Copal Shutter #0, #1, #3

[timberline12k]

I know this is probably a simple question and available on the LF web site, but not knowing enough about the subject makes it difficult finding where to look. - Think about when you were young and tried to look up a word in the dictionary without knowing how to spell it. so--

What do the copal shutter sizes mean and how are they significant?

[Stephen Lewis]

Hi David

Have a look here http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses-primer/. Scroll down to 'Shutters'. HTH

[Kevin Crisp]

The sizes primarily refer to the size of the hole in the shutter. Some lenses need bigger holes than others. As the hole gets bigger the rest of the shutter gets bigger too. Copal 0's are little things, Copal 1 is pretty standard for many, many lenses. Copal 3's are much larger, for larger lenses that need the opening. Sometimes you can look a photo of something in a Copal 3 and not fully appreciate how big it will be and how overwhelming for most 4X5 cameras. The Copal 3's don't have speeds higher than 1/125th. (Lots of big pieces to move around.)

The exact dimensions are likely on the skgrimes.com web site. It can be confusing. Compur shutters, now out of production, had 0's and 1's and 2's and 3's.

[drew.saunders]

0, 1, 3 refers to the size, in increasing order:

http://www.skgrimes.com/products/index.htm

[John Schneider]

For some of the more common older shutters, see
http://lensn2shutter.com/shutters.html

[Ron Marshall]

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/shutters.html#modern

[timberline12k]

0, 1, 3 refers to the size, in increasing order:

http://www.skgrimes.com/products/index.htm

Drew,

I like your avatar, it is very similar to mine. I was using mine on nikonians.org and I transferred it over when I joined this forum. Mine is a photo of my dad's Folding Cartridge Premo with 1910 and 1913 patents. I think it is the first camera I ever used. I thought it was appropriate for my avatar.

The links that everyone provided about Copal shutters are helpful. I plan to read up on them over the weekend.

[drew.saunders]

Drew,

I like your avatar, it is very similar to mine. I was using mine on nikonians.org and I transferred it over when I joined this forum. Mine is a photo of my dad's Folding Cartridge Premo with 1910 and 1913 patents. I think it is the first camera I ever used. I thought it was appropriate for my avatar.

This is a Kodak No. 2-A Folding Cartridge Premo I bought a few years ago for $5. It looks cool on a bookshelf, but the huge holes in the bellows means it probably hasn't taken a picture in 40+ years. It came with an original manual with a price list in the back, a roll of 116 film for the camera was a whopping 60 cents! With inflation, that's probably pretty high, come to think of it. The ad on the back is for "Prints by Gaslight."