[pure-silver] Re: Packard Shutters
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:48:45 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "richard lahrson" <gtripspud@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 12:15 AM
Subject: [pure-silver] Packard Shutters
Hi!
I have a 14" f/9 Apo-Ronar barrel lens mounted on a 6"
board for an
8x10 Kodak 2D. A test shot of some book titles on the
shelf looks good and
the aim is to use this lens for portraits.
So after months of searching eBay for a Packard
shutter, google search
found www.packardshutter.com. I called them up, talked
for 20 minutes to
the owner, Reno, who carefully explained what would fit.
I'm getting one and can hardly wait to squeeze that
rubber bulb! These shutters were generally used before my
time and would
like to hear other's experiences with these classic
shutter. Rich
I don't remember all the details of Packard shutter
history but similar shutters date back to at least the
1870's. It is an entirely practical shutter for large
lenses. The shutter speed is pretty much fixed at around
1/25th for medium sized shutters, perhaps a bit faster for
smaller ones and a bit slower for very large ones. The speed
is controlled by the pressure on the bulb and at one time a
pressure regulator could be bought to fit into the air line
between bulb and shutter to obtain slow speeds reliably.
Some Packard shutters come with contacts for strobe
synch. They can also be used for flashbulbs if the shutter
is used in B where it stays open until sucked shut again.
Packars shutters also work well for some old style wide
angle lenses like the Zeiss Protar extra-wide angle lens,
which have air spaces too narrow for between-the-lens
shutters.
They are also virtually silent which can be useful for
portraiture and animal photography.
Not much else to say. Its possible to mount a Packard
shutter so that many lenses can be used on the same shutter.
I have two mounted this way, one is on a large Agfa
lensboard with a Speed Graphic 4x4 inch adaptor and the
other has an iris diaphragm clamp on it.
Packard shutters were plentiful and very cheap on the
used market some years ago but have virtually dried up in
the last couple of years but are still made new, as you have
discovered.
Tubing can be had at any automobile parts supply store
but the bulbs are harder to find. Medical supply houses used
to stock them for blood pressure measuring scales (I am not
going to try spelling the right name for this thing) but
most BP gauges now are electronic.
Another advantage is that an air tube can be a lot
longer than a wire release without problems with friction
and kinking.
Have fun with your old-fashioned toy.
The Apo-Ronar should be comparable to an Apochromatic
Artar, an extremely sharp lens.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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