What are #00 shutters for?

[koh303]

I have now and have in the past had some Super Angulons which were in a tiny #00 shutter, with no T setting. I always thought these were for smaller press cameras, but if so, was this just a way to save the already existing lens design and fit it in a less expensive shutter, or what this just for size?

[Bill_1856]

The main purpose of the #00 Compur shutter was to drive photographers CRAZY because there is no really satisfactory way to open the shutter to focus and compose on the ground glass. I believe that it was designed by sadistic NAZIs just as WW2 came to an end, to punish us.

[DKirk]

The 00 shutter was designed by Ian Fleming, apparently he went through 7 prototypes :P


In all seriousness though, likely for smaller folding cameras that use roll film.

[koh303]

The 00 shutter was designed by Ian Fleming, apparently he went through 7 prototypes :P


In all seriousness though, likely for smaller folding cameras that use roll film.

But - there is nothing small about the SA 90mm F8!???

[BrianShaw]

But - there is nothing small about the SA 90mm F8!???

That had to be an engineering judgment error. There is perhaps no other plausible reason.

[domaz]

I never minded using a locking cable release for the #00 shutters myself. They are such compact and light shutters and I haven't had as many problems with them as most claim to have.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

In all seriousness though, likely for smaller folding cameras that use roll film.

... and for Rolleiflex-Rolleicord cameras and clones equipped with a 3.5-75 mm lens, and for those hundreds of thousands of 35 mm cameras manufactured until the beginning of the seventies (but we should not speak of this subject here).
My understanding is that there were so many cameras using a #00 shutter, that due to the volume in production, a size 00 leaf shutter was definitely cheaper than a #0.

There existed also a #000 but not for view cameras ;)

[koh303]

I just serviced this #00 shutter, it is much more complex )many things stacked on top of each other) then its #0 equivalent, i am guessing due to the smaller form factor. It does work, now. That said, perhaps the economical issue of the cost would have been an issue at the time, but how much savings was there really with this compared to similarly common #0 shutters (on so many TLRs and folders)? And how does eliminating the T setting help in any way? Those cameras must have had a GG focusing option...? Maybe not. But still.

I have no problem with a proper locking cable release, and see no difference here then old studio shutters, the only problem is that this is eons more advanced than that stuff so what the heck?

[koh303]

That had to be an engineering judgment error. There is perhaps no other plausible reason.

I think at the end of the day, there is no reason, period, plausible or otherwise.

[Dan Fromm]

#00 shutters' natural habitat is 35 mm folding cameras. These cameras focus by scale or with a rangefinder, hence no need for press focus or a "T" setting.

In many applications they have cable release sockets. Just what you want when reshuttering a 58/5.6 Grandagon/Technikon to make it usable on anything but, respectively, a Graflex XL or a Technika 70.

[Bill_1856]

I never minded using a locking cable release for the #00 shutters myself. They are such compact and light shutters and I haven't had as many problems with them as most claim to have.

My experience was with a 65mm SA (47mm??) in a recessed lensboard -- inserting a cable release wasn't possible!

[koh303]

My experience was with a 65mm SA (47mm??) in a recessed lensboard -- inserting a cable release wasn't possible!

Thats what these are for:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/233735-REG/Gepe_603007_Cable_Release_Extension_f.html

[StoneNYC]

The thing I love about them is that they have a 10 second TIMER!! why all the copal a don't also have this is a mystery... So useful, not just for "selfies" but for firing the camera after vibration has stopped.

I agree the T setting is silly. How hard would it be to convert the B to a T function? As a modification?

[IanG]

The Compur #00 shutter was used on many pre-WWII German cameras 35mm & 120 but after WWII the Gauthier - AGC - shutters, Vario, Prontors etc become much more pre-dominant on the next generation of similar 35mm & 120 cameras.

In the UK after WWII Kodak used Epsilon (Ross Ensign) shutters partly due to severe import restrictions, then Prontor and finally the re-designed Compurs, this may well indicate that Compur took much longer to recover after WWII. They dropped the Compur #00 when they redesigned their shutters.

Ian

[Dan Fromm]

Ian, if P-H Pont's Compur rim set shutter chronology is to be believed, #00 Synchro Compurs were produced until 1968. There was even a #00 Compur Electronic, started in '68, ended who-knows-when. The #000 re-surfaced, according to Pont, in 1963-4. Gauthier made #00 Prontors throughout the '60s.

[koh303]

I have to agree with dan's quotes here, this lens and shutter are much newer then war era, or even shortly post war. This looks much more like a late 50's to 60's lens, and i will check the SN when i get into the office later.

[IanG]

Ian, if P-H Pont's Compur rim set shutter chronology is to be believed, #00 Synchro Compurs were produced until 1968. There was even a #00 Compur Electronic, started in '68, ended who-knows-when. The #000 re-surfaced, according to Pont, in 1963-4. Gauthier made #00 Prontors throughout the '60s.

That would make sense.

Ian