Cocking Shutter?

[ardrigh84]

So...as my question will reveal I'm just trying to start in large format photography.

I have a lens with a Copal shutter. The first time I pulled the lever back, the shutter fired well. I changed the shutter speed and now when I pull the lever back it doesn't catch. It just falls back forward without firing and doesn't feel like it's connected to anything. Is there something else I need to cock before moving the lever back?

I couldn't really find any clear instructions on this step (perhaps because it's so basic).

Help would be appreciated! I'm not sure if there's a problem with the shutter of if I'm just being an idiot (as usual).

[Jon Shiu]

Make sure the preview switch isn't set (black triangle shaped lever), ie the shutter isn't open.

Jon

[Gem Singer]

Are you changing the shutter speed while the shutter is cocked?

If so, don't.

[ardrigh84]

I don't think the shutter was cocked. Just to define terminology (English not being my native language), how is the shutter cocked? What does that mean exactly? Just pulling the lever back?

[Gem Singer]

Pulling or pushing the shutter lever until it locks into place is called cocking the shutter.

That puts tension on a spring, similar to arming the hammer of a firearm.

Once the tension is set, rotating the shutter speed dial to change speeds is not a good idea.

In 35mm photography, when the film is advanced to the next frame with a thumb lever or a motor drive, the shutter is armed (cocked).

More likely than not, the triangular black plastic lever that controls the shutter opening for focusing (preview lever) is in the open position. If you can see a red dot, it's open. Close it, and the shutter should operate correctly.

[lenser]

If you have a cable release attached, it could be a locking on that is keeping the shutter in "firing" position. If so, either release the lock on the cable release or unscrew the whole thing.

[ardrigh84]

Ok, that's what I thought. Wanted to make sure I was on the same page as everyone else.

The problem is that it's not cocking -- it did once but not now. Is there anything special one needs to do to get it to lock into place? The good news, though, is that I did not rotate the shutter speed dial with the shutter cocked...

[ardrigh84]

Aha! I've got it working. Not really sure how but I'm not complaining.

Thanks, everyone, for the help!

[Barry Kirsten]

Another thing to keep in mind is that cocking a shutter set to a higher speed requires more effort to tension the spring.

Occasionally in the past I've found that I hadn't pushed hard enough to get that 'click' which tells that the shutter is set; I'd then try to fire the shutter and find that nothing happend.

Barry

[MumbleyJoe]

Just to emphasize that this is a fair question, particularly for a new Large Format shooter...

I just did a big trip to photograph in Utah a couple weeks ago. Lots of prep, loads of film, all my gear clean and ready to go, etc etc. Well, I've been shooting Large Format for a few years now and when I went to take my first photo precisely the same thing happened to me. I fired a test fire of the shutter before my very first shot and it worked fine. I then went to cock the shutter for my actual shot and... nothing. It wouldn't register, and it wouldn't fire. I wasn't technically sure if it was already cocked and wouldn't fire, or if I just couldn't get it cocked and that's why it wouldn't fire.

Baffled, I put the lens away and recomposed with another. I couldn't figure it out all day, but the next day it worked as normal.

I'm 90% sure I did something stupid (maybe I didn't have the aperture shutter level fully closed, though I'm sure I must have checked that) but I was trying to find internet access just to post the same question here. Regardless, it ended up working fine, as it always had before, and I have no idea what happened that day. You're in good company.

[Gem Singer]

I just checked this on both a Copal 0 and a Copal 1 shutter:

The triangular black plastic preview lever doesn't even need to be moved until the shutter is completely opened, and the red dot is showing, in order to lock up the shutter release lever.

The slightest movement of the preview lever locks the shutter release lever. Even an accidental bump can cause the problem and can go unnoticed.

Just make sure that the preview lever is moved all the way to the closed position before attempting to operate the shutter.