fuji gw690 shutter

[ekphrasis]

I just purchased a fuji gw690II. the camera is in decent cosmetic condition and is supposed to be fully functional. first off, I noticed the film counter is high--in the 800s. Forum posts warn me not to read too much into this.

However, when I was running through the camera testing out shutter and apertures, I noticed that the shutter seemed slow--noticabely longer than 1 second at the 1 second setting.

What kind of error is to be expected on a leaf shutter like this? With my home test I clocked about 1.3 seconds for the 1 second setting, and about .72 seconds for the 1/2 second setting.

To measure, I used my canon digital camera set on video mode. I set a digital stop watch at the film plane with the back open, started it, and filmed through the lens. Then in my video editing program I observed the visible times. I double checked by counting the frames (at 30 fps).

.72 seconds seems like a significant difference from .5--but am I setting my standards too high for a camera of this vintage? I got it from KEH so I can return it if necessary.

 

[Vickko]

You are 30% to 40% off at the low speed. I think that is a lot. But, how often do you use the low speeds?

I seem to recall that tech's would only set mechanical shutters to +/- 15% for the speeds from 1-sec to 1/250 sec and +/- 30% for speeds 1/500 sec and above. Anything smaller in tolerance wasn't worth the time-effort tradeoff, and the repeatability of the shutter mechanism wasn't worth trying to set it closer.

 

[DamenS]

Which forum posts told you not to read too much into a high shutter count ?? That's 8,000 photos which have been taken - Fuji recommend a shutter service at 5,000, but often they'll go to 10,000 photos without issue. The only time I'd say not to worry about what the shutter count says is when it appears quite LOW - in which case it may have been "rolled back" much like the odometer on a car.

In any case, you are talking about less than half a stop which isn't terrible, but given the hard life your camera has had, I'd be returning it dependent upon how much it cost.

 

[ekphrasis]

interesting about the tolerance for setting slower shutter speeds. is it the case that the camera might be off more at slower speeds (percentage-wise) than at the faster speeds, which I will use more?

I paid about four and quarter for it. that seemed like reasonable given what I saw on ebay, but then again, it's so hard to compare options when you can't physically inspect.

I'm bummed at the thought of returning it--it looks like an awesome set up. and honestly its not as big or heavy as people made it out to be. my second option was to get a 645 format camera, but I'm less excited about that.

 

[Vickko]

More on shutter accuracy:

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/006b.shtml

Your camera is a leaf shutter but they have similar shutter accuracy capabilities - closer to correct at the low speeds and larger variation at the higher speeds.

And I agree with Damen on the shutter activation count.

 

[DamenS]

I'd get another one - beautiful camera. Think of this as your "try before you buy" period 😉

PS - Yes, it is most often the case that a camera's shutter speeds are off more at the slowest settings, at least for mechanical shutters.

 

[ekphrasis]

so I talked to KEH and it turns out that I can send the camera in under their warranty policy on used cameras. It sounds like that if they don't have a comparable replacement they will attempt to service the shutter.

Do you think it makes sense to go this route--is a shutter with this high count something that can be "serviced"? They didn't have a tech for me to talk to about the specifics; I figure somebody on here is probably knowledgeable about the topic.

The alternative is sending it back and spending more for the series III version, but I have no way to know what the shutter count/condition would be on that unit either.