The Camera Eccentrica

Guillotine Shutter
for vintage photographic lenses

Camera Eccentrica Mk VIII with Cooke Series II 13” f/4.5 lens,

slip-on shutter and adjustable foamex blade (after release)
Please do not copy or share this document without permission. The small fee for its
download helps to repay the hundreds of hours spent developing the shutter, and it will
save you $$$ compared with buying “modern” lenses and shutters.

Produced and distributed in

association with Teddington
Tintype Limited:
www.teddingtontintype.co.uk
About the Shutter
The first Camera Eccentrica guillotine shutter was made in 2020 for a home-built 10x8”
box camera. The lens was a Ross Xpres 12” f/4.5 from the 1920s. Like most old “barrel”
lenses, it had no shutter. The guillotine shutter was inspired by Victorian era picture from
a book. The first one was heavily over-engineered, with separate blades for each shutter
speed, made of 9mm thick marine grade plywood. The blades were heavy and hit the stop
with a hell of a thwack. But it worked, and the speeds were accurate and reliable. I’ve
shot around 150 negatives with that setup, mostly 10x8” portraits. The Ross lens renders
beautifully wide open, a little like a Petzval – very sharp in the middle, shallow depth of
field with slightly swirly bokeh. Here’s an example:
In the four years since, I have made guillotine shutters for at least 20 other lenses of all
shapes and sizes, from tiny 6” Cooke Primoplanes, smaller than rangefinder lenses, right
up to a 16” f/4 Petzval weighing 6kg, with a hood 6” in diameter. The design has evolved,
become simpler, much lighter and easier to make, and now uses an adjustable shutter
blade. In these times of austerity, with the rising popularity of film and large format
cameras, this seems like a good time to make the design available. It allows
photographers to make use of wonderful, historic camera lenses at very low cost,
compared to “modern” lenses and other kinds of mechanical shutter (if available!). It
costs only few $ in materials, and can be adapted to ANY lens. In fact, you could make
one out of recycled cardboard for the cost of a bit of glue and black ink.
Here it is in its simplest form:

Ross Xpres 12” f/4.5

with fixed shutter guide
(mounted on four posts)
Important things to know about the shutter
• The shutter is powered by gravity. There are no springs, gears, motors, batteries
or elastic bands.
• Shutter speeds range from 1/8 – 1/500s, but it is recommended that adjustable
blades start at 1/15s. The 1/8s blade is very long and should be used only in
exceptional circumstances. Speeds 1/4s and longer may be done with a lens cap,
or by lowering a 1/15s shutter blade by hand.
• The shutter openings do not change with the weight of the blade, or the size of the
lens. Acceleration due to gravity is not affected by mass, only by air resistance
and friction between the blade and guide. Air resistance is negligible, and friction
is accounted for in the calculations of the openings.
• The shutter will run slower the further it is from vertical. However this effect is
much smaller than you might think, and only makes a substantial difference at
quite extreme angles. You can compensate by reducing the shutter opening a little.
• The shutter blade accelerates as it falls, therefore, in theory, exposure at the top of
the frame (sky) will be slightly more than at the bottom. In practice this is barely
noticeable, but the lead-in distance is very important (see next point):
• The lead-in is the distance the shutter falls before the opening begins to uncover
the lens. It’s necessary for light sealing, and to even out exposure across the
frame. If you change the lead-in the openings must be recalculated.
• The shutter blade material must be flat. If the blade is curved or warped it may get
stuck, or significantly slowed by friction with the guide. Materials are chosen for
flatness and low weight (to minimise shock to the lens). 3mm Foamex is the best
material that I have found, followed by 3.6mm plywood (which needs stiffening
ribs) and ABS (heavier) or polypropylene plastic. All are easily available online.
• All lenses are different and your shutter guides are unlikely to be transferable
from one to another. However, the guides are quite easy to make, and with
standard shutter widths you will need only 2 or 3 blades to cover most lenses.
• There must be clearance below the lens for the shutter blade to drop unimpeded.
On some types of camera the bed or rails may get in the way, as can tripods in
some situations. Always test the shutter before exposing film!
• Its easiest to fit shutter guides to a wooden lens boards, but metal ones shouldn’t
present much of a problem. They can even be attached with velcro. On larger
lenses it will often be possible to fit a slip-on shutter, which doesn’t need to be
attached to the board at all (see section: Slip-on Shutters).
• People you photograph will love the guillotine shutter. It’s so simple and intuitive,
and yet they will be amazed and delighted by it. It helps to explain how shutters
work, why it’s called a shutter, and why the trigger is called a “shutter release”!
Shot with a Derogy Petzval lens
made in Paris in the 1850s, and
a slip-on guillotine shutter

