Measuring shutter speeds

[Jesito]

Hi Colleagues,

After my recent RF fever, I've been getting a few cameras coming from eBay, from unknown owners. Some film failures because sealing and speed variations, have driven me to test the cameras before using them, so I can save in film...

One the measurements that may decide me to go/no go for shooting a roll, is the shutter speed. After some google researching I found several simple solutions that may be handy for some of you.

The cheapest solution is to build a simple light detector based on a phototransistor or photodiode, like these ones:


http://mraggett.members.beeb.net/shuttertester/shuttertester.htm
http://www.davidrichert.com/sound_card_shutter_tester.htm

and use the Audacity program as indicated in the article.

It happens to happen that I own a simple storage oscilloscope (a cheap one built by a company called PO.LABS) and I use it instead. The results are quite promising, I've checked the Canonet being out of speed for more than the 50%, so it has stopped me from using it.

Best regards,
Jes.

[vilva]

[LucisPictor]

Very nice ideas. Thanks for sharing!