Had to choose between a generic shutter speed tester and a vintage one for my bench setup

I finally got tired of guessing if my shutter speeds were close after a CLA on a 1950s Argus C3. So I looked at two options: a cheap new digital tester from Amazon for like $40, or an old analog Calumet unit off eBay for $30 plus shipping. I went with the vintage one because I figured it was built for old mechanical shutters anyway. Bad move. Turns out the photodiode in it is way too slow for speeds above 1/500th. I spent 3 hours this weekend recalibrating it with a known good Nikon FM2n just to get halfway accurate readings. The digital one would have been plug and play for sure. Has anyone else tried to save money with old test gear and regretted it?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_patel24d ago

Man I feel your pain so much! I did the same thing with an old Tektronix scope for checking flash sync. The thing drifted like crazy and I spent a whole weekend just trying to keep it stable. The digital stuff may be boring but at least it just works haha.

wade55823d ago

Wait, you spent three hours recalibrating a Calumet unit because the photodiode was too slow? That sounds like a nightmare, I would have tossed it out the window after the first hour.