Leica Barnacks were fitted with X-sync starting with the IIIf in about 1951, with a maximum X sync speed of 1/25 or 1/30 second. The M3 came out in '53 and had the fast 1/50 second X sync. Leica used all cloth shutters until the M7, and the horizontally traveling cloth shutters couldn't stand the acceleration loads of faster run speeds. I believe the M7 with a vertical running metal-bladed shutter notched up the RF flash sync to 1/125 or 1/160. That was 2004 or so, IIRC.
Most 35mm SLRs were locked into 1/30-1/60th X sync until Copal release the metal bladed, vertically traveling Copal Square shutter, which could achieve 1/125 second X sync. Many manufacturers used the Copal Square shutter, or licensed the design and developed their own derivative. Most of a decade went by and then speeds started to head skywards. The Nikon FM2 in 1981 had 1/200, the FE2 in 1985 had 1/250, the FM2n was upgraded to that shutter the same year. The higher end cameras kept going up higher, can't remember the peak because I stuck with my FM2n, FE2, and F2 (1/250, 1/250, 1/90 respectively) until 2001. Never really needed super high flash speeds much. Yeah, they help when shooting fill in daylight, but I don't do that very frequently. I usually end up going the other way more of the time, setting the shutter to 1/60 or 1/30 with flash, so as to get some ambient fill in modest light. G On Oct 7, 2013, at 4:47 PM, Peter Loveday <[email protected]> wrote: >> The most whining I've seen is that there is no improvement in the >> 1/180th flash sync speed. >> >> I find this a bit humorous, being an old fart, and wondering how we >> ever got along in the 1/60th of a second film camera X-sync days. >> There was a manufacturer that attained 1/125th with a vertical focal >> plane shutter, if memory serves. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
