Batteries for Linhof-compur shutters

[andrea milano]

Does anybody know if these batteries are still produced, if not is there an alte rnative? Thanks!

[Bob Salomon]

This is not a Linhof shutter.

it is a compur Electronic shutter.

I haven't seen a battery for it in 15 years.

Prontor Werke might know what will work or if modifications are available.

[andrea milano]

Indeed the shutter is a compur but I have seen it very often on Linhof lenses , so I improperly assumed the Linhof-compur connection. However the battery in question is, a PX 21 and I had one in my hands, in working order yesterday , but the shop keeper kept it together with the similar lens in wich it was! It is a 4,5 battery , is there an alternative? By the way cannot find any e-address for Prontor werke.

[Geoffrey_1456]

Andrea,

Bob was right. Linhof never made any shutters. Your Linhof shutter was made by Compur (now a division within Carl Zeiss), just like those Linhof select lenses were made by Schneider. Px21 is a mercury battery, thus can not be sold in the US. You should be able to find it in Europe. If I remember correctly Minox and Rollei sell an adaptor to allow you to use more widely available watch batteries. Good luck,

[andrea milano]

As I said, I erroneously called Linhof-Compur a shutter which is produced by another brand namely Prontor-werk(I've found the e-address.....). I could be forgiven for being imprecise though, because the prontor shutters are the choice shutters for depiction on Linhof advertising matter. Unfortunately (or is it?), the enviromental legislation in Europe is even more stringent than the states and mercury isn't allowed in batteries too, recently though some articles appeared concerning viable alternatives offered by Japanese battery producers which could provide an alternative, I wonder if someone has a list of which product replaces which. Thanks anyway!

[Geoffrey_1456]

Sorry, Andrea. I did not read your second message carefully enough. Here's a place might help you: http://www.photobattery.com/

[Bob Salomon]

Linhof certainly did make shutters, and they still do make a shutter.

Linhof originally made the leaf shutter that was sold by Valentin Linhof at the start of linhof 110 years ago.

When he patented his metal swing back design for the Technika he sold the design of his shutter to deckel.

Deckel made the Linhof shutter for many years until the shutter division became part of Zeiss at which time the Linhof/Deckel shutter was renamed the Compur shutter.

Today Linhof makes a high speed guilitine shutter with speeds to 1/1500 for the Aero tronica medium format linhof aerial camera.

[Geoffrey_1456]

Bob,

Thanks for the education. Who said it's impossible to teach old dog new tricks?

[Robert Kipling]

Try calling Schneider (631)761-5000. I believe they can order this battery from their factory in Germany. It will be "quite" expensive but it can be gotten. Make sure you are sitting down when you call........

[Bob Younger]

You can find generic versions of this battery that work perfectly in the shutter (I have one). The brand I found are called EXELL and have a part number A21PX. I buy them at a local camera store. Panasonic apparently makes a PX-21 battery as does RAYOVAC. So, you don't have to pay an arm and leg, maybe just an arm. Bob

[Ulf Derichs]

Hello Andrea,

I designed specially for your Linhof-compur shutter a accu-Kit with recharger. It uses a 0,8V 1000mAh NIMh accumulator. It includes a DC- DC switcher to provide the necessary 4,5V for the shutter.

You will never need again a PX21 battery, because the accumulator is 1000 times rechargeable. The price of the kit is 50.-EUR. I think it is not too expensive, a new battery is about 22?, if you can get a cheap one. The only handicap in the moment is , that I need for the specification the compur battery-housing to implement the accu and the dc-dc switcher. I planned in the future a kit, which looks like the PX21 and is also for other applications/cameras, where this type of battery is needed.

[Rapahel Zeiher]

Hello Andrea I found this http://www.prontor-werk.de/Photo/photo.html

There is a contact for the new Prontor Email: roller@prontor.de

[Julian Hopkinson]

I'm a newbie at this forum and albeit rather late with this thread but I have a Compur Electric shutter with installed battery that still works fine at all speeds. The battery is marked Panasonic Alkaline PX-21 - no indication that it contains mercury. It carries what looks like a manufacturing date of 11/94 - or is that an expiry Date? Either way its surprising that it is still functional and nice to know that replacements are available. Julian

[Kirk Fry]

You can rig 3 AA batteries in series together and they work fine with alligator clips. If you look on the web you can plastic find holders for them. Way way cheaper than the one that is supposed to fit. Just get the polarity correct. KFry

[Struan Gray]

A CR2 battery fits nicely in the battery compartment, and provides enough oomph to work the shutter. You can make a fancy spacer, or, like me, use a wad of aluminium foil to make up the extra length.

[Arne Croell]

The alkaline PX21=3LR50 with 4.5V is still made, one reason for still being in existence is that it was used in old Macintosh computers; there was also a 3MR50 mercury version with 4.05V which is no longer available. Mercury batteries have been banned in Europe for quite a while, too, btw!
However, as Struan said, pretty much anything between 4 and 6V that fits the compartment with some spacers will work.

[domaz]

I have a Compur Electronic shutter as well. I "modded" it by taking off the irritatingly large PX-21 battery holder and soldering the supply wires to a 1/2AA holder. The 1/2AA holder now holds a 3.6V lithium battery (http://www.batteryspace.com/primarylithiumthionylchloridebattery12aasize36v1200maher14250nonrechargeable432wh.aspx). The end result is that the battery/holder is much lighter and more compact than the PX-21. The lithium battery should last much much longer too, as it is something like 1200mah.

So try being a little creative and don't be afraid to try batteries with lower voltage than 4.5V. I wouldn't go higher though.