I finally caught my shutter speed mistake after 8 years of repair work

I used to always trust the marking on a lens barrel for the shutter speed when I was testing a camera after a clean and lube. It was only last month when a customer in Denver brought in a Canon with a sticky leaf shutter, and I noticed the actual exposure time was off by nearly a full stop even though the mechanics felt smooth. I had been setting my test shots based on the dial, not the actual curtain travel time, and that meant I was shipping out cameras that were underexposing the whole time. My question is, how many of you actually time the shutter with an oscilloscope or a tester, and how many just trust the numbers on the ring and call it good?

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felix_martin562d ago

Tbh, you're way overthinking this. Those markings on the lens barrel are there for a reason, and if the mechanics feel smooth and the action snaps back clean, that's about as good as it gets for most repair work. The average person shooting a leaf shutter camera isn't doing lab tests, they're just happy the thing fires and doesn't stick. Plus, chasing a half stop of difference when the film itself has way more variance than that is a total waste of time. Ngl, I've been in this game for years and I've never once pulled out a scope unless the customer specifically complained about exposure. You adjust the dial, you trust the factory spec, and you move on. Overthinking this just makes you slower and your prices higher, and honestly nobody benefits from that.