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Hot take: old shutter curtains are way less reliable than the new leaf shutters after a conversation with a repair guy from the 70s
He told me he spent 12 years rebuilding Compur shutters and now refuses to touch anything with cloth curtains because they rot or stretch at random, which got me thinking - has anyone else started avoiding vintage focal-plane cameras altogether?
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the_wendy15d ago
That repair guy's story about spending 12 years rebuilding Compur shutters really made me stop and think. I have to admit I've started to steer clear of old cloth curtain cameras myself, and it's not just about rot or stretch. The biggest issue for me is that when those curtains do go, it's often a complete loss unless you find someone with the right parts and skills. I had a beautiful old folder with a shutter that just stopped working mid-roll once, and the repair cost more than the camera was worth. It's a shame because there's something special about those vintage designs, but the reliability gamble gets old fast. Have you found any specific models that seem to hold up better than others?
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claire87215d ago
My 1962 Pentax SV is the one cloth curtain camera I still trust after years of use. The curtains are made from a titanium foil that doesn't rot like the older rubberized fabric ones. I've had the shutter timed and it still runs within spec, so maybe the Japanese curtains from that era are tougher than the European stuff from earlier decades.
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Gotta be honest, the only cloth curtain camera I trust is the one I haven't dropped yet. My own clumsiness is way more of a threat than any shutter rot. Claire, your Pentax SV sounds like a tank, but I swear every time I look at my old folders I hear them whispering "you're gonna break me.
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