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03-17-2012, 02:33 PM - 1 Like   #1
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Spotmatic F sounds like its got mice inside

Perhaps it is supposed to sound like this?

This camera is new to me

Using shutter speeds of 1/30 and slower, when I release the shutter there is first the usual click but then followed by something I have not yet heard before: a distinct scratchy sound of parts moving . . . hard to describe, hence the title . . .

Using 1/60 and up it is totally gone

Sound familiar ?

03-17-2012, 02:53 PM   #2
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I think it is the slow shutter gears that you are hearing. I'm not a technical expert, so I don't know all the proper terms, but in a mechanically controlled shutter system, the shutter speeds are timed by gears and on the slower shutter speeds the longer time allows you to hear the gears moving that control how long the shutter stays open. hopefully someone can explain it better, but I think you may get what I'm saying. to understand it best, you could simply remove the bottom plate and depress the shutter on a slow setting. and watch the gears moving and you will know what is making the sound.

in other words, what you are hearing is likely a completely normal sound for a mechanical camera.
03-17-2012, 03:12 PM   #3
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Like séamuis said, at low shutter speeds you should hear a whirring noise from the timing mechanism. If the shutter speeds seem to be correct everything is probably fine.
03-17-2012, 07:06 PM   #4
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One more vote for slow shutter speeds. My KX does this as does my Mamiya 1000 DTL, Canon P, and recently acquired Pentax SV.


Steve

03-17-2012, 08:21 PM   #5
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It sounds like something I've also observed with mechanical SLRs. OTOH, it you could remove the bottom plate and check for mouse droppings.

John
03-17-2012, 08:46 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
One more vote for slow shutter speeds. My KX does this as does my Mamiya 1000 DTL, Canon P, and recently acquired Pentax SV.
Steve
+1 - My KX and my SV also both make a whirring noise (sounds like a clock movement) at and below 1/30 and both have recently had a CLA. It was disconcerting to me at first (in 1977) on the KX.

A Spotmatic F is very similar to a KX mechanically. I suggest the ultimate test is - Run a roll through at slow shutter speeds and review the photographs.
03-18-2012, 12:55 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
+1 - My KX and my SV also both make a whirring noise (sounds like a clock movement) at and below 1/30 and both have recently had a CLA. It was disconcerting to me at first (in 1977) on the KX.

A Spotmatic F is very similar to a KX mechanically. I suggest the ultimate test is - Run a roll through at slow shutter speeds and review the photographs.
The movement of a clock, exactly!

Yes, I will develop film today to make sure all is ok. I didn't notice it before, but perhaps I just wasn't using the slower speeds, or it wasn't silent around me . . . I will also check my KX, if it does the same, that one had a full service half a year ago.

I have always used these slower speeds (more than 30 years) and never heard this sound, so it was a little alarming. Before the Pentaxes, I had Olympus OM1 and OM4ti; Leica M2 and R4s . . .

Thanks for the help to you all, I gathered from your input it is probably all ok

ps, now I checked my KX, same mice, same songs . . .


Last edited by Hilo; 03-18-2012 at 03:06 AM.
03-18-2012, 06:14 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Hilo Quote
The movement of a clock, exactly!

Yes, I will develop film today to make sure all is ok. I didn't notice it before, but perhaps I just wasn't using the slower speeds, or it wasn't silent around me . . . I will also check my KX, if it does the same, that one had a full service half a year ago.

I have always used these slower speeds (more than 30 years) and never heard this sound, so it was a little alarming. Before the Pentaxes, I had Olympus OM1 and OM4ti; Leica M2 and R4s . . .

Thanks for the help to you all, I gathered from your input it is probably all ok

ps, now I checked my KX, same mice, same songs . . .
well, I'm not sure how these others are designed, but the slow shutter speed timer gears are at the bottom of the camera just under the bottom plate, so there isn't a lot of 'buffer' to quiet the sound. but then, Pentax always had loud (to my ears) self timers as well. and that typical pentax 'clunk' of the mirror.
03-18-2012, 09:29 AM   #9
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I don't have an F but have the KX and at 1/30th shutter speed, there is a sound following the shutter firing that I recorded -> http://www.fototime.com/D53C47F9A8983D9/convx264.mp4
Is this the sound you are referring to? If so, this seems unique to the KX as it doesn't do that with my other manual Pentax bodies at that speed.
03-18-2012, 09:45 AM   #10
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Not quite an extended version sound as in the KX's 1 second shutter -> http://www.fototime.com/7529FA8A2C7AB4B/convx264.mp4
At this speed, most all the manual bodies I have sound similar.
03-18-2012, 10:06 AM   #11
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LesDMess, what wonderful means of communication!!

Your KX shutter's sound is much more compact than my Spotmatic F's and also my KX's sound. The mice sound, or the clock sound, is what happens AFTER the cloinck. And this I don't hear from your recording. To add to our imagination, the sound I mean can also be described as two retired aliens laughing . . .
03-18-2012, 10:23 AM   #12
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I think there is a sound after the shutter cycles Whirr whirr Whirr whirr Whirr whirr as the timing gears reset. I think that is what the OP asked about.
03-18-2012, 10:51 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
I think there is a sound after the shutter cycles Whirr whirr Whirr whirr Whirr whirr as the timing gears reset. I think that is what the OP asked about.
What he said...

I suspect a common approach to slow speed mechanism was used across brands for horizontal-run shutters of the era and that the whirring noise is the release of unused spring tension at the end of the shutter cycle. Interestingly, my FSU cameras don't do this. They make an interesting clockwork noise when setting the slow speeds.


Steve
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