Shutter Tester

[bd3]

Hope this it the correct place to post this. I'd like to find out where one would purchase a shutter tester. I have tried google but haven't found much.

Thanks,
Bill

[patrickjames]

I have one from Calumet that I bought years ago. Give them a try.

Patrick

[craigclu]

I have the one that Calumet sells under its original maker's name and it is very competent. I also have one built into the Metrolux II timer that I have. I just got the Metrolux and it's not functioning correctly on the enlarger power outlet and I may be sending it back for a likely fuse repair but I briefly played with the shutter timer on it and it seems to work well and agreed with my old timer on the few runs I tried. I had forgotten about that feature until the timer arrived but for the right situation, where you might be considering an enlarging timer/analyzer anyway, it would save owning 2 devices.

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Bill,

I have a ZTS which doubles as a (very good) exposure meter. Google ZTS.

Cheers,

R.

[Greg_E]

I made mine, there are several plans on the internet and most of them involve using the soundcard in your computer and free software.

[wclavey]

I made mine, there are several plans on the internet and most of them involve using the soundcard in your computer and free software.

Do you happen to remember any of the link addresses? I, too, have searched for a schematic on Google and not found one. Thanks.

[John Bartley]

All I've ever used is a microphone plugged into the sound card. I use audio manipulation software to see what the times are between the significant sounds which are the opening and closing of the shutter. It's scarily accurate according to what I've seen.

cheers

[Steve Smith]

I was thinking about building one using an LED and a photo transistor. I was going to buy a simple stand alone counter and build a stable 1kHz oscilator.

The phototransistor is then used to gate the oscilator into the counter so that the counter counts up whilst the shutter is open.

So the operation is: Reset counter, release shutter, read shutter opening time in milliseconds on counter display.

Then convert the time e.g. 2mS = 1/500; 250ms = 1/4; etc.


I do like the sound recording method though. I had not thought of that.


Steve.

[Frank R]

I ordered one from Calumet after building one of those sound card types. The Calumet is real simple and real fast to use; I highly recommend it.

You could even carry it with your other camera equipment if necessary.

[Jim Jones]

I was thinking about building one using an LED and a photo transistor. I was going to buy a simple stand alone counter and build a stable 1kHz oscilator.

The phototransistor is then used to gate the oscilator into the counter so that the counter counts up whilst the shutter is open.

So the operation is: Reset counter, release shutter, read shutter opening time in milliseconds on counter display.

Then convert the time e.g. 2mS = 1/500; 250ms = 1/4; etc.


I do like the sound recording method though. I had not thought of that.


Steve.

A clock rate much higher than 1kHz is required for accuracy at high shutter speeds. For 5% accuracy one should count at least 20 cycles.

Accuracy in the sound recording method requires knowing which sound is actually related to the opening and closing of the shutter. Using light through the shutter to trigger a phototransistor, and the phototranstor output to trigger the sound card, might be more reliable.

The ultimate shutter tester is a oscilloscope. It can measure flash sync timing and shutter efficiency. It can detect problems like shutter bounce. Learning to use an oscilloscope is certainly easier than learning to use most cameras well.