Finding out the age of a dial-set Compur shutter

[tonicito]

Hello everyone!

Many thanks for your replies! Unfortunately I couldn't check the forum until today...

edp I double-checked and to me it looks clearly like a 5-digit serial number. In fact, I found a picture of another Voigtländer Rollfilm on flickr (Note!, this is NOT my camera!) with an even lower serial number on the shutter, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fred_i_sverige/4652735033/

leighmarrin I am so jealous of your Superb with an Heliar for that price! The only one I once saw was like 500€... BTW, here you can see pictures I took with this camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonicit...7628361941667/

Many thanks again for your help, guys, I knew this was the right place to come with my strange curiosity...

Toni
--
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonicito
Blog: http://aphotochallengeaday.blogspot.com

[edp]

edp I double-checked and to me it looks clearly like a 5-digit serial number. In fact, I found a picture of another Voigtländer Rollfilm on flickr (Note!, this is NOT my camera!) with an even lower serial number on the shutter, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fred_i_sverige/4652735033/

Fair enough. I wish I'd noted the number on my similar shutter, now. I looked at all the dial-set Compurs I can find around me here and each of them matched within a few years of the lenses mounted in them, according to the lists of serial numbers noted elsewhere in this thread.

[leighmarrin]

[QUOTE=tonicito;843744]
leighmarrin: I am so jealous of your Superb with an Heliar for that price! The only one I once saw was like 500€... BTW, here you can see pictures I took with this camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonicit...7628361941667/

Toni, I enjoyed your photo with the converted 127 Voigtlander, especially the last one of the musician. Also like the long, thin aspect ratio of the ~5x8cm format. Are you able to use the red window to accurately estimate film frames?

While the 7.5cm Heliar is in fairly good shape on my Voigtlander Superb, its viewing lens has a lot of etching on the front element, and its mirror/viewfinder is very hazy. But the Compur shutter is still accurate, and no light leaks. The odd side-lever advance is very different from a Rollei, but quite usable.

When I first got it I was mystified as to why the shutter speeds were printed backwards: 1/100 was 001/1 --then I realized it was MISSING a little odd mirror/prism-gadget to view the shutter speeds from waist level. So I don't think mine could sell for 500 Euros. Still, eventually I'm going to have the viewfinder cleaned, as its a good user-camera.

--Leigh M.

[tonicito]

Hi everyone!

edp, thanks for your help! I guess I'll have to keep researching this topic... in two weeks there is a big camera trade show in Munich (http://www.camera-trade-shows.de/html/show-dates.html) and I'll try to find out about my Compur with the people there... as well as browsing and maybe doing a little "old camera shopping"

leighmarrin, I'm glad you liked the pictures, the one of the street musician is my favorite as well. The camera was originally 5x8 (cm) but it got a 4x6.5 mask (hence the "elongated" aspect ratio) with the conversion to 127 film. This means I am perfectly able to get 8 4x6.5 pictures on a 127 roll using the red window and the markings on the back paper quite normally.
The reversed shutter speeds on your Superb are a really ingenious (although maybe a little overengineered?) solution, the kind of gimmicks that make me love such old cameras. Voigtländer was especially famous for such imaginative features. The parallax-correcting viewing lens on your Superb is another favorite

Thanks everyone for your help, and I would still be very glad if someone knew a little more about Compur shutter serial numbers...

[Tracy Storer]

I'll chime in with data to compare, a 114mm Heliar sn#319xxx(1927-28 from the Voigtlaender section on Jasons page), in a dial -set Compur with a 5 digit sn.#490xx.
In case anybody is collecting data.
The lens mounting threads seem just under "modern #1" size.

[Myriophyllum]

Hi,

just to add some 1928 data:
Camera: Zeiss Ikon Ideal 250/7 # N 518xx, so 1928,
Lens: Zeiss Tessar f/4.5 / 15cm # 853xxx, ca. 1928,
Compur 1, dial set, marked with Zeiss Ikon and Compur, # 192xxx .