Cocked or Uncocked?

xya said:

Wow! less than 1 minute! Cameras too? Not me. If I take a big box from my storage, some even with the help of a ladder, put the box on the floor, take off the lid, take out the small box that contains the camera, place it on my workplace, open the box, take out the camera, usually in its case, open the case, unfold the camera, look at it, set to 1s, cock and fire 15 times, then fold it gently, put it into its case, the case into the small box, bring it back to the big box...no way to do this in less than 1 minute...

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My cameras are in my study for easy access.

BrianShaw said:

Another thing that we seem to know is that Hasselblad either would never, or did never, explicitly advise to keep lenses cocked for storage…

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It may be that there was no official Hasselblad storage advice (to consumers as opposed to service technicians like Odess) – I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think I have seen such advice in the consumer manuals. But Hasselblad didn’t need to explicitly advise that their V system lenses should be stored cocked, because that is the position the lenses default to when removed. During their heyday, Hasselblads were expensive professional workhorses, that generally didn’t spend much time sitting in storage. In fact, their longest period sitting idle (before being retired) was probably when they were new (and cocked) in the box, waiting on the dealer’s shelf. Also, as remarked by others above, working Hasselblads saw much more frequent service than they do now, which meant that various cheap springs etc could be pre-emptively replaced before they ever caused a problem anyway. Serious worries about camera storage are, I think, primarily the concern of camera collectors and forum tragics…

Perhaps there is a theoretical small mechanical advantage in storing the lens mainspring uncocked, but it appears from Hasselblad’s advice to technicians that any such advantage is probably insignificant and is anyway outweighed by the greater problems caused by people having bodies, backs and lenses in different states of cocked/uncocked. (And that’s before people start messing around with screwdrivers, coins, etc to manually re-cock lenses.)

Sirius Glass said:

My cameras are in my study for easy access.

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Which is by far much better than keeping them in a damp darkroom!
In the winter, when climate is much damp, I store the enlarger's lenses in the study (with the camera's)...

SodaAnt said:

Wow! I didn’t know this subject was so controversial.

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Ha ! I told you to start a poll on this !

For what it's worth, I noticed just yesterday reading through the 'Popular Mechanics Press Photo Guide' from 1946, this quote:

"Shutters of the focal plane type should not be left under tension for long periods of time. The spring should be released or it may suffer fatigue and lose its life. Besides, the cloth may be stretched out of shape'"

I suspect, however material science has probably advanced over the past 75 years. Curious to note that they only called out the spring tension in focal plane shutters, not leaf shutters. That's also the first I've heard of fabric focal plane shutters getting stretched out. Given that Popular Mechanics was probably not the most technically informed on photography, it might be a bit of a tall tale that gained momentum.

Dirb9 said:

I suspect, however material science has probably advanced over the past 75 years.

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That's probably correct, but don't forget that the cameras we're talking about here can be 50-70 years old.

Another data point: Rod Klukas of Arca Swiss, an acknowleged expert in the field of photographic equipment, recommends leaf shutters be uncocked for storage.

• To avoid tension on the mainspring - always leave the shutter uncocked until ready to use. Avoid leaving a shutter cocked or tensioned when transporting or storing.
• Make sure the shutter is closed when storing your lenses.

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Rod Klukas is writing in the context of large format lenses where the uncocking and recocking of lenses is trivial and has zero downside. So, worth doing even if the likely upside is small.

Dirb9 said:

For what it's worth, I noticed just yesterday reading through the 'Popular Mechanics Press Photo Guide' from 1946, this quote:

"Shutters of the focal plane type should not be left under tension for long periods of time. The spring should be released or it may suffer fatigue and lose its life. Besides, the cloth may be stretched out of shape'"

I suspect, however material science has probably advanced over the past 75 years. Curious to note that they only called out the spring tension in focal plane shutters, not leaf shutters. That's also the first I've heard of fabric focal plane shutters getting stretched out. Given that Popular Mechanics was probably not the most technically informed on photography, it might be a bit of a tall tale that gained momentum.

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If my 4"x5" focal plane shutters are left cocked, they will tear.

JerseyDoug said:

Automobile springs don't seem to suffer from being under load for a very long time.

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They do, they get saggy and lose clearance. Takes a while, depending on many factors, but it's fairly commonplace.

In my 'new' used camera the lens is mounted in a Copal-Press shutter, which doesn't have to be 'cocked' before 'firing', as it's a 'double action' system (what a gun language for using a camera).

The only thing that bothers me a little is that the aperture can't be closed for checking the DOF when opened for focussing/framing.

BTW, I keep that shutter closed when put away.

Philippe-Georges said:

The only thing that bothers me a little is that the aperture can't be closed for checking the DOF when opened for focussing/framing.

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You should be able to set the shutter to T then trigger the shutter to see the image with the aperture as set.

Tomorrow is the day when I will take all my Hasselblad lenses and fire each of them 15 times at one second and then store them in the cocked configuration which I do once every three months as directed by my Hasselblad repairman.

Some of you may wish to go around half cocked, but not me.

abruzzi said:

You should be able to set the shutter to T then trigger the shutter to see the image with the aperture as set.

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There is no T position on that shutter, but ofcourse I can lock the cable release on B...