Prontor Professional size 3 Shutter. What can you tell me?

[turtle]

I have read that these are superbly made German shutters and that they are also out of production, so might cause issues if a part fails.

Can anyone comment on overall size and weight of the Prontor Pro 3, compared to a Copal 3? From a photo I saw it looks a little smaller around the outside diameter but I know this does not necessarily mean lighter weight. Being German I am assuming it is heavier!

[Bob Salomon]

Copal 3: Shutter speeds 1 to 1/125 B & T; Manual cocking, no click stops for aperture; does not accept remote controller, aperture selector sticks or shutter speed controller.
Prontor Professional 3: Shutter speeds 1 to 1/125 B; Self cocking, click stops and can be dis-engaged; accepts remote controller, aperture selector sticks or shutter speed controller; accepts auto cable to synchronize with film insertion in the back; outside diameter 3.93". Height 1.26".

Shutter weights were not specified in the Prontor Werke specs for any of their shutters, Prontor Press, Prontor Professional, Prontor Magnetic, Compur, Compur EL, etc.

[Steven Tribe]

The Prontor Professional 3 weighs 420g and the Compur 3 weighs 378g. Without retaining rings!
Unless you take 1,000s of shots every year (or the shutter has taken 10,000's in its lifetime), repair is not very actual.

[turtle]

Thank you gentlemen. It sounds like it is built like a tank. I found specs under schneider for one of their lenses that gave weights with the Prontor Pro, Compur and Copal. It has the Compur down as 55g more than the Copal and the Prontor Pro 105g heavier than the copal 3.

Sounds like a handy shutter for studio or location portrait work.

[georgl]

I decided to go with these shutters, Prontor makes superb quality but since they are no longer part of Zeiss, they're not interested in the consumer-market anymore (they make shutter systems for the lithographic industry lasting millions of operations).
They don't repair the larger shutters anymore, that's the major donside besides the price.
I like it that they are self-cocking, but in this size, it takes a good cable release to comfortably release it!