Technician Needed?

[DJGainer]

I just picked up my first lens, but it is mounted in a DB shutter. I want it in a Copal 0, but all the Copals I am looking at have no markings on the aperture scale. Is this a process I can take on myself, or should I find a professional to do this calibration? And if so, who do you recommend?

Dave

[Peter K]

Every lens needs a special aperture scale. This question is asked very often. With the "search" fuction this threads can be found easily. E. g.
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...aperture+scale

[mrossano]

As another possibility, Prontor Professional and later model Compur shutters use the same scale for all lenses of a particular maximum aperture (actually, the Prontors have two variations of some or all of the max apertures, to allow appropriate minimum apertures) with the calibration achieved with an adjustable linkage between the pointer and the actuator. If you can find one of these with the appropriate scale, at a suitable price, you may be better-off.

[DJGainer]

Couldn't I just mount another lens, meter the light coming through it at the different apertures, then mount the new lens and record the apertures on the scale when the meter readings correspond to those on the first lens?

[Scott Kathe]

If you are just getting started I'd have a professional mount it for you and do the aperture scale. That may end up cutting down on potential problems and troubleshooting in the future at the expense of cost. I would get in touch with SK Grimes (http://www.skgrimes.com/) and see what it will cost you-it will probably be expensive. You might be better off contacting Jim at Midwest Photo (http://www.mpex.com/index.htm) and see if you can trade in the lens you have for another in the type of shutter you want.

Scott

[David Karp]

If it is a currently manufactured lens, there may be another option. Talk to a photo equipment repair shop and ask them to order the Copal shutter for that lens from the lens manufacturer.

I did that with my 90mm and 75mm Grandagon-N lenses that originally came in DB mounts. The shop ordered the lenses with the aperture scales and we screwed the elements right in! Both lenses were good to go.

[Bob Salomon]

As another possibility, Prontor Professional and later model Compur shutters use the same scale for all lenses of a particular maximum aperture (actually, the Prontors have two variations of some or all of the max apertures, to allow appropriate minimum apertures) with the calibration achieved with an adjustable linkage between the pointer and the actuator. If you can find one of these with the appropriate scale, at a suitable price, you may be better-off.

You are confusing things.

Prontor Werke offered three different aperture sticks for the Prontor Professional. One each for the 0, the 01 and the 3 shutters (there were only two different sizes of the Professional. For the 0 lenses there was an adapter thread in the shutter. Each of these three sticks then had several different aperture tapes available for each size depending on the maximum and minimum apertures of the lens mounted in the shutter. Thus a 90mm 6.8, 90mm 8.0 and 90mm 5.6 each had the same stick but different aperture scale stickers for the 0 shutter size. We fairly recently threw out boxes of these scale stickers as we no longer had anything to mount them on.

[DJGainer]

If it is a currently manufactured lens, there may be another option. Talk to a photo equipment repair shop and ask them to order the Copal shutter for that lens from the lens manufacturer.

I did that with my 90mm and 75mm Grandagon-N lenses that originally came in DB mounts. The shop ordered the lenses with the aperture scales and we screwed the elements right in! Both lenses were good to go.

Well, if I can find a Copal 0 for a Schneider Super Angulon f/8 90, I'll be in great shape!

[domenico Foschi]

my SA has a 0.0 shutter

[Scott Kathe]

my SA has a 0.0 shutter

Mine is in the 0 shutter-good luck