HELP, how to open shutter to focus??? [Archive] - Large Format Photography Forum

marclegalle

5-Jul-2012, 23:26

JimL

5-Jul-2012, 23:30

You have to put the shutter on "B" and use a locking cable release...

marclegalle

5-Jul-2012, 23:54

oh ok thanks, so put the shutter speed ring on B, would any shutter release cable be ok do you know or is it a special locking shutter release cable?

Vaughn

6-Jul-2012, 00:05

Is there a 'T' at the other end of the shutter speed range? If so, put it on 'T', cock the shutter, and then click the shutter once to open and then click it again to close the shutter. I find this nicer with my long exposures (more than a minute) than 'B'.

Most, but not all, cable releases have a way of locking themselves in the plunged mode. Sometimes that part breaks -- then 'T' comes in handy again.

JimL

6-Jul-2012, 00:07

Pretty much any cable release will have a locking mechanism - some have a thumb screw on the side, others have a collar that can be set to lock or not.

marclegalle

6-Jul-2012, 00:33

sweat thanks, no "T" so it looks like the cable release is key. Do you have any recomendations for on line shops for such things? I also need a black hood, cape thing and a film change dark bag then I think I am set to go.

Michael E

6-Jul-2012, 07:58

Do you have any recomendations for on line shops for such things?

Where are you located?

Michael

marclegalle

7-Jul-2012, 00:10

Im in the UK, somerset?

rdenney

7-Jul-2012, 00:58

For posterity...

This is a Compur 00 shutter, which does not have a T setting or a press focus control.

Any locking shutter release will work with it, using B.

Larger shutters have both T and press-focus controls of one sort or another. These are so tiny that the mechanism to provide that feature just would not fit.

Rick "suggesting care; these shutters are getting hard to come by" Denney

marclegalle

7-Jul-2012, 01:08

Thanks very much that is very usefull information.

How about another question?

I have a lens board that came with the camera which is cone shaped, and I was just wondering what that does? I take it it changes the lenght of the lens but not sure how, it fits both ways, i.e. coming out or facing inward.

IanG

7-Jul-2012, 01:14

Welcome to the Compur #00 users club, unfortunately this is the least practical of all the Compur shutters for LF use but there's no real alternative. You can get Chinese adaptor rings on ebay to fit #00 lens cells in a #0 shutter but you'd need to use a micrometer and shims to ensure th cell spacing's the same.

Someone posted recently that RK Photographic were a good source of locking cable releases, I get mine at Camera fairs for about £1 each sometimes less :D

After a while you get used to the quirkyness of these #00 shutters and their lack of preview or T settings. If it's an MPP they use a cone lens board to place the front standard on the inner rail for focussing with a 90mm lens.

Ian

marclegalle

7-Jul-2012, 02:00

Wow I'm in a club, cool

After a while you get used to the quirkyness of these #00 shutters and their lack of preview or T settings. If it's an MPP they use a cone lens board to place the front standard on the inner rail for focussing with a 90mm lens.

Sorry Ian I'm a bit confused with this, not sure what you mean.

IanG

7-Jul-2012, 04:08

With some cameras with a 90mm lens the focus at infinity means that the front standard is positioned around the point where the focus rails split/change from the inner to outer tracks, you need to drop the front bed of the camera to avoid it being in shot. MPP get around this by using a coned lens board allowing the standard to be on the inner rails. Graflex with the Pacemaker Graphics do the opposite letting the standard sit on the front rails while the bed's dropped and then rear tilt on the standard to re-align the lens board (if required).

A third option used by other manufacturers is a recessed lens board. It sounds more complex than it is in practice and depends on the make/model of the camera.

Ian

marclegalle

7-Jul-2012, 09:31

I suppose I better just have a play with it all. I have a lot to learn. Thanks very much for all your help.

rdenney

8-Jul-2012, 15:40

With an Arca, the issues of inner and outer focusing rails are not really relevant. It is probably intended to be a recessed lens board, but you won't need it for your 90mm lens. If it were a 65 or a 47, the more common lenses to use a #00 shutter, you might need the recessed board to get the lens and film close enough to focus at infinity, especially when using the standard bellows.