The Shutter Guide – fixed type

This version is attached to the lens

board, usually screwed on from the
back. It’s the best type for smaller
lenses or those unsuitable for a slip-
on guide. These are typically made
of wood, but other materials may be
suitable, even cardboard.
Access to aperture adjustment is
from the top and bottom. Make sure
you can see the aperture scale from
the top, and that you can turn the
aperture ring with the shutter guide
in place.
It’s not possible to give exact
dimensions for many features
because they depend on the size of
the lens. You must work them out
from the information in the drawings.
However, it’s a good idea to make the
guides a standard width. For small
lenses 3” (76mm) works well (2½” is
the smallest I have made). For
larger lenses 4” (102mm) covers a
good range, but you may have to go even bigger if you have a large Petzval or ULF lens. If
you stick to these widths for different lenses, then you’ll only need one set of shutter
blades for each.

The Shutter Guide – slip-on type

This type is better for big lenses which have a cylindrical brass hood, or a cylindrical front
section of a single diameter at least 12mm long. All information not shown here is the
same as for the fixed type of guide (see above).
The leather collar is best made by cutting a strip of leather the correct width, wrapping it
round the lens and then trimming to the exact length that fits around the lens. Tape the
two ends together, slide it off the lens, then tape it on the inside and remove the tape from
the outside. Slide it back onto the lens. Now cut another strip of leather the same width
which fits exactly around the first one. Remove the first one from the lens. Brush with
wood glue all over and stick them together with the ends on opposite sides. Allow to dry,
and you will have a 2-layered collar that perfectly fits the lens.
The hole in the shutter guide needs to be the size of the outside diameter of the leather
collar. Get a hole saw of the correct size, or slightly bigger. Fit the collar into the hole
and if it’s loose pack it with strips of fabric or leather, if necessary, before glueing into
place.
Derogy Petzval lens
with slip-on shutter.
The release lever is
made from a brass
coat hook. The string is
for operating it from
a distance (for selfies).
Fixed shutter blade
with 1/20s opening,
made from 2mm thick
acrylic covered in leather
and stained black. It’s
what was available at
the time.
The Shutter Blades
The simplest version has an opening of a pre-determined size and gives you one shutter
speed. You can make as many as you need, but 1/15, 1/30, 1/60 and 1/250 will cover most
situations. They nest together and don’t take up much space. Black pinseal ABS plastic is
a good material for these. Foamex is softer and lighter and benefits from a rib on each
side, and thin plywood needs ribs to keep it flat. To glue any of the plastics, Loctite
Superglue for Plastics (with the little primer pen) works really well. Make sure to de-
grease the surfaces first.

Sizes of shutter openings:

Shutter Height of Width of

Speed (s) opening (mm) opening
1/8 160 Lens diameter + 4mm
1/15 67 “
1/30 28 “
1/60 13 “
1/125 6.5 “
1/250 3 “
1/500 1.5 “
How to use the Guillotine Shutter
The procedure for using the shutter goes like this: when you are ready to take a picture
and have decided on your aperture/shutter speed...
1. Place the shutter guide onto the lens (slip-on type only). Make sure it’s vertical.
2. Set the release lever to hold the shutter blade
3. Select the shutter speed you want
4. Insert the shutter blade into the guide
5. TEST RELEASE THE SHUTTER by moving the lever forwards
6. If all is well, re-set the shutter. If there’s any obstruction to the fall of the shutter,
remove it before proceeding and RE-TEST.
7. Insert film holder into camera
8. Remove dark slide
9. Release shutter
10. Replace dark slide
Congratulations! If you are using an old lens for the first time, that may be it’s first use in
a century or more. We hope you enjoy the results from your vintage lenses and guillotine
shutter.

The “Chapel” Camera, made by Camera Eccentrica for Dave Shrimpton, with guillotine
shutter and adjustable blade set to 1/30s. This one is supported from below and adjusts
to fit several different lenses.
If you can’t make one yourself…
To make a guillotine shutter requires a certain level of familiarity with, and access
to, workshop tools, a place to work, and a variety of materials. If you don’t have
any of these, then Camera Eccentrica will be happy to make a shutter for you. Just
send a message from www.cameraeccentrica.co.uk and we’ll get back to you asap.
We’re so confident in the capabilities of the guillotine shutter, that Pete had a go at
shooting Kodak Ektachrome 100 with it. Each 8x10” sheet costs around £25 GBP
and is notoriously fussy about exposure. Here are a couple of examples:

Isabella Plantation,
Richmond Park, London.
Camera Eccentrica MkVII
with Cooke Aviar 14” f/5.6

Brentford Docks, west London.

Camera Eccentrica MkVIII with
Dallmeyer Perfac 14” f/6.3