So first of all what is a shutter speed tester? It’s simply a tool that times how long a camera shutter (in the lens) is open for. This is not typically needed for newer cameras as they tend to be accurate. However, older film camera tend to loose their precision due to wear and tear, and exposure settings can be inaccurate. Using a shutter speed tester allows the photographer to gain a true measure of the shutter speed rather than using a trial and error process which can waste film.
The shutter speed tester has been quite a quick project primarily because it is relatively simple and and it was a case of making alterations to a project developed by c-s-1. These modifications essentially consisted of trimming it down and modifying it to work on a 2 x 16 screen and removing one of the buttons (an lcd light toggle).
The project is cased in a hammond stomp box enclosure (1590XX) and runs off a dc power supply. If you would like any further information about it to build your own, please get in touch and I’ll fill out the blog with further details.
Here are some potential questions and their corresponding answers
Q: Why is the tester is not picking anything up?
A: There are a few things that need to be checked.
- Check the receiver and emitters are as close as they can be to the lens. If they are further than a few centimetres from each other the receiver may not pick anything up.
- Check the wires are actually connected to the right sockets.
Q: The device is giving some random results and I have not used it yet.
A: After you have set it up, before actually using the device, click ‘reset’ it first. During setup the receiver and transmitter can get into contact and give off odd readings.
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