I added a second plate camera (By Hora & Co – Wandsworth London 1902-1930) to my collection recently and it came with a Thornton Pickard Shutter. This worked Ok for half a dozen shots, but then broke whilst I was photographing my favourite Exmoor trees (see pic above).
The problem was with the shutter curtain which is made of rubberised silk and had perished. Thankfully shutter curtain mertial can be bought from a supplier in Japan for just £16 including delivery. I have also benefitted from reading how to dissassemble and re-assemble a shutter on Paul Wins’ website.
Currently the shutter is in pieces whilst I wait for the delivery of the new shutter material. I have laid out the shutter pieces and stuck them to a piece of paper to measure for the new piece.
The beauty of working with these cameras is the relative ease with which they can be repaired and adjusted using simple tools and materials.
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