Light Seal Repairs - Canonet QL17

It's a problem that most of us will face at some point in our photography careers, at least if you're into old film cameras, and that's the deterioration of the under appreciated foam light seals.

Many cameras between the '60s and '90s were fitted with a foam on the camera back that helped to prevent light leaking onto the film. This caused clouding and sometimes red streaks, effectively ruining the film. Unfortunately this foam is prone to deteriorating and will eventually start to leak light, a problem that I have experienced with my Canon AE-1, it can also stick to your film and hamper the developing process.

The only solution to fix the sticky black mess that the foam leaves behind is to give the camera a thorough clean and replace the light seals. You can either do this yourself in under an hour or you could take it to your local camera shop and overpay someone else to do it.

I started by cleaning out the old seals with ear buds dipped in nail varnish remover, I then wiped out the remaining slime with some kitchen roll. To replace the old foam I bought a sheet of 2mm self-adhesive foam from eBay for under £4, I cut this to size, stuck it in and Voila! Fixed in forty minutes.