Kamerastore.com: 5 Levels of Shutter Testing: How Accurate is your Film Camera?

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

Interesting report that presents the possibilities for shutter speed testing:

We're here to help explain how testing works so that fewer people get a bad start in film photography. Learning these testing techniques, and knowing the limitations of most stores in testing their equipment, will only become more valuable. These issues will get worse as cameras get older. So let's talk about testing!

About professional shutter speed testing devices:

As you can see, this work requires extremely specialized equipment and knowledgeable technicians. In the film era, this knowledge and equipment was pretty well dispersed, but many of them were thrown away or destroyed. When digital took over, many people didn't see the need for them anymore.

The result is that far too few camera shops have this equipment anymore, and modern alternatives do not exist. It is impossible to properly test 35mm film cameras without this equipment, though. We are looking into ways to get accurate testing equipment into the hands of professionals around the world, so keep your eyes open!

5 Levels of Shutter Testing: How Accurate is your Film Camera?

Introduction Here at Kamerastore, we buy and sell thousands of cameras every year. With this experience, we know that the vast majority (over 80%) have some kind of issue that requires attention from our mechanics. If you buy a camera online from someone who only does basic testing, or no...

kamerastore.com

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

They (Kamerastore) have some nice equipment, another shop shows all this on their web site!
I tried for a few years to obtain a professional shutter tester like those pictured, but they are really hard to come by. Those that have them hold on to them.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

And again I read that top measuring devices were sorted out and disposed of, and nothing better came along.

This is also the case with film scanners and darkroom enlargers.

It is well known that service centers disposed of entire warehouses of spare parts.

Not easy times for lovers of past technology.

Here are some measuring devices from the service manual for the Minolta X-700, which are no longer available:

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

FYI, the "Learn Camera Repair" site has the PDF instruction manual for a Kyoritsu EF-8000. If one is thinking of buying or building a shutter tester, that Kyoritsu manual shows what one might be missing in a lesser instrument.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

ic-racer said:
They (Kamerastore) have some nice equipment, another shop shows all this on their web site!
I tried for a few years to obtain a professional shutter tester like those pictured, but they are really hard to come by. Those that have them hold on to them.

View attachment 358284

Sover Wong (Nikon F2) also has some interesting devices:

My new workshop 2016

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

Occasionally testers will appear. About a year ago I lost out on this ZTS Tester which was on e-bay. I only bid up to about $300 and I think the final price was $600. Still a good deal.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

The PhotoPlug is likely to be the commercial standard solution for amateurs when it comes to shutter speed measurement.

Filmomat — PhotoPlug

www.filmomat.eu

Do you know of any other devices that you can buy?

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

ic-racer said:
Occasionally testers will appear. About a year ago I lost out on this ZTS Tester which was on e-bay. I only bid up to about $300 and I think the final price was $600. Still a good deal. View attachment 358289

But who repairs the device when it is broken?

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
And again I read that top measuring devices were sorted out and disposed of, and nothing better came along.

This is also the case with film scanners and darkroom enlargers.

It is well known that service centers disposed of entire warehouses of spare parts.

Not easy times for lovers of past technology.

Here are some measuring devices from the service manual for the Minolta X-700, which are no longer available:

View attachment 358285

View attachment 358286

View attachment 358288

It is nice to have that documentation. Even if you don't have the same testing equipment, that shows the intended K value (1.2) and color temp. (2600 to 3000k).
One important thing I don't see there is the actual distance between the sensors of the shutter tester. There is no standard, some testers for horizontal shutters have the sensors from 36mm to 30mm apart. The specified shutter curtain transit time should always give the distance that was measured, but they [camera repair manuals] almost never do.

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
But who repairs the device when it is broken?

You, the camera repairman, do the repair!

I have the service manual for all my testing equipment. You may have seen some of my threads on repairing sensitometers and densitometers and enlargers, etc.

Also, if you ever buy, or make a tester with a built-in calibrated light source, you can then start repairing light meters too!

In fact, before I made my own shutter tester, I was looking to get one of the broken Kyoritsu devices on e-bay and fix it. But they were all overpriced.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

The service manual also shows various other adjustment work on the X-700. This means that if you disassemble the camera and reassemble it, it must be adjusted.

