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Novice Q: Rules of thumb for Graflex focal plane shutters?
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keshlam
Joined: 21 May 2021
Posts: 38
PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:19 pm   Post subject: Novice Q: Rules of thumb for Graflex focal plane shutters?

I grew up with the rule of thumb that a change of one stop on the lens aperture is equivalent in exposure change to doubling or halving the shutter speed, so the two could be easily traded off for depth of field control vs. sensitivity to motion blur.

Of course on the RB-Auto, shutter speed is a combination of which curtain window you select and what spring tension you set -- and changing the window does also affect tension. This means that while there are actually quite a variety of shutter speeds available (allowing more fine-tuning of depth of field?) moving between them is more complicated. This seems to make it harder to shoot "aperture priority", at least until I get very used to selecting from that matrix of shutter speeds; it's no longer purely a matter of turning one knob up or down a step.

Are there any tricks for working with these cameras which would make trading off aperture vs. shutter more straightforward? Or do we just have to internalize, or look up, the shutter combinations (like gear combinations on a 10-speed bike) if we want to control depth of field but still want accurate exposure?

Or should I just count on film latitude and be prepared to compensate in darkroom/Lightroom if necessary?
45PSS
Joined: 28 Sep 2001
Posts: 4081
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:23 am

Perhaps this chart will help. https://photographyuncapped.com/articles/photography/iso-shutter-speeds-f-stops/
Speeds were accurate when the camera was new but are off up to a stop depending on use and storage. Test the shutter speeds with a shutter speed tester at the center of the frame if possible.
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