how to work with a packard shutter

[stehei]

Dear All,

Bought a Burke and James with a Packard Shutter installed,
I know how to operate it, but how does one time exposure?
Are there a lot of folks using these shutters?
And what are your experiences? Tips?

regards

stefan

[Mark Woods]

I think of a song and squeeze the bulb in time with the beat. The slower the song, the longer the exposure. The quickest mine works is 1/30th and I can fairly accurately get it down to 1/15th. Not a big range, but it works for me.

[Gene McCluney]

You time exposure by counting "one-thousand-and-one", "one-thousand-and-two", etc.
Now if you insert the instantaneous pin, you get about 1/25 sec with a good squeeze on the bulb. Thats about it. So, you can do time exposures, and one "instantaneous" speed of about 1/25 sec. This is enough for most people in a studio environment.

[Mark Sawyer]

Not all packards have the instantaneous option. But on my big one, on "instant" I can get from about 1/20 down to 1/4 second, depending on how hard I squeeze the bulb. A little practice right before the real exposure helps. It's not perfectly accurate, but neither are most of the Copals, Compounds, Acmes, and other shutters out there...

[stehei]

Thanks,
what is the 'instaneneous" pin?
Or am I missing a joke?

regards

stefan

[Mark Sawyer]

Thanks,
what is the 'instaneneous" pin?
Or am I missing a joke?

regards

stefan

It's no joke, maybe half the packards have this feature. It's a long pin (maybe 1 1/4 inch?) that goes into a hole in the front of the packard shutter. When inserted, the shutter closes "instantly" after opening.

[stehei]

Thanks, I'll check right away,

seems these things are more usefull than I originally thought,
shame they did not make a electronic relais version ;)

stefan

[Cesare Berti]

This thread has been very informative having just bought a packard shutter off e bay but not used it yet.This one has no pin through it but does have a standard electrical plug attached. I'm assuming it's for flash sync or?? How is it used?

Regards,

Cesare

[Mark Sawyer]

Packard shutters are still being made, btw:

http://www.packardshutter.com/

There is an electronically-activated solenoid version, too. I don't know if the manufacturer ever made a flash-synched version, but it's not a difficult modification, and I've seen a number of nice home-brewed packard shutters with various synch-cord attachments. It's just a matter of the shutter blades tripping a contact when they hit their most open point.

Prontor also made a similar 5-bladed shutter with a solenoid. With an electrical timer, you could have a decent range of shutter speeds, but due to the sheer size of the opening, I don't think any such shutter would fire faster than about 1/25.

[Gene McCluney]

This thread has been very informative having just bought a packard shutter off e bay but not used it yet.This one has no pin through it but does have a standard electrical plug attached. I'm assuming it's for flash sync or?? How is it used?

Regards,

Cesare

If it has a standard electrical plug attached, it is for X sync flash. Standard household plugs are a standard flash cord style for larger studio flash powerpacks. Particularly older models. If your flash has a newer "phone plug" style recepticle for the sync cord, you can always make one from component plugs from Radio Shack and hardware stores.

If you use studio flash, and your modeling lights are not too bright, it really doesn't matter what speed your Packard shutter fires at, because the flash duration is so short that the flash duration determines the length of exposure. The only criteria is that the shutter be completely open when the flash fires.

[Gene McCluney]

Solenoid operated Packard style shutters were the norm in large graphic-arts cameras, as used to make the litho negatives of paste-up artwork for burning printing plates. These cameras were usually mounted in a wall, with the lens and bellows side being in the light, and the film side in the darkroom. All the controls for the camera were located in the darkroom side. An operator could set magnification ratio, exposure, and thru a push-button turn on the exposure lamps and open the shutter to expose the negative.

[Glenn Thoreson]

110 volt electrically operated Packard style shutters can be obtained really cheaply off of old Beatty - Coleman long roll cameras. They have flash sync and the relay used for the roll holder can be used to trip other devices. I think the last two of those cost me around ten bucks apiece. To ship the heavy camera cost much more. Some of those have pretty decent barrel lenses that will cover 4X5, too. The only drawback to those shutters is the hole size. Relatively small, at about 1 1/2 inches.

[Cesare Berti]

Gene, it is a standard electrical plug. Thanks for the info. Any chance there is an adapter that will allow the use of a handle mount flash such as a Metz CT45?

[Jim Galli]

Stefan, about 75% of the images on my web pages are done with Packard shutter. Another way to get pretty good speeds is to put a Nikon FM in your pocket. If I need 1/4 sec I listen to the Nikon a couple of times, practice with the bulb and go for it. I can get really good 1/2 1/4 1/8 and perhaps 1/10th while in bulb mode, then with the pin in and a little practice you can keep going 1/15th, 1/30th max with a really good running packard. Couple that with some fine old antique lenses and you're on your way to making some excellent pictures. It opens a lot of avenues up.

[Gene McCluney]

Gene, it is a standard electrical plug. Thanks for the info. Any chance there is an adapter that will allow the use of a handle mount flash such as a Metz CT45?


Sure, you can make one. Get a PC extension cord, and cut off one end and put on a household socket. Simple as pie. Doesn't matter which wire goes where, as there are only 2, and if it doesn't work one way, just reverse the plug in the socket.

Simplest thing would be to purchase a cheap household extension cord, as small and short as you can get, aand use this for the inline household socket...just cut off the plug in, strip the wires, and splice them with the 2 wires coming from a pc extension cord with one end cut off. You don't even have to solder them, just wrap them up well, and tape them up.

[Cesare Berti]

Gene, sounds pretty simple. Thanks