Copal shutting the doors?

[alan-salsman]

Schneider west is the ultimate repair shop at least for their own products.I sent them a shutter that others said could not be repaired.After several months of searching the world for the remaining repair parts they returned the lens and shutter in like new condition other then blemishes on the finish.plus they are courteous and have in-depth knowledge of Schneider products that few can compete with.

[Drew Wiley]

At this point in time it's probably less expensive just to buy up some used LF lenses and toss the glass (or set it aside)
than to purchase a shutter outright. There's a glut of cheap lenses on the market, esp big clunker plastmats in no.3 that
aren't much in demand with the field crowd. Seems even a naked used shutter sells for more than a complete lens in comparable shutter. Going forward in new lens mfg with mechanical shutters will certainly be daunting once the supply runs dry. But since LF lenses can last a long, long time, it's hard to imagine things ever grinding to a halt functionally.

[paulr]

2: The minimum operating temperature is a function of the battery. If you use a battery extension pack so you can put the battery in your pocket (DHW) makes one for their shutter you would have to rig one up for the other shutters you can go much lower. We have sold some of these shutters for operation under the wing of some military jets and they have operated at temps. as low as -50C. As with a mechanical shutter, lubricants will have to be changed to meet these conditions.

What battery technology are they using? There are some types of Lithium Ion batteries that do well at -40. Most lithium metal batteries do fine at these temps.

I don't do much photography below zero F, but in any cold weather it's nice to subtract batteries from the list of things to babysit.

[paulr]

Is Copal actually closing its doors, or are they just discontinuing LF shutters? Their site shows a pretty big range of products, mostly electronic.

If they're sticking around, there's a possibility of parts from them, at least for a while.

[alan-salsman]

I was told that they were closing their doors,whether that was the whole company or just copal shutters I did not think to ask.Hopefully there will be am ample supply of parts left in some ones hands.I cannot imagine that not being the case after such a long running and successful product.

[Oren Grad]

Is Copal actually closing its doors, or are they just discontinuing LF shutters? Their site shows a pretty big range of products, mostly electronic.

If they're sticking around, there's a possibility of parts from them, at least for a while.

I don't think Nidec Copal is going anywhere any time soon:

Nidec Copal income statements

It'll be nice if they continue to offer spares, but in the end I don't think it will matter that much, particularly if they raise the price on parts as radically as they have done on complete shutters. There are now far more LF lenses in Copal shutters floating around than there are people using them. If you can stand to orphan some optical cells, there should be shutters available for a good while.