Canon F1n shutter ?

colin wells · Feb 15, 2017

Hi i have just bought a Canon F1n . I opened up the back and was surprised to see a set of shutter curtains that resembled the ones in my Ftb .I expected to find a shutter similar to my Canon EF That are metal . Is this normal ?

flavio81 · Feb 15, 2017

colin wells said:
Hi i have just bought a Canon F1n . I opened up the back and was surprised to see a set of shutter curtains that resembled the ones in my Ftb .I expected to find a shutter similar to my Canon EF That are metal . Is this normal ?

You mean a cloth shutter?
This is not normal. The F1 cameras (all) should have titanium shutters, horizontal type.

BUT your canon EF has a metal shutter, vertical type, so i am not sure if you are comparing against the correct camera.

In any case, this must have been commited by a repairman. In theory a bad thing, but on the other hand this means you have the quietest Canon F1n ever...

flavio81 · Feb 15, 2017

PD: and i'm not sure that your 1/2000 speed will work correctly. As far as i know all cameras with 1/2000 speed (using an horizontal shutter) use metal curtains.

zanxion72 · Feb 15, 2017

The F1 has rubberized titanium curtains. Perhaps it looks like cloth to you, but it is not. Perhaps they have been through rough times and look like cloth. You cannot fit curtains from any other cameras to the F1.

flavio81 · Feb 15, 2017

zanxion72 said:
You cannot fit curtains from any other cameras to the F1.

Would you please explain why?

I could bet any of the "too clever" technicians here in my city would have attempted to replace a kinked F1 metal curtain with a cloth curtain. I don't see why it couldn't be done*. Of course this does not mean it can be done AND also get as a result a F1 with correctly working speeds up to 1/2000. Of course the shutter will not operate correctly. But i can bet someone has done it somewhere to have a F1 that 'looks' like having a 'mint' shutter...

* You can buy bulk shutter curtain material and then cut it to the correct dimensions, glue them to the straps that drive the curtains, etc etc.

Please correct me if i'm not considering some technical detail that prevents this from being done.

Mackinaw · Feb 15, 2017

I’ve seen stainless-steel shutter curtains, used on some Canon rangefinder cameras, replaced by cloth curtains. I suppose you could replace the titanium curtains of the F-1 with cloth curtains, if you wanted. Though I'm not quite sure why you would, unless you couldn't find replacement titanium curtains.

flavio81 · Feb 15, 2017

My bad, i just recalled that the Leicaflex had 1/2000 speed and cloth curtains as well.
I think the Canonflex R2000 also has cloth curtains too.

benjiboy · Feb 15, 2017

I have a Canon F1n and an EF the F1n shutter is metal and is horizontal running Titanium foil, the EF is a vertical running Copal Square unit and is the only sutter ever in Canon camera not made by Canon
The F1n shutter is definitely Titanium foil . http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/canonf1/html/reliable.htm

chriscrawfordphoto · Feb 15, 2017

flavio81 said:
My bad, i just recalled that the Leicaflex had 1/2000 speed and cloth curtains as well.
I think the Canonflex R2000 also has cloth curtains too.

So did the Olympus OM-4, OM-4Ti, OM-3, and OM-3Ti.

zanxion72 · Feb 16, 2017

flavio81 said:
Would you please explain why?

I could bet any of the "too clever" technicians here in my city would have attempted to replace a kinked F1 metal curtain with a cloth curtain. I don't see why it couldn't be done*. Of course this does not mean it can be done AND also get as a result a F1 with correctly working speeds up to 1/2000. Of course the shutter will not operate correctly. But i can bet someone has done it somewhere to have a F1 that 'looks' like having a 'mint' shutter...

* You can buy bulk shutter curtain material and then cut it to the correct dimensions, glue them to the straps that drive the curtains, etc etc.

Please correct me if i'm not considering some technical detail that prevents this from being done.

You cannot, simply because of the size of the space where the curtains fit and travel (have a look at this http://www.astrosurf.com/cmilovic/equipo/f1repair.pdf and you will see why there is no way to do this at least with the curtains from another canon model).

colin wells · Feb 16, 2017

Zanxion72 I think you hit the nail on the head with your earlier post .I just didnt want to start poking around.

mrosenlof · Feb 19, 2017

flavio81 said:
My bad, i just recalled that the Leicaflex had 1/2000 speed and cloth curtains as well.
I think the Canonflex R2000 also has cloth curtains too.

The olympus OM-4 as well. How accurate? I don't have the answer to that one.

BMbikerider · Feb 19, 2017

flavio81 said:
My bad, i just recalled that the Leicaflex had 1/2000 speed and cloth curtains as well.
I think the Canonflex R2000 also has cloth curtains too.

I clearly remember back in the 60's when the R2000 was tested I was very surprised to find that the R2000 top speed was exactly that! Until then I had been used to reading where a camera with say a 1/1000 top speed was only managing 1/750th and leaf shutter cameras such as the Rollie were even worse! Even Leica M3 model shutter speeds were not quite what they said.

benjiboy · Feb 19, 2017

No Canon F1 was ever manufactured with anything but a Titanium shutter curtain, the very early versions of the Nikon F had a rubberized silk shutter curtain until they started using Titanium but that's a different story.

Canon F1n shutter ?

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