You have to know that before you take up the srewdriver.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

ic-racer said:
You, the camera repairman, do the repair!

I do not work on devices under mains voltage. That's why I'm still alive

(230 Veff in the EU …)

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
The PhotoPlug is likely to be the commercial standard solution for amateurs when it comes to shutter speed measurement.

Filmomat — PhotoPlug

www.filmomat.eu

Do you know of any other devices that you can buy?

Personally, I recommend the Reveni tester for your workshop, if you don't want to build your own. The price is not bad, I spent almost $300 building mine.

Andreas Thaler · Dec 30, 2023

ic-racer said:
Personally, I recommend the Reveni tester for your workshop, if you don't want to build your own. The price is not bad, I spent almost $300 building mine.

View attachment 358290

Looks interesting thanks!

Kino · Dec 30, 2023

So for about $650 USD (current exchange) you can buy a tester and every attachment.

Not bad at all!

Citsmith · Dec 30, 2023

When i was young my father had a special bulb with a flat element in two sections. It changed from one element to the other at the cycles of the electricity it was plugged into. There was probably a diode in there somewhere. One would take an exposure with our Graflex RB 4X5 and move the bulb in front of the camera during the exposure. By reading how many cycles there were on the negative one could tell the speed the shutter had exposed. It was good enough for the accuracy of the big shutter curtain.

ic-racer · Dec 30, 2023

Citsmith said:
When i was young my father had a special bulb with a flat element in two sections. It changed from one element to the other at the cycles of the electricity it was plugged into. There was probably a diode in there somewhere. One would take an exposure with our Graflex RB 4X5 and move the bulb in front of the camera during the exposure. By reading how many cycles there were on the negative one could tell the speed the shutter had exposed. It was good enough for the accuracy of the big shutter curtain.

These days making a LED array is not that hard and can do the same thing.

kl122002 · Dec 31, 2023

Assuming the testers are running well, would you follow the factory's original requirement / tolerances settings, or set at a better value?

ic-racer · Dec 31, 2023

Frequently one has to adjust mechanical shutter speed in groups, so the goal is to get the group within the error bars as best as one can.

Andreas Thaler · Jan 1, 2024

This issue of the SPT Journal comes at just the right time on the topic:

SPT Journal: September-October 1977

Society of Photo-Technologists Journal

learncamerarepair.com

ic-racer · Jan 1, 2024

Quote from the SPT 1977 issue...truer words never written...
I welcome anyone to the rabbit hole of focal plane shutter testing and adjustment

Andreas Thaler · Jan 1, 2024

ic-racer said:
Quote from the SPT 1977 issue...truer words never written...
I welcome anyone to the rabbit hole of focal plane shutter testing and adjustment

View attachment 358401

What Thomas Tomosy says about the settings on the camera electronics applies accordingly:

It is a grave mistake to disturb the factory settings impulsively. In general, you should not disturb anything unless you’re absolutely convinced that that is where the problem lies.

Thomas Tomosy, Camera Maintenance & Repair, Book 1, Buffalo: Amherst, 1999, Kindle Edition, pos. 835

ic-racer · Jan 1, 2024

I also like the way the SPT 1977 issue addresses shutter speed management from different viewpoints.

Especially about deciding if a thorough teardown is needed. Some cameras can be tweaked with some adjustment of the curtain tensioners, whereas others will require disassembly at least to the level where all the rapidly spinning parts can be cleaned and re-lubed.

A good recent example is the OM-1 I got for Christmas. I did not even take the front off, I only tweaked the curtains and achieved results within ISO tolerances. I think the OM-1 is made better than the Rolleiflexes I'm collecting.

kl122002 · Jan 2, 2024

ic-racer said:
Quote from the SPT 1977 issue...truer words never written...
I welcome anyone to the rabbit hole of focal plane shutter testing and adjustment

View attachment 358401

It is not just focal plane shutter， but also leaf shutter as well.

I don't like to take off the slow speed mechanic unless there is no other way

Andreas Thaler · Jan 9, 2024

SPTJournal, January/February 1990

Kamerastore.com: 5 Levels of Shutter Testing: How Accurate is your Film Camera?

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