A new article by Ernest Purdum,
Shutters - History and Use has been posted. Please feel free to comment here.
A new article by Ernest Purdum,
Shutters - History and Use has been posted. Please feel free to comment here.
Last edited by QT Luong; 13-Nov-2006 at 20:17.
Thanks for the information Ernest. A most enjoyable read. I have just stepped back in time using a Veliostigmat [12"] and a Verito [9] in Studio shutters. One is really modern and has a cable release whereas the Verito is a bulb release.
Very nicely done.
One minor niggle though: Compur shutters were made in sizes 00 to 2 and Compound in 3 to 5, and not 00 to 3 and 4&5 as the article states.
Ole,
I have two Schneider lenses in Compur 3 shutters. There is currently a 240mm Symmar-S in a Compur 3 listed on eBay (the words "Compur 3" are clearly visible on the shutter in the photos). Both of my lenses are from the late 1970s, but I know Compur 3 shutters continued to be made through the late 1980s, possibly early 1990s.
Kerry
And, of course, there was also the Syncro Compur Electronic 5FS.
Kerry
Thanks to Ernest for this superb article. A reference document indeed !
About the question of modern large format shutters, to what Ernest says :
Copal, and perhaps Prontor, are almost all that are left.
we should add : in terms of 100% mechanical shutters with 0% electricity.
And the Packard shutter is still made !
As far as electro-mechanical shutters are concerned, Rollei / Franke & Heidecke fabricates a #0 and a #1 for any kind of large format lenses needing #0 or #1 sizes. As far as I remember, the Prontor Magnetic might still be available frome the famous Calmbach factory (Bob S. !! help !!)
Schneider-Kreuznach has developed its own electrical shutter as well, and there is, or used to be, a Horseman ISS, not for International Space Station but most probably Intelligent Shutter System.
About historical references, you'd be amazed by the number of companies that used to fabricate shutters in Germany in the past, as mentioned in this book :
Deutsche Photooptik von A - Z. (Erweiterte Neuauflage von ""150 Jahre Photooptik in Deutschland 1849 - 1999"") Thiele, Hartmut München 2004
The book is self-published by the author but can be found at the Lindemanns bookstore in Stuttgart for example.
Last edited by Emmanuel BIGLER; 14-Nov-2006 at 02:41.
Can anyone comment on the "Worshing Light Counter?" Apparently some sort of lens shade/shutter used by Edward Weston, at least on his California and the West trip.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Ole, I have a tiny 130/6.3 CZJ Tessar, made late 1911 or early 1912, in an equally tiny Compound. Also a slightly larger 5 3/8"/6.3 B&L Ser. IIb Tessar, probably made in 1914, in a slightly larger Compound. Will measure the cells' ODs tonight and report. Whatever their sizes may be, both of these shutters are considerably smaller than the Compound #3 you're thinking of.
Ernest, if accurately timed long exposures are needed Ilex, now Melles Griot, electric shutters are an option. Georg Holderied, see http://www.chemie.unibas.ch/~holder/ , has published a design for a digital shutter timer that controls them. I believe that the original Ilex control boxes used RC circuits to time them.
FWIW, some oscilloscope cameras have electronically timed shutters. A few, not many, are easily adapted to photographic use. Some time ago I bought a Coleman Systems scope camera that contained a real Ilex #3 Electronic and control circuitry. I haven't yet used the shutter seriously, but have verified that it functions and checked speed. It runs very slow at all marked speeds, not clear whether the timing circuits aren't quite correct, the blades are gummy (but they look clean), or the spring that snaps the shutter closed when the solenoid is depowered is weak.
Cheers,
Dan
Ole and Dan, I think compound shutters were available in sizes from #00 to #5.
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/zeiss/p61.html
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/...compounda.html
And the Worsching Counter Light Trap.
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/...eyerc/p49.html
Last edited by JasonC; 14-Nov-2006 at 07:55.
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