Alphax shutters -- How big?

[Shen45]

This seems to be one of the mysteries of life. How do you tell the various Alphax shutters? As far as I can see they do not have a numeric designation on the shutter like an ilex or copal.

Steve

[JasonC]

Alphax #3 shutters usually have top speed at 100. #4 and #5 have top speed at 50. Other than that you could only compare the overall diameters.

Jason.

[Alan Davenport]

I think Jason gave the most obvious differences. Also, the front face on the Alphax 3 is retained by the central ring, while the No. 4 has four tiny screws that hold the face down. I suppose the 5 is similar to the 4 but I've not actually held a #5 shutter. The Alphax 4 is very close to 4 inches in overall diameter; it's just a millimeter or two larger than a Linhof lensboard is wide.

[JasonC]

FYI, Betax shutters should be identical to Alphax shutters. At least the ones I have are.

Jason.

[Jan Pedersen]

The #5 Alphax does also have the 4 screws on the face plate. In addition there are at least 3 different versions of the #5 Alphax, some have a preview lever that when pushed in opens the iris, some have Flash sync and then again some don't have any of the above.
The slowest shutter speed on the # 5 is 1/2 sec. but i am not sure that goes for all of them.

[JasonC]

What Jan said about #5 having different versions apply to #3 and #4 too. Also be aware that some shutters have restricted apertures.

Jason.

[Shen45]

Thanks for the information. All said and done the #4 and #5 are large shutters.

Steve

[Pete Roody]

General dimensions are listed in:

http://lensn2shutter.com/shutters.html