[ismaelg]

Hello,

After years of searching I finally scored a shutter tester! Long story short I ordered this in September to an eastern Europe country (bless the internet!) and after a lost report/refund/reorder I finally got it in February!
Still need to learn it but I already figured out the basics.
This Kodak 135 camera has the honor to be the first one to be tested with my new shutter tester!

So here are the test result:

Shutter set at 1/20s


Shutter set at 1/50s


Shutter set at 1/100s


Shutter set at 1/200s


Summary:


Not bad for ~70 years old camera! I still need to learn more details on the tester, including advanced features but so far so good.

Thanks,
Ismael

[Michail_P]

The final result is really interesting. At a reasonable speed point, you underexpose by a stop ! That’s something.

[BigMackCam]

Very interesting, Ismael... and quite uncanny timing, since I was looking at shutter speed testers just this morning Thus far, I've been using Audacity to record the sound of a shutter, looking at the recorded waves and figuring out - as best I can - the time between curtains or leaves opening and closing... but the audio characteristics of each shutter differ hugely, and at faster speeds it can be really difficult to differentiate shutter sounds from the rest of the mechanical noises. Tools like the one you've bought - which use a light sensor with a narrow field of view - are capable of much greater accuracy. I'm tempted to get hold of one myself, but I could really do without the expense right now Perhaps once I've sold off one or two items I'm no longer using...

[bobD]

Very interesting, Ismael... and quite uncanny timing, since I was looking at shutter speed testers just this morning Thus far, I've been using Audacity to record the sound of a shutter, looking at the recorded waves and figuring out - as best I can - the time between curtains or leaves opening and closing... but the audio characteristics of each shutter differ hugely, and at faster speeds it can be really difficult to differentiate shutter sounds from the rest of the mechanical noises. Tools like the one you've bought - which use a light sensor with a narrow field of view - are capable of much greater accuracy. I'm tempted to get hold of one myself, but I could really do without the expense right now Perhaps once I've sold off one or two items I'm no longer using...

DIY it !.
I've built several some years back...but this one looks very sensible and a breeze to use.. see video in second link
GitHub - sokol07/LaserShutterTester
https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/makingtime/b/b...shutter-tester

[UpstatePentax]

Interesting. I may look into that those if this doesn’t pan out. My initial lube job didn’t work out and the mirror went back to its bad habits, so I got up the courage to unsolder wires and get in deeper. Wasn’t as bad as it thought it would be and the tiny wires were happy to land back on their pads with minimal fuss afterwards.

[Jonathan Mac]

That would be something really handy to have, I might look into getting one - thanks!

[titrisol]

That is awesome!
I bought a Photoplug a few years ago and is great for amateurs up to 1/250

[SilverDog]

Here's a DOY tester I recently made with readily available parts.
Shutter Speed Tester With Arduino | HACK A WEEK

[titrisol]

Your results are consistent with some old cameras I have, up to 100/125 they are reliable but the last speed either they call it 300 or 500 is a crapshot.

[tuco]

When I send my leaf shutter lenses to a local camera repair shop for a CLA, I get back a shutter speed test results of indicated, measured and a comment such as excellent, good, okay or not good. Some speeds seemed significantly off to me but the comment would be noted, 'Good', for example. I guess that says it is common not to actually be within a tight tolerance of the indicated speeds. I should have asked how he measures the shutter speed because leaf shutter lenses inherently have more exposure in the center than the perimeter at the faster shutter speeds.

[vandergus]

When I send my leaf shutter lenses to a local camera repair shop for a CLA, I get back a shutter speed test results of indicated, measured and a comment such as excellent, good, okay or not good. Some speeds seemed significantly off to me but the comment would be noted, 'Good', for example. I guess that says it is common not to actually be within a tight tolerance of the indicated speeds. I should have asked how he measures the shutter speed because leaf shutter lenses inherently have more exposure in the center than the perimeter at the faster shutter speeds.

"Factory spec" is actually pretty loose on a lot of cameras. Most are in the ballpark of +/- 0.5 stop for the shutter speed. So you could measure the 1/1000 setting at 1/725 and it would still be in spec.

On leaf shutters...the opening speed does affect exposure but not in the way you are thinking. Central leaf shutters act more like apertures rather than blinds. A partially open shutter is like a stopped down aperture. The exposure is reduced uniformly across the frame, not just on the edges. Consequently, the opening to closing time of leaf shutters is extended at fast shutter speeds to account for this reduced exposure. You may get back your freshly serviced TLR and measure its 1/500 speed as 1/300. This is actually correct! One thing to ask your repair person is if they are reporting the direct open-to-close time or the equivalent exposure time adjusted for the shutter's efficiency.