Packard shutter question

[Larry H-L]

Hi Guys. I recently picked up a Petzval lens from Jim G., and I am installing a new Packard shutter, with synch, on the back side of the lens board, inside the bellows.

I have a 5x7 Tachihara, 5 x 5 wooden lens board. Lens screws into a metal flange mounted on the front of the board.

I was planning on drilling a hole in the lower right corner of the lens board (as viewed from the outside of the camera, front of the board) to accommodate the air tube fitting.

My question is where to bring the synch wire through the board. Lower left corner of the front seems to be out of the way, and makes the most sense to me, but is there a reason to place it differently?

I'm trying to avoid one of those "DOH" moments. Any other issues I should be considering?

Thanks in advance.

Larry H-L
Ohio

 

[keithwms]

You can't fit the shutter on the outside of the lens board?

 

[Larry H-L]

Keith, I don't think so without building a box. How would I mount the lens to the shutter?

 

[keithwms]

I am not able to visualize the problem, perhaps Jim can chime in....

In any case, the only time I've mounted a shutter inside and made a hole in a lensboard was to allow for more bellows compression, i.e. for ultrawides. It's a pretty extreme and cumbersome measure. I mean, if the packard's only giving you 1/25 and you're shooting b&w, well you can get 1/25 pretty easily by hand....

 

[PHOTOTONE]

You just bring the sync cord out thru a small hole just about anywhere you find convenient on your lensboard. I bring mine out and have about a 4 to 5 inches outside and I terminate with a plug. I then plug in my long sync cord to the flash into this short "stub" cord coming out of the lensboard. I use "household" plug...so I can use inexpensive "extension" cords as sync cords. Be sure to seal up the hole, and I tape around the wire on the inside of the lensboad with black photographers tape. A completely opaque tape.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

You can't fit the shutter on the outside of the lens board?

Packard shutters are designed to be mounted on the back of the lensboard. If you wish to mount one on the front of the lensboard, you would need to build a self-contained light tight box, as a Packard shutter is not light-tight for light hitting it at an extreme angle. You want to confine the light hitting the shutter to the cone of light produced by the lens.

 

[keithwms]

Ah, okay, I guess the old bulb shutters I have are not Packards then. Thanks for the info.

Larry, any chance you could use a press shutter instead?

 

[Larry H-L]

Keith, I wanted the Packard because it can accommodate different sizes of barrel lenses.

Phototone, that is the answer I was looking for. The household plug is a great idea. I love cheap.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Keith, I wanted the Packard because it can accommodate different sizes of barrel lenses.

Phototone, that is the answer I was looking for. The household plug is a great idea. I love cheap.

Thanks to both of you!

The "household" plug was the standard sync cord for studio flash for many years. My older Calumet flash power supplies has sync cord inputs for "household" and "phone plug" style sync cords...but of course you could splice any kind of end on any kind of cord to make what fits your equipment.

 

[timbo10ca]

I mounted my Packard to the front of my Petzval using a rubber boot I could slip on and off. Light tight and minimal fuss- just have to be careful with it. I used a rubber cap found in the plumbing dept of home Depot attached to the back of the packard then I made a black gasket to seal it around the barrel.