I have just recieved the biggest camera lens I have ever seen, a "Wollensak Portrait Lens Series A f-5 8x10". I don't even think any of my camera will hold up this huge brass beast, but I'm going to try it

(un)fortunately, the lens has a studio shutter. Interesting device. The aperture blades are the actual 'shutter', controlled either by an Open-Close switch or a pneumatic piston. Of course the open-close switch would normally be used only for focusing, I would suppose anyway...

The piston on this shutter, and the rest of the mechanism, does work. But I was wondering what kind of speed this thing is supposed to have? The opening is fairly fast. The closing is getting faster after a little work and lube. does anyoen know what the speed of these things was supposed to be??

And now a little story (sorry). Since I have nothing here that uses an air bulb, I had no way to test the piston or the operation of the shutter. I searched and finally found a blood pressure monitor. You know, wrap the thing around your arm and pump up the bulb...
So, I disconnect the bulb & hose and hook it up to the shutter. A little work, and I get the shutter to open with the bulb & piston. But it won't close... I open the back of the piston and see quite a bit of free space. I start thinking that maybe there's suppose to be a spring in there? No, that wouldn't work... Play a little more, still no luck. But the shutter seems to close just fine with the switch. And the piston doesn't seem to stick when moved manually...
Then I see the air release on the bulb! I completely forgot that the blood pressure bulb has a one way valve so the arm band will stay inflated.... Shutter works fine now, as long as I hold the valve open!

Yep, going to your favorite store, www.bhphotovideo, selecting cameras/photo gear as the search area and "air release" in the search for box results in a 20 footer for $12 up to a pro one for $80 with a few in between.
Charles

Sounds like you have a Packard shutter. These are basic behind the lens shutters that were popular for barrel lenses; amazingly they are evidently still being made today. As I understand it they only have two speeds, B and I. The instantaneous is about 1/25th of a second. The I is selected by placing a pin (such as a paperclip wire) into a hole in the shutter plate. For a bulb, you could either buy one made for the purpose or rig one up yourself using a large ear syringe with some aquarium tubing (get the soft stuff, not the usual cheap vinyl) or medical tubing. What you really need to do is see the extensive article in View Camera magazine, May/June '03, on these shutters and how to use them. Try their website at viewcamera.com and mabye if you are lucky they posted the article; I have not checked there.

Thanks for the info. It will come in handy when I buy a used Packard for another lens. This is a "Studio Shutter", something entirely different. The Packard is a true shutter. The Studio shutter uses the aperture blades as shutter blades and is between-the-lens mounted just like any standard shutter. It has only one "speed". Open-close. I would imagine it may be as fast as a Packard when new, but it's got a lot more to move than a Packard and deffinitely isn't that fast now...

I have a smaller Studio Shutter on my 12 Wolley Portrait Velostigmat. I can get about a 1/15-1/25 when fully exercised and some fresh clock oil on the pivots. It also works better vertically than laying in your lap. sharp, hard squeezes produce the fastest shutter times, but remember what Ed Weston said about meters and timing....

Expose the film until you think the subject is going to move.


Packards buy the way came in many models, The basic model didn't have the pin for Instantaneous. The larger models (they went up to 11") could have two bulbs, the red of opening and closing the lens and the white for the I.
They even made them with ruby blades for enlargers.

Thanks Les. Looking at it, I thought about 1/10 would be hoping And I thought oil would be good for it too, but was too afraid to try it. Graphite worked wonders, but it still seems a bit slugish. The pivot pins do come through the side plates, but don't move. So I figured oil wouldn't get down the pin to the blades. Any other method of oiling would require a complete disassembly or getting oil on the blades themselves. Didn't want to do that...

I took a look through the Packard web site a while back. Always wanted one but never needed it. Now I have a very nice 45cm f-9 APO Tessar from Carl Zeiss Jena with no shutter. Since it sits happily on a 6x6 board, it seem a perfect candidate for a Packard. At least it's on the list of projects

Packard shutters were still being made as of about April 03. The two gentlemen that make them (and have been for the past 40 years or more) were looking for a buyer for the business and Steve Grimes was supposed to visit them the weekend following the day he took ill. They sell the air bulb and tube assembly which should work for your Studio shutter and the current price looks like $26.35.
<a href ="http://www.hubphoto.com/packard-shutters.htm">Hub Photo Packard shutters</a>

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If the best can't be had let the worst continue....

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: JoePhoto on 2003-11-23 09:15 ]</font>

I didn't know Grimes was thinking of buying Packard or even that it was *******. It would be a shame if they stopped production.
Knowing that, I may buy a new one instead of waiting for a used one that fits my needs. The only problem there is that if I buy a new one, I would go for the one with flash sych and that costs even more... I'll just have to hope they're still in business in a couple of months...