What do you make of this frame?

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paulfish4570

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I get 3-4 of these on every roll I run through my FED-2d. Most occur on the first shot taken after the camera has been quiet for a day or two with shutter wound. This frame was shot, though, only a minute or two after one that was perfectly exposed. Appears to happen only on highest shutter speeds ...

78010022-1.jpg
 
It's capping, most likely. Do you know which way you held the camera for that shot? (since it a portrait shot we can't tell which way you took it!). There could be several causes but a CLA seems to be in order. Just the "A" part may solve it if it's not running slowly. Try it on B to see how snappy the curtains sound, first and second. Should make a sort of clip-clop sound as you press/release.
 
On vertical shots, I hold the shutter end at bottom. What is capping?
And now that I am through with fsu contest entries, I will look into a CLA. Although the camera appears new, it IS at least 44 years old.
Is CLA user friendly? I'll look at stickies ...
 
paulfish4570 said:
On vertical shots, I hold the shutter end at bottom. What is capping?
And now that I am through with fsu contest entries, I will look into a CLA. Although the camera appears new, it IS at least 44 years old.
Is CLA user friendly? I'll look at stickies ...
Click to expand...

So, if I've had enough coffee this morning to think logically, this means that your second curtain is catching up with the first before the travel across the film gate is complete. So the slit between the curtains closes and no light reaches the film for the last portion.

If I haven't had enough coffee, it's the other way round... (curtains start out overlapping until the first curtain gains ground on the second one)

Anyway, that's capping -- curtains overlapping instead of leaving a slit of appropriate width for the selected speed. My IIIf does this at 1/500 and 1/1000, too, so I'll be diving in myself soon.
 
Not caffeinated enough, I think. You were holding the camera with the shutter button down, which is the side of the second curtain, but in the camera the image is of course reversed.

So, the dark portion in your photo corresponds to the beginning of the exposure, not the end. The curtains start out overlapping and separate afterwards.

Anyway, hooray for removable backs. You can sit in front of your TV and watch what's going on with fidget's excellent curtain tension stickie for a guide.
 
batterytype's second post seems to make sense (yes, I have the same problem working out which way it is!). Either the second curtain is over-tensed or (more likely) the first is under-tensioned. From my experience of setting these shutters up it's quite difficult to get them as far out as yours seems, so I'd hazard a guess that it's more CLA-time than re-set tensions time.
 
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