For any camera that I've not used in a while or for an old used camera that I've bought, one thing I do is check for shutter capping and, with lenses, I check whether the aperture blades operate quickly.
Shutter capping is where the timed gap between the first and second curtain disappears. You get either a blank frame or partial frame.
To check for shutter capping, I do this:
- select the highest shutter speed
- remove the lens
- open the back
- aim the camera at a bright diffuse object (white wall, open sky - actually, what's best is a long horizontal fluorescent light)
- looking through the back, trip the shutter - you should see light from one end to the other along the entire film gate; if you see this at the highest speed, it's a safe bet that slower speeds don't cap either
On many lenses, such as Pentax and Nikon, you can simply manually actuate the aperture at the back of the lens to check whether they are sluggish. Other lenses require them to be mounted on the camera and triggered by the camera in order to actuate the aperture blades.
To check aperture blades in sync with camera operation , I do this:
- mount the lens and set the aperture to its smallest opening (such as f/16 or f/22)
- select the sync speed or higher
- open the back
- aim the camera at a bright diffuse object
- looking through the back, trip the shutter - you should see the aperture blades at their minimal setting - if the blades are sluggish (due to lubricant) the aperture will be too wide
Other things I do:
I check the self-timer. Some people don't do this because a faulty self-timer can jam the camera. I take the risk because I like to use self-timers.
I wind and trip the shutter, looking at the curtains, to check for holes or damage.
Some of my cameras have selenium meters or have meters which now require a substitute battery. Consequently, sometimes I have to select an ISO different from what the film speed is in order to produce proper exposures. For this, I have a "test area" where I check my meter and batteries - I know that when the lights are on in this room and I aim the camera so that the countertop fills the frame, I should expect an exposure of 1/30 at f/5.6 for ISO 200.
