A tight speed-setting ring on my Xenar!

[Dongyun Hao]

I bought a Linhof-Sch. Xenar 105mm/3.5 lens which is mounted onto a Syncro-Compu r shutter. The lens works reasonably fine for me with all the speeds appearing t o be right on, except the shutter speed setting from 250" moving to 500" where t he moving ring is really tight and hard. It looks to me that this kind of old sh utter is driven by spring mechanism to decide the speeds, so that the higher spe ed might need greater spring tension making the setting there harder than the sl ower speeds. Am I correct? Can anyone outthere convince me if this is a problem or the nature of this kind of shutter? If it is a problem, is there simple way t o DIY than seeing a repair? Thanks in advance!

Dongyun

[janez pelko]

I have the same lens and also some other Linhof Schneider lenses with same type of shutter. They all work the same way as your so don't worry. Once I opened one of those shutters and there is a separete spring just for 1/500 and it is indeed very tight.

[Doremus Scudder]

Don't repair it, it's not broken. The spring has to be pretty stiff to give you the 1/500 speed. You probably won't use the top speed that much anyway. Regards, ;^D)

[Pete Andrews]

Just to say that I'm in total agreement with the previous post. Many shutters, not just the early Compurs, use the simple "trick" of adding extra spring tension to get the top speed. With some shutters the extra effort needed to cock the shutter or move the dial from 1/250th to 1/500th is more noticeable than others. It's nothing to worry about.

[Chauncey Walden]

Just be sure to set the 500 before cocking the shutter, and, if you should change your mind about the shutter speed, release the shutter before changing the speed.

[Dongyun Hao]

Thank you all for your invaluable guidance which peaces my mind!

Dongyun