for help know that all was well and to thank them again
for their suggestions.

guy

p.s. i highly recommend k. kettenberg for your leica repairs. he's
extremely competent and knowledgeable, in addition to being a leica fanatic
and an all around nice person. you can find his info on the lhsa site,
under repairs.

*

>lug- and other nuts,
>
>just got back the proofs of the first roll of film (delta 400) taken with
>my 'new' iiif + elmar 50/3.5. first impressions: the elmar is a fantastic
>lens! it's sharp, but seems to be less 'clinical' than the current
>summicron i use on my m6; the 'bokeh' with the latter lens when shot wide
>open is definitely more pronounced, more 'poetic,' however, and really
>makes a portrait pop against the soft blur of the background. for the most
>part, i had no trouble with exposure: for the majority of shots, i metered
>off my m6 as i wanted to make sure shutter speeds were on - which they
>certainly seem to be. only in a couple of cases, when i had to shoot at 100
>instead of 125 or at 25 instead of 30, did shots seem slightly over
>exposed.
>
>that said, i did experience one problem: on some seven or eight shots,
>there are what appear to be streaks running horizontally across the frame,
>as if the film were being wound over something, or as if a roller were
>being rolled over the film. in those shots, there are a series of visible
>horizontal lines that seem to run in groups, like a musical staff, across
>the picture. they are visible, both on the proof and in the negs,but arenot
>so pronounced as to obscure the image completely. obviously, however, they
>are unacceptable and i'd like to get rid of them.
>
>when i looked over the notes i took when making those pictures, i noticed
>that all of the shots in question were taken out of doors at either 1/500
>or 1/1000. none of the other images, shot at slower shutter speeds, were
>affected. does any one have any idea what this might be? could it be
>possible that the shutter curtain is making contact with the film as it
>opens and shuts? i can't imagine what else it might be since frames right
>next to the streaked ones are totally clean, no lines whatsoever. i suppose
>that if had something to do with the film being advanced, or what-have-you,
>those lines would appear over more of the shots, or, if not, at least not
>only over those shot at 1/500 and 1/1000.
>
>has anyone else experienced this problem? thanks in advance for any
>ideas/suggestions/solutions you may have.
>
>guy