Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/17

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Subject: RE: [Leica] RE: Was Medium format camera (now pit-bull arena)
From: henry <henry@henryambrose.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 18:58:31 -0500

Austin stated in part:
>It is almost impossible to accurately measure a leaf shutter at high speed,
>with reasonable tolerance, without some very exotic equipment. 

I don't think so. 

Put film in the camera and expose it. Inspect the film.
That's all it takes to see if your choice of camera shutter will work for 
you.
If you are using your camera to make pictures this is ALL that matters!

In theory and practice I suppose an electrically controlled shutter is 
more accurate than a mechanical one. But my question is - does it matter?
I think my M6 shutters are not super accurate but the film comes out fine.
Even more so my old Rollei. But again, its fine for negative film. My F5 
has a super accurate shutter (allegedly). Does it make better pictures? 
No.

Do Mamiya RZs have more accurate shutters than Hasselblads. I bet they 
do. But again in practice it does not seem to make much difference. 
Especially since at the level of exposure accuracy where "better" 
shutters might matter you're using Polaroid to get where you need to be - 
just metering won't do it.

If my Hasselblad leaf shutters (or any others) are a bit off, well thats 
OK as long as they are consistent.

Mechanical leaf shutters have been around a long time.
They are proven over and over to work well in the field, making pictures.
Who cares if they are not perfectly accurate on a shutter tester?

Go make some pictures. This issue does not matter.
:)

Henry