PSA: That old Canon AE-1 light seal job nearly ruined my roll

I was in my garage last Tuesday working on a Canon AE-1 from the 70s, just replacing the light seals like I've done a hundred times. Grabbed some generic foam off Amazon cause I was out of my usual precut kit. Finished up, loaded some Portra 400, and handed it to a buddy for a weekend shoot. He came back with the whole roll fogged along the back edge, every single frame. Turns out that cheap foam I used was too thick and wasn't compressing right against the film door. Spent about 3 hours sanding it down and testing with a flashlight before it sealed proper. Anyone else run into bad foam ruining a seal job?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace897d ago

That bit about the "generic foam off Amazon" really resonates because I've noticed this exact same pattern everywhere - people grabbing the cheap option without realizing the SPECS matter more than the price. Just last week my neighbor used bargain weatherstripping on his front door and now it sticks in the humidity, same kind of false economy. It's like the universe keeps reminding us that some things you just can't shortcut no matter how simple they look.

the_tessa7d ago

Oh, did he try anything to fix it once it swelled up?

jenny_hall7d ago

Same thing with router bits. Buy cheap, you get splinters and a ruined project.