The Chinese adapters I've seen are for mounting a #00 shutter, which needs a 26mm hole in the lens board, into a board for a #0 shutter, which requires a 34mm hole. I don't think it's possible to mount a lens threaded for a #00 shutter in a larger shutter, at least without machining things. I would not give this another thought, at least not for a long time. Take care of that shutter.

Rick "keeping it simple" Denney

marclegalle

9-Jul-2012, 00:44

Thanks Rick

I think if the cable release holds the shutter open then there is no problem hey, I am very much looking forward to start taking some test shots. I plan to set it up and compose, then shoot the same shot over again playing with the different angles of the camera documenting them and marking the film. Hopefully when I get the developed film back it should start making sense.

Thanks again

premortho

9-Jul-2012, 08:09

Waiting for the developed film to come back? Do people actually do this? One of the best reasons for large format is developing b/w film yourself.

WootSK

9-Jul-2012, 08:46

Hi

So I have finally got around to looking at my new purchase, an arca swiss 5 4, the thing is I cannot work out how to open the lens shutter, tried everything and looked at other lens which have a little lever that open and close it but this one as far as I can see only has the following.

Lever to coc the shutter
lever to fire
apature lever
shutter speed lever
the one lever which has M X and V,Which I believe to be M bold flash/ manual, X electronic flash and V is a timer.

Please help if you can as if I cant open to focus its not much use to anyone.

Marc
767317673276733

I have the same lens and shutter. I have to inform you that the only way to open this shutter to focus is by setting shutter speed to bulb and use a cable release to keep it in bulb mode. There is no t mode or anything of such on the shutter to help.

marclegalle

10-Jul-2012, 00:16

WootSK

10-Jul-2012, 01:56

Thanks, do you find it a problem at all? seems straight forward enough for me now I know, I'm waiting for a cable release to be deliverd then I'll give it a go.

As for developing, I like to shoot in colour transpancy so can't develop that myself. Black and white is ok but I love colour.

Just make sure the cable release is screwed in properly.

I shoot both color slides and b&w. While i do the 6 bath e6 process, i did tried the tetenal 3 bath e6 process. While they are more expensive, they are easier and give people who starts developing their own color slides a confidence boost. You should be able to find them in the internet without much problem.

Adrian Pybus

10-Jul-2012, 05:18

One note on cable release. The cheap ones with a cloth tube (Hama?) are no good, they wear out in no time. Get a high quality cable release, I've had one of the cheap ones break in the middle of a long exposure - not fun.

rdenney

10-Jul-2012, 06:33

I shoot both color slides and b&w. While i do the 6 bath e6 process, i did tried the tetenal 3 bath e6 process. While they are more expensive, they are easier and give people who starts developing their own color slides a confidence boost. You should be able to find them in the internet without much problem.

I've done plenty of E6 (actually, it may have been E4, come to think of it) and C41. Hated it. It's just too cookbook. It demands precision in time and temperature, but not the precision of black and white, where all those parameters can be adjusted to achieve a particular outcome. Processing color is too much like work. I'll gladly pay someone else to do it, as long as there is someone else willing to do it better than I'm able to.

Maybe if I could afford a temperature controlled automatic processor, it wouldn't be so boring. Nah. Time is more precious for me than dollars, and I now I'm not alone.

Rick "who used to run a micro-color lab, Fubar Enterprises" Denney

marclegalle

18-Jul-2012, 08:03

Hi

Still having problems

I recieved my cable release cord but it does not want to screw into the lens, spoke with Robert White who said they only know there is one size that fits all and it should workam I being a complete plonker, am I missing something? I am getting fed up with this lens now..grrrrr

rdenney

22-Jul-2012, 21:11

I recieved my cable release cord but it does not want to screw into the lens, spoke with Robert White who said they only know there is one size that fits all and it should workam I being a complete plonker, am I missing something? I am getting fed up with this lens now..grrrrr

The cable-release threads on a Compur 00 are standard. If your cable release is not engaging the threads tightly enough to stay in, the threads may be worn out or stripped. This is not an uncommon problem with these shutters. Unfortunately, if that's the case, then you'll have problems--these shutters are getting scarce and this part is frequently the reason. And the cable thread fitting is riveted in place instead of being screwed so it has to be replaced by a good technician.

Rick "who has struggled to keep his Compur 00 shutters going" Denney