Shutter speed tester

I have only tried the acoustic version of it. It worked reasonably well. Not great with the Barnack cameras. Too many moving parts making noice. I would be interested too hear how it works with the adapter.
 
I've got the app itself and have attempted to use it using the mic to record sounds. It's difficult to use on any camera except ones with very loud and distinctive shutter open and close sounds.

Many of my cameras have more then one sound that they make and many times one of the two main sounds is very quiet. Making it difficult to see on the waveform what is what.

I understand with the adapter it's better.
 
Sparrow said:
... that looks the perfect way to make oneself dissatisfied with every camera one checks
Click to expand...

one can do this much easier, without purchasing anything - just make a series of test snaps of wall, bricks, straight lines and be frustrated :D
 
For a long time there have been kits or plans for an optical sensor feeding a signal into the sound input of your PC. This takes things a step further: It's a nice App on the iPhone and he has created a convenient little plug with the sensor. Plug is 10 Euros, app is $3 at the iPhone App Store. The App will work without the plug just using the shutter sound which is fine for slower speeds and not right at all at higher speeds when both curtains are traveling.

Looks good. I bought one. Will report.
 
Shutter Speed Tester is an ongoing project of mine over the last 5 to 7 Years.
I never were very happy with the use of a torch or standard LED as light source.
Couple of years ago i started to use a laser pointer as my light source and things got much better. Still plenty to do as we speak. Just saying with a soft light source the travel speed of the curtain gets in the way when doing faster speeds.
 
I tried the acoustic version on my Rolleiflex. Didn't really work at the higher speeds, but good otherwise. Have ordered the Photoplug light on eBay to see if it improves things.
 
Hi there !

I'm the inventor and seller of both the App and the Fototransistor-Plug and just came across this thread.
First of all, thanks to everybody who has bought the Plug ! During the last months I sold several of them to all over the world, and only got very positive feedback, so you won't regret this purchase :)
I'm looking forward to your experiences with it.

As said previously in this thread, the App alone works very well for slower speeds up to 1/60 - 1/125. Faster speeds are possible, but it depends a lot on the camera used, some work better and some won't. In general, leaf shutters will work better than focal plane shutters, because of the curtains etc.

With the Fototransistor-Plug, both types of shutter can be measured very accurately even at faster speeds. The phototransistor inside the plug has a very narrow detection-angle, which means that it will measure just a small spot on the back of your camera, and not the entire film-frame. Therefore, it gives quite exact readings even with focal plane shutters at fast times, where the exposure time is regulated by the distance of the two curtains.

Of course, when it comes to speeds faster than 1/1000s, this system will come to it's limits, too. You would need two sensors then, in order to determine the exact speed of both curtains. But as you can imagine, such a device costs a lot more then €9,99.

My goal was not to make a High-End scientific instrument, but to give photographers the chance to check the shutter speeds of their cameras on an easy way, with a small and cheap device that fits in everybody's pocket.
 
I used this app. Works for anything sub 1/500th but 1/500th+ its useless. Likely the reason why they have the accessory. Because the iphone mic wasnt good enough and that's what I was using.

I tried this last year
 
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