payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Using the air rifle reasoning and to avoid accidental blank exposures, I try to store cameras with shutters not cocked. With focal plane shutters, though -- on RF or SLR cameras -- I understand it makes little difference either way. One of the first things I was taught about the Rolleicord I began to use in the early 1960s was never to leave the shutter cocked. "Dry firing" that camera needed only a lens cap, as shutter tensioning and film winding were independent operations.
europanorama
Well-known
i forgot the tip i had read somewhere.
How about leaf-shutters? autococked and non-auto?
Is B/T the right position? and when uncocked does it matter?
How about leaf-shutters? autococked and non-auto?
Is B/T the right position? and when uncocked does it matter?
Godfrey
somewhat colored
There is no "right" or "wrong" way regarding how to store shutters with respect to cocked or uncocked. It depends entirely on the specific and particular shutter/camera design.
For many cameras, there is no practical way to store the shutter in other than how the manufacturer designed it. For instance, a Rollei 35 lens tube can only be collapsed after the film is advanced, which automatically cocks the shutter. Any camera with a motorized auto-wind system automatically resets to the next frame and winds the shutter too. A Minox subminiature camera is in interesting case: The frame is wound and the shutter cocked by pushing the body and the case closed, but the shutter springs aren't tensioned until the case is opened to make the camera ready to make an exposure. Hasselblad V system cameras are designed to be wound after exposure, lenses can only be removed or mounted after being wound and cocked, same for backs to keep the body and back in sync. And on and on.
IN fifty plus years of using a flotilla of different cameras, I've seen no evidence whatever that storing a camera with the shutter cocked results in anything different from storing a camera with the shutter uncocked, for all those cameras that it's possible to do so. I do the following:
- For all the cameras that provide no options, I just do whatever the camera requires.
- For cameras that allow me to make a choice, if there is film loaded, I always cock the shutter and reset the camera to be ready for the next shot when I put it down. If there's no film loaded, I leave the shutter uncocked when I put the camera away. That way I can figure out in an instant whether a particular camera that presents a choice has film in it, which might not be readily evident from the frame counter.
G
For many cameras, there is no practical way to store the shutter in other than how the manufacturer designed it. For instance, a Rollei 35 lens tube can only be collapsed after the film is advanced, which automatically cocks the shutter. Any camera with a motorized auto-wind system automatically resets to the next frame and winds the shutter too. A Minox subminiature camera is in interesting case: The frame is wound and the shutter cocked by pushing the body and the case closed, but the shutter springs aren't tensioned until the case is opened to make the camera ready to make an exposure. Hasselblad V system cameras are designed to be wound after exposure, lenses can only be removed or mounted after being wound and cocked, same for backs to keep the body and back in sync. And on and on.
IN fifty plus years of using a flotilla of different cameras, I've seen no evidence whatever that storing a camera with the shutter cocked results in anything different from storing a camera with the shutter uncocked, for all those cameras that it's possible to do so. I do the following:
- For all the cameras that provide no options, I just do whatever the camera requires.
- For cameras that allow me to make a choice, if there is film loaded, I always cock the shutter and reset the camera to be ready for the next shot when I put it down. If there's no film loaded, I leave the shutter uncocked when I put the camera away. That way I can figure out in an instant whether a particular camera that presents a choice has film in it, which might not be readily evident from the frame counter.
G