Get shutters repaired or not?

[Pete Watkins]

I bought a Sinar today for peanuts. More questions about the camera in another post but it came with two convertable lenses in knackered shutters. The first lens in a Sinar Schneider Symmar f5.6/150 convertable in a Synchro Compur shutter and the other lens is a Sinar Schneider Symmar f5.6/360 convertable in a compound dial set shutter.
I have a late 150 G-Claron and an old uncoated f4.5 150 CZ Tessar. Do I get the 150 Symmar shutter repaired and sell the G-Claron to fund the repair or sell the Symmar in a knackered shutter and let the buyer get the thing repaired?
I also have a 355 G-Claron and a couple of other lenses between 300 and 420 that I'm happy with so is it worth getting the 360 Symmar shutter repaired? I've never heard great things about convertables............I would appreciate any advise that you can offer.
Thanks,
Pete.

[IanG]

Seeing how much Compur's fetch seconhand on ebay £62 for a Synchro Copmur #0 and £72 for a #1 both today that's more than the cost of a repair !!!!

When we met 2 weeks ago I bought a #0 Prontor Press in excellent condition for £5, and the month before that 6 shutters including a Synchro Compur #0 for £40 (3 had lens cells, one a mint 203mm f7.7 Ektar. Personally I'd wait and find a shutter, people will pay more for an over hyped G-Claron than an older 150mm Symmar which is a better lens anyway.

Going on what I saw today then getting the #0 Compur repaired and selling with a reciept (of the repair) would be worth while. I have a late Synchro Compur that came witha G Claron and promptly fell to bits (had been tampered with) and it's just about worth the £50 for the repair.

Your larger Compound shutter is going to be harder to get repaired in the UK but it'll depend on whats wrong with it.

Should have added the convertible lenses are excellent as is, but split is another matter, all the photographers I knew who owned them in the 70's said they were awful split, I had a 240mm but mot enough extension to use just one cell.

Ian

[BrianShaw]

I have any old shutter that I need to run reliably overhauled.

[E. von Hoegh]

Should have added the convertible lenses are excellent as is, but split is another matter, all the photographers I knew who owned them in the 70's said they were awful split, I had a 240mm but mot enough extension to use just one cell.

Ian

"Awful" is hardly accurate. The Symmars are actually pretty good IF you a) convert it properly; and b) focus at working aperture.

[E. von Hoegh]

I have any old shutter that I need to run reliably overhauled.

Any mechanism needs proper maintenance to function properly.

[IanG]

"Awful" is hardly accurate. The Symmars are actually pretty good IF you a) convert it properly; and b) focus at working aperture.

OK perhaps awful is a bit strong :D However there is a big step change from pretty good to excellent :)

Ian

[David A. Goldfarb]

Those Synchro-Compur shutters are actually very well made and old ones usually just need a simple cleaning and lubrication to work properly. They are absolutely worth servicing. If you find another old shutter of the same type on eBay or wherever, it probably also needs to be cleaned and lubricated, if it hasn't been done for a long time.

[anglophone1]

This seems like a similar conversation to my earlier thread
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?89944-90mm-f6-8-Angulon-shutter-problem-again
I' m still trying to work out which way to go as although IanG can find shutters for nowt I can't! :-(

[IanG]

The prices of older (Synchro) Compurs can be crazy, two sold yesterday in the UK for over £60 ($100) o ebay, yet they can be found in excellent condition for a fraction of that price.

Surpringly Pete (the OP) was at the last Camera Fair before me so he could have beat me to the £5 Protor Press #0 :D The time before taht I guess I was just lucky a combination of first and only significant snow meant fwer buyers.

There's a crazy situation now particularly in the UK where you can buy & sell a complete German 9x12 camera with a good lens in a rimset Compur (#0 or #1) and the price will be less than the same lens/shutter would be if sold seperately.

Yesterday two seperate Ebay sellers had the elements (in the first case) and the shutter (the other) of quite possibly the same 120mm f6.3 Meyer WA lens listed, the shutter sold for £62 the elements had no bids, together it would have been a very nice WA lens.

In the UK/Europe the cost of a repair/CLA on a shutter is significantly higher than the US, International postal charges would eliminate the savings of having the job done in the US.

Ian

[BrianShaw]

Those Synchro-Compur shutters are actually very well made and old ones usually just need a simple cleaning and lubrication to work properly. They are absolutely worth servicing. If you find another old shutter of the same type on eBay or wherever, it probably also needs to be cleaned and lubricated, if it hasn't been done for a long time.

This is absolutely true!

[Pete Watkins]

Thanks again for your help. I've decided to get the Synchro-Compur repaired and use the 150mm Symmar and to use the Symmar 360 on T and get the Sinar Copal shutter repaired to use with it. I was going to get rid of the 360 'till I saw a portrait taken with one on the Forum yesterday...........it was wonderful.
Ian, I was helping a mate on his stall at the fair, if I hadn't been I'd have cleaned up before you got there, but I'm happy with what I came away with.
Pete.