Bad holder or wrong holder?

[ntenny]

Gentle Reader,

I've now printed a couple of test shots from the Newton Speed-Vue (an early postwar American 4x5) I'm borrowing. Everything seems to work, *except* that there are obvious light leaks coming from the "handle" end of the holder (you know what I mean; the end where you insert and remove the darkslide). The attached scan shows the problem. The holder is an ordinary Fidelity Elite, bought new.

Of particular interest is that the leaks go all the way to the edge of the film, i.e., light was getting between the *holder* and the film. This makes me think the issue is a bad holder---I can't think that there's anything about the camera that could make such a thing happen. However, I'm just uncertain enough to wonder: Is this the result I would expect to see if the camera needed a Graphic holder instead of a modern one?

Any advice welcome.

Thanks

-NT

[Erik L]

Just a thought, maybe the holder is not fully seated in the camera back allowing light to leak there?
good luck
erik

[Jon Shiu]

Could the film have been loaded incorrectly?

Jon

[fschifano]

Considering that the camera is a post war model, I'd be willing to bet that you do indeed have the right holder. Pre-war and there "might" be some concern, but I'm not sure when exactly film holders became standardized. Since it is new, the likelihood that it's bad is slight but not impossible. I'd check it by shining a small penlight directly into the slot that holds the dark slide and check the other side for leaks. The most likely explanation is either that the holder was simply incorrectly seated or, less likely, that the film was incorrectly loaded. You'd probably have noticed an incorrectly loaded film, but if the holder was ever so slightly off when installed into the camera you might not.

[ntenny]

Thanks, everyone. It looks like you're right; I messed around with the camera and holder and it seems like there's a false detent that was fooling me into thinking the holder was properly seated.

I'll try another test in the next day or two to confirm my suspicions.

-NT