I recently obtained a lens in a Prontor Professional 01. It's a neat shutter, but I'm having trouble finding info on it, and was wondering if we have any uber experts on the Prontor shutter line. Mostly I have general spec questions I guess, like: what sizes were these shutters made in, when did they start making them, how long, etc. etc.
So if we have any Kerry Thalmann's or Bob Salomon's of the Prontor Professional I'd love to hear any insight or peruse your links.
Cheers
google S K Grime prontor
[Edited, I thought he said Compur at first]
If it's the all black one then it is the last of the line, Compur made Prontors in the same sizes as Copals - 0, 1, and 3. Very high quality shutters, probably the best.
I'm not sure about finding spare parts but the better technicians are resourceful in recycling or making new pieces. After all they can keep 60 year old Synchro-Compurs going so they should be able to keep 20 year old Prontor Pros going too....
Prontors have one lower fastest speed than the same size Compur or Copal, I suppose because of the self-cocking design. That is, if your Compur or Copal 0 goes to 1/500, the Prontor Pro only goes to 1/250.
Some people argue that self-cockers require more force to fire and can impart more vibration. But if you use the proper cable release you should be fine. I think you need to use a higher quality cable, like a Gepe, something with a little "Umph!"
Last edited by Frank Petronio; 13-Jan-2011 at 00:49.
The PP was made in 01, 1 and 3 sizes. What do youwant to know about it other then there were two different series made and that we still have a couple of the dedicated PP cable releases left that fit the hand controller. Linhof's version of the controller fit onto the telescoping rail of the modern Kardan cameras. The oter version of the controller fit the hand.. There was also a special version built-into a Linhof Technika lensboard for the TK series with the aperature control wheel part of the board as well as the aperture control stick.. Another custom PP shutter was made for Schmectenburg for the 120 and 180mm Imagon lenses that he sold.
I've used Prontor Professional shutters for a very long time on all my Rodenstock lenses, and they're extremely well-made. They're great for multi-exposures, since there's very little chance of disturbing the camera, even while changing shutter speeds. Just one thing to note, is that the 01S shutter needs a #1 board for mounting. I'm currently checking out an electronic shutter system for the Rodenstocks, and if I'm happy with the new system, it'll be time to sell off these gems.
Eugene Bigler is another user, and he probably will have more information on the technical aspects.
Kumar
Well I'm still a LF nub and I'm just trying to learn as much as possible. The 01 is supposed to be the same as the copal 0? It seems a bit larger and indeed it fits in what is typified as a "copal 1" board. I have two really old (plenty strong) Kodak cable releases I'm using on it, but I guess there's a specially designed release for this shutter? Are those still available too, or just the one's for the Linhof?Originally Posted by Bob Salomon - HP Marketing
It's a shame they stopped making these it's a really intriguing design, and seems quite useful.
Prontor only made the PP in 1 and 3 sizes. For 0 lenses they put an adapter thread into the shutter so it could accept 0 size lenses. They labeled this shutter a 01 size. You are right, it is a 1 size shutter and the hole required to mount it to a board is a 1 size hole.
The PP controller came with a special, non-locking, PVC covered, long cable release. We still have two or three of these in stock. This is the cable release that was used to fire the shutter. It came with an angle adapter that was color coded to the color ring on the release socket on the PP that it was to be used on. The PP controller also had a release cable that went into the control socket of the shutter and the lever on the controller let you set the shutter to:
open at taking aperture
wide open for focus/viewing
closed at tking aperture ready to fire
That cable also had a right angle adapter that was also color coded.
The PP accepted accessory aperture sticks that attache directly to the aperture control of the shutter and stuck straight up. The stick had the aperture scale printed on it for the lens used. The scale could be read from in front or back of the shutter and by pulling up or pushing down on the slider on the stick the aperture could be changed from behind or in front of the camera.
If the aperture stick was installed a shutter speed controller could be attached to it and the shutter body which also would stick up and allow the shutter speed to be read and set from behind or in front as well. These controllers just pushed and then snapped on so they could easily be attached or removed at any time.
Prontor Werke didn't just stop making these. They discontinued making all of their mechanical shutters at the same time. So when they stopped it meant that they would no longer make the Compur and all the Prontor branded mechanical shutters for view cameras. Which meant that only Copla mechanical shutters remained available new.
Prontor Werke still does make the Prontor Magnetic shutters but the do not make a controller to operate them. So some lens manufacturers still offer an electronic shutter based on the Prontor Magnetic 0 shutter and make their own controller.
Late next month Rodenstock will start delivery of their eShutter which is made along with the new owner of Sinar. This is a 0 size shutter that will allow controlling all functions from an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad.
Amazing what one finds when you look in your desk drawer! Just found the red ringed right angle adapter for the Prontor Professional cable release. Not exactly in new external condition though after rattling around in the drawer for 20 odd years!
What Bob doesn't say is that production of the PP and other prontor shutters was halted because they couldn't compete with Copal shutters pricewise. There was no doubt at the time that the PP was the quality product but few were willing to pay the extra. They still function very well indeed, but like the Sinar Copal, require a quality shutter release.
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