Copal O - Sticking on 'T'

[Kimberly Anderson]

Hey gang,

I have a Copal O shutter and the T is having some issues. It behaves normally about half the time, and behaves as a 'B' setting the rest of the time. No rhyme nor reason to the pattern.

Is this ready for a bonified CLA, or is there something that I can do with it on my own.

I have been known to fix hard-drives with 5-lb sledge hammers, so keep that in mind when giving advice.

[Leigh]

Is the speed setting ring rotated all the way to the detent?

Are you fully depressing the cable release when the problem occurs?

Does it happen when you use the release lever on the side of the shutter rather than the cable release?

Just some thoughts. I've never heard of this problem before.

- Leigh

[Kimberly Anderson]

Leigh,

Thanks for the answer. I have gone through all of your scenarios and it is still not working consistently on T.

I am glad to see that my method of working through the problem was very similar to yours.

It is kind of weird though isn't it? I haven't seen this before either.

I will RE-reassess and report...

[Sirius Glass]

Exercise the shutter several hundred times and see it behaves better. If not then it is time for a CLA et al.

[Jim Noel]

Take it to a repair facility!

[Drew Wiley]

Sure you don't have a little lock thingy on the cable release that gets hung up? It has
happened to me, and has nothing to do with the lens shutter itself.

[domaz]

Does B work ok? If B doesn't work consistently then it could be the release mechanism- a part might be bent or out of alignment.

[Leigh]

Interestingly, there's a used lens for sale at one of the large retailers with the same problem.

- Leigh

[Oren Grad]

I have a 270 G-Claron in Copal 1 that behaved that way. I didn't do anything about it, and eventually the problem apparently went away. At least the shutter started behaving correctly, as best I could tell.

I did finally send the lens for service, but only because the glass became fogged after the lens had sat in storage for a while. I sent it to Schneider for cleaning and had them CLA the shutter while they were at it.

[Ash]

You may find a lot of people say "noooo!!!" to this option, but if you can carefully remove the top plate don't touch any of the lever underneath but douse the thing in lighter fluid. I used Zippo on a Copal 3 that wouldn't work on speeds under 1/8 and now it works consistently and reliably.