How To Test Film Camera Shutter Speed On Dslr

This post is the side by side in my series near testing the health of your vintage camera. It covers how to go about testing a vintage camera'due south shutter which, along with the aperture, is one of the about important parts of whatsoever photographic camera since information technology controls the amount of light reaching the film. Initially it covers focal plane shutters, but volition eventually be expanded to embrace other shutter types.

Does my camera take a focal aeroplane shutter?

If you're non sure if your camera has a focal plane shutter then open the back of the camera (making sure there isn't a film in information technology!) and look in the chamber where the moving picture goes. If you look at the opening where the film would normally sit down and it has a screen across information technology is almost certainly a focal aeroplane shutter. When you movement the film advance to wind an imaginary motion-picture show, a focal airplane shutter volition move a bar across that screen. It may go across from side to side or upwards and downwardly only if you lot can see a movement so information technology's a focal airplane shutter.

If you can run across the dorsum of the lens or you lot can merely see the back of the mirror, when information technology's probably a leafage shutter fitted backside the lens.

Testing a vintage camera's Focal plane Shutter

The beginning part of testing the vintage camera's shutter operation is making sure that the photographic camera opens the shutter for the correct amount of fourth dimension, basically checking that the length of time the shutter opens agrees with the speed selected.

This procedure is for a camera which is manual or can be switched to transmission. The video posted below shows a Miranda Sensorex which is a camera typical of this blazon.

The near likely area to have problems with the shutter are the slower speeds which fortunately are the easiest to test. A very useful tip I picked up a while agone from Chris Sherlock'due south site is to apply a speed of 1/8 sec every bit the starting point for tests. It seems that 1/eight sec is about the same speed you can reach past setting the shutter to B and pressing and releasing as fast as you can and then it's ane which is relatively easy to bank check if it'south right.

Nevertheless offset allow's bargain with the very  easiest speed to check which is the B setting (and T setting if there is ane). The B setting is short for 'Bulb' and refers to a setting where the shutter is open for as long as the shutter release is held down. The T refers to 'Time' and is a 'press one time to open and again the close' setting. These are simple to examination because it is easy to exercise the functioning and run across that the camera correctly works.

Commencement, this is how I gear up the camera up for these tests.

• If possible remove the lens so that in that location isn't the possibility of the lens aperture changing and confusing the later tests
• Open up the back of the camera
• Hold the camera then that yous can see the shutter operating

For the B and T setting just make sure that the shutter opens when you printing the shutter release. In the case of B it should shut once more when you lot release it, for T you press information technology once more and information technology releases.

For the timed positions, starting at 1/8 sec it is relatively like shooting fish in a barrel to bank check if the slower speeds are taking longer every bit each is selected. I tend to do this past ear; fire the shutter at 1/8 sec a few times to get used to the sound and and then switch to ane/iv sec and see if it sounds twice as long. This is non a precision test because nigh mechanical cameras are not precisely calibrated to exist exactly 'on time', but you tin can generally tell if the speed is wrong.

Once you lot are sure of 1/four sec y'all do the same test but this time checking 1/2sec , and then again do the same to check 1 sec. This is shown in the video beneath.

You lot can repeat the aforementioned procedure to get-go moving upwards the speeds and checking they sound ane/ii the speed, but I find that after most 1/xv sec it is increasingly difficult to tell that the speed is half the i before past sound. I believe this is because as the shutter speed is increased, the actual shutter opening time is a smaller proportion by length of the sound you hear. And so for the faster speeds I tend to use a different approach.

I open the back of the camera, remove the lens if possible and point the lens opening at a vivid lite. And then I burn the shutter at increasingly faster speeds and try to judge if the blink of light is getting progressively shorter and less bright. Once again this is not a scientifically precise exam, just I find it is mostly proficient at finding faults.

I take added a video of this procedure below, once again using a Miranda Sensorex but it isn't ideal. I think the frame charge per unit of the camera I used for video and the calorie-free (which is flashing at 50Hz) has led to some odd furnishings and so that in the video it can look as if the drape is closing at an angle. It shows the procedure however, and it's the sort of test that y'all tend to go used to judging the results of in one case you accept washed it a few times.

Another test which tin be performed to exam a vintage camera's shutter, which is also carried out while the camera is pointing at a brilliant light, is to examine the shutter to see if there are whatever leaks.

Light leak through a second shutter drape looking from the front

Only hold the camera up to the light and expect at the blackness shutter cloth. Do this with the shutter both cocked and un-cocked and then yous see both shutter curtains. For some reason I find that sometimes, the calorie-free shines through more from one side than the other so I hold the mirror up and look through from the lens side also. The moving-picture show to the correct shows the results I found with my Miranda Fv which obviously has some problems.

Once you accept confirmed that the shutters seem ok for low-cal leaks, the other important thing to check is that there is no gap in the shutters at either the start or cease of the shutter cycle. They should be completely closed earlier the shutter is released and should likewise come up together with no gap at the end. The simplest style to exam this is but open the dorsum of the camera and sentinel as you try each shutter speed.

Source: https://simonhawketts.co.uk/2016/02/14/checking-a-vintage-cameras-shutter/

Posted by: ashleywiling.blogspot.com

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