Electric Shutter Project for DIY camera

Thread Starter

porscheheritage

Joined Jan 30, 2009
3
Greetings All,

Im putting together a DIY camera and I want to make an electric shutter that is capable of variable speeds such as:

- Bulb - Open as long as I keep my finger on the trigger
- 1 sec
- 1/5th of sec
- 1/10th of a sec
- 1/25th of asec
- 1/30th of asec
- 1/60th of a sec
- 1/100th of sec
- 1/125th of a sec
- 1/160th of asec
- 1/200th of asec
- 1/250th of a sec

..etc//

Im thinking that it should be a solenoid that pushes on a blade that is tensioned with a spring and disengages on a preset

anyway, i have spent some time googling and doing searches on this forum and I couldnt find anything that would suit my needs.

Does anyone know of a KIT that includes a Solenoid/actuator, board and selector switch (for the different speeds) that is capable of speeds up to 1/2000th of a second and reducable to such speeds listed above..

Ofcourse the smaller the better..

any advide would be appreciated!
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Timers are easy, it's the mechanics that's hard (for me at least).

Open to alternate ideas?

LCD material can go from clear to dark at electronics speeds. Sounds like a potential shutter.
 

Thread Starter

porscheheritage

Joined Jan 30, 2009
3
heh, that would be neat!

if im 'hearing you' ~you're suggesting:

..a LCD that would turn OPAQUE once a current is passed through? .. and transparent otherwise (no current)?
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
If I remember correctly they work with polarization, and use a signal to polarize/depolarize the liquid crystal between two plates. I see them enough, I'm not sure where to tet them. It was a thought.

What you said was close enough though.
 

Andrew Leigh

Joined Sep 8, 2008
131
Hi,

if optical quality is not an issue then perhaps an LCD has a chance. I think that LCD glass will seriously distort image quality.

Why not buy an old camera with an existing mechanical shutter mechanism that you then activate with electronics. Look for darkroom timer circuits as they tend to be a programmed at the intervals you require.

The shutter merely exposes the substrate, what are you going to do for depth of field?


Cheers
Andrew
 

Thread Starter

porscheheritage

Joined Jan 30, 2009
3
LCD is a clever approach.. thats pretty cool...
it wont affect the image quality all the much but it will reduce it by "1 Stop" - I quickly peeped out some solutions and most LCD glass will produce at least a .3% light loss

as far as quality the image will probably have a haze similar to a "morning air" not a big deal - i suppose LCD glass is inherently a polarizer.. (anyhoo)

my Focal Length right now is 114mm that hits a focal plane the width of 7cm and a height of 6cm.

the aperture im mucking with right now is f8 and f16 but as it is right now is f/22 (basically a pinhole~almost)

as far as an OLD camera - i got plenty of those - but its not very "do it yourself-ish if i just cannibalize a camera...

i want it to be from scratch as much as possible.
 

Andrew Leigh

Joined Sep 8, 2008
131
Sounds like a nice project.

Somethings to consider.

You need to check the response time of an LCD (clear to black), the LCD may well then be a very elegant solution.

The faster shutter speeds may be a problem so you may wish to have multiple apertures, say F8, F16, F22 to compensate for those fast speeds.

Just done a quick google search for "electrical camera shutter";

1. In 1939 a camera was produced with and electrical shutter which was operated by magnetic field

2. In FreePatents Online. Discalimer, it appears to be a free domian but please check the terms of use if you wish to use any of the ideas.

Cheers
Andrew
 

Attachments

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
As long as it is DYI, and not commercial (or published in an article) patents are pretty much no problem.
 
Top