Replacing light proofing seals

[galenk]

What do you all use to replace the film door seals on your old cameras?
I don,t have a camera shop in the area and was wondering what you use as it doesn't look hard to do.
All this talk about screw mount lenses makes me want to get the 500tl out but I need to light proof it first.
thanks in advance.
Galen K.

[herron]

Galen-
You're right, it isn't hard to do. ;D

I use either the light baffle material sold by Microtools, or the neat little kits sold by Jon Goodman. I've got an inquiry in Jon's email to see if he has his web site running yet, but you can usually find him on eBay, selling under the name interslice (note he has over 7400 sales and his feedback is 100% positive).

And I'd love to know that old Mamiya is being used! Good luck.

[jmi]

Yep, certainly can recommend Jon Goodman, nice guy too. I've done the seals on a few cams now, Olympus XA was the hardest, and my Mamiya C220 the easiest, but even the XA wasn't difficult, just a bit time consuming. And gunky.

Bear in mind I'm a programmer really so have no mechanical skills whatsoever...

[doubs43]

I've bought items from Microtools with 100% satisfaction but IMO the kit that Jon Goodman sells is the best value for the money hands down! His service is quick and he includes instructions as well as a wood scraping tool to help remove the old seals from the channels.

One word of caution: Be very careful replacing the mirror buffer foam. If you use alcohol to soften the adhesive of the old foam, be certain not to get any of it on the focusing screen. Many (most) are plastic and the alcohol will harm them. I usually pick as much of the old foam as possible using tweezers and the scrape the remaining foam with various tools. If I use alcohol at all, I use a Q-Tip LIGHTLY dampened to go over the old sealant. Some cameras have a metal shield in front of the mirror bumper and if it can be removed by taking out a couple of screws, it makes it much easier to work.

Walker

[Randy]

I also sell foam light seal kits. I include enough foam strips to do door seals and mirror bumpers on Four Cameras for $5.00 shipped to US $6.00 to Canada. Your choice of Black, Red, or Blue...mirror foam is black. Black cameras look great with Red or Blue Foam. I also offer installation. Personal Message for details.

[John Parry]

There you go people - Randy's our guy for everything photographic (well, maybe not everything, but it's worth asking first anyway!). I can confirm that the royal blue seals on the XG-9 I bought off Randy look great.

Regards - John

[malkav]

I'm another satisfied user of Jon Goodman's light-seals, and recommend them highly.