Building A Professional Grade Shutter Tester

rcksdty · May 3, 2023

yes, ill send them to you if are in the US
email me at the address I posted

ic-racer · May 3, 2023

I just ordered this to convert in to an overhanging arm for the "Sensor #3" They make plastic versions of this in China, but I'm afraid it will break off if I bump it, so I'm getting this aluminum version.
Instead of the scribe, I'm going to drill it out so it holds the LED laser. I'll attach it to an aluminum box for the base that will contain the photodiode.

ic-racer · May 6, 2023

It is finished enough that I can start using it on focal plane shutter cameras. Just waiting on the buttons.

vandergus · May 6, 2023

The build looks great! Thanks again for sharing your project. I left a comment on the github discussion but I think Photrio might be a better place to trade messages. If you have any leftover parts that you no longer have a need for I would be glad to buy them from you. I'm primarily interested in PCB's since those are the hardest things to order singles of. But I would take anything used in the light unit, sensor #3 or sensor #6. Let me know.

albada · May 7, 2023

vandergus said:
The build looks great! Thanks again for sharing your project. I left a comment on the github discussion but I think Photrio might be a better place to trade messages. If you have any leftover parts that you no longer have a need for I would be glad to buy them from you. I'm primarily interested in PCB's since those are the hardest things to order singles of. But I would take anything used in the light unit, sensor #3 or sensor #6. Let me know.

Welcome to Photrio!

ic-racer · May 15, 2023

Leaf shutter testing module is complete.

Xylo · May 16, 2023

That is quite something.
I kinda like the laser on the boom arm. Alignment is guaranteed and you can adjust the shutter on the base quite easily.

ic-racer · May 16, 2023

Yes, it is designed to easily re-align the laser with the sensor hole and to allow the leaf shutter to be moved around. To make the two required readings one needs the laser at the center and then at the very edge.

vandergus · Jun 23, 2023

I ordered the parts necessary to build the light unit and the last piece of the puzzle finally showed up at my door. I went to the github page to answer a couple questions and the discussions section is...gone? My bookmark gives me a 404 and I don't see it in the tab bar anymore. What happened? At least you documented a bunch of it here as well.

Anyway, do you remember which way round the fresnel lens is installed?

ic-racer · Jun 23, 2023

Looks like the owner of the project 'stopped support' and the "Discussion" is no longer available as of yesterday.

ic-racer · Jun 23, 2023

If you look on Wayback Machine, they have the discussion question and answers from March 23, 2023, that is the last 'snapshot' of the site.

Good news is the owner has left ALL the assets, including the firmware, on the site...at least for now.

Anyway, I'll answer questions here for PhotoTrio users that need help with the construction.

ic-racer · Jun 23, 2023

The smooth side of the fresnel goes toward the LED.

ic-racer · Jun 23, 2023

Pictures of "Sensor 3 in progress

ic-racer · Jul 3, 2023

I found another error in the documentation. There is no error in the firmware that I can tell, just an error in the explanation of how the shutter speeds are calculated.

Looks like a type, where "T2" was used in place of "T3:"

ic-racer · Jul 3, 2023

The firmware measures To and Tt as follows:

To = T2 (measured at the very edge of the shutter opening)
Tt = T1+T2+T3 (measured at the very center of the opening)

Effective Shutter Speed = Te = (Tt + To)/2

ic-racer · Jul 3, 2023

ic-racer · Jul 3, 2023

BTW, the firmware does not care which of the measurement is obtained first. It will flip the measurements around if needed as logic dictates, to make the correct calculation of Effective Shutter Speed.

FM2 · Jul 24, 2023

Hi,

I've been lurking for quite some time now. Do you think it is still a good idea to start this project after the support has been stopped by the creator?

ic-racer · Jul 24, 2023

You can get support here. Before the "discussion" on Github was removed, the creator indicated he wanted people to help each other and share ideas on the discussion board.
Of course that can all take place here.

Everything I posted on Github (that has all been removed) I posted here also.

FM2 · Jul 24, 2023

Then I'll take the jump. Thank you for documenting your process. First stls are already printing.

MTGseattle · Jul 24, 2023

Ok. This is all pretty cool. Are any of you willing to ballpark the cost? I'm going to ignore time. Just parts and materials. Is this a $1k project or a couple hundred.? Feel free to pm me if the money aspect is outside the spirit of this thread.

ic-racer · Jul 25, 2023

Most parts are only a few dollars each from Aliexpress.

FM2 · Jul 25, 2023

@ic-racer Do you have a definite recommendation regarding the "LED-problem" now that you've finished the project?

If someone is located in Germany and has a spare (horizontal) PCB set, please let me know.

ic-racer · Jul 25, 2023

FM2 said:
@ic-racer Do you have a definite recommendation regarding the "LED-problem" now that you've finished the project?

If someone is located in Germany and has a spare (horizontal) PCB set, please let me know.

I figured out the LED issue.

1) The firmware is locked into driving the LED at each EV value. Can't be changed. So the LED has to perfectly match the one he used when he finalized the firmware. (The Kyoritsu has trimmer pots for calibration of the EV levels)
2) The LED that works is NOT 4700K, it is more like 3200K.
3) I purchased the ISO documents on calibration of light meters and can paraphrase portions of it here. It indicates you CAN use a 3200K calibration source and then check with a 4700k conversion filter.

So, in the end, all is good to use one of the LEDs from Aliexpress.

I'm using LED#4 in post #83.

FM2 · Jul 25, 2023

Thank you, do you have an Aliexpress link for LED#4 from post #83? Also, the "diffuser "Silky White" 88x88 6mm thick" seems to be hard to find. Do you have a link for this one, too?

Edit: Finally found a 6mm frosted acrylic sheet. I'm not sure if the quality will do compared to your high quality acrycast sheet: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005002538429057.html?

Building A Professional Grade Shutter Tester

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