Talk:Compur serial numbers

The list of Compur serial numbers seems to me incomplete and partially wrong. I own several cameras with Compur, Compur-Rapid and Synchro-Compur shutters. The Compurs fit in the list with more or less the right year of manufacture with 7 digit numbers. But I have two Kodak Retinas and a Welta Weltax with Compur shutters that have serial numbers starting with A plus a 6 digit number. These cameras are from 1939. This number range is not mentioned in the list. As far as I know Compur shutters were not manufactured after WW II except may be what was left over from prewar times. Cameras with Compur-Rapid shutters have different number ranges of 7 digits starting with 5 already in 1935. I believe that Deckel used separate number ranges for the Compur-Rapid shutter from the start of this shutter model. The same seems to apply to Synchro-Compur shutters, having number ranges that do not fit in the Compur list either, two 1956 Retinas with shutter numbers from 1931 and 1934 show that clearly.

the above comment was by User:Purpleivory (talk)

The source of the numbers in the article is the Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, which is usually a pretty good source, but is not recent, or complete. So I guess it's quite possible that there are series of shutters not covered by the number sequence given in the article.

Since you have observed this, maybe you could have a go at writing it into the article. If it were me, I'd add a separate section for the Compur-Rapid and Synchro-Compurs. If you only have a few numbers for these, you could write a statement that they don't fit the same sequence, give a couple of examples, and leave it at that. If you have enough example serials to cover a significant period of time, you could start a table of number vs date, like the one already there for the main sequence.

I think I'd insert a sentence or two about your numbers starting with A, below the existing table. Give it a simple title like 'Secondary sequence'. Give as many examples as you have, with dates (perhaps from the lens serial number), and the spec of the shutters: size (0, 00 etc) and speed range, and what camera they're on. Other contributors may join in building the A serial number sequence (for now, anyone else reading this who has some Synchro-Compurs or Compur-Rapids, or Compurs which don't fit the sequence in the article, might like to note those details below, here on the Talk page).

Or one of them may turn up and say 'Oh - I know about this', and rewrite the whole article!

Cheers! --Dustin McAmera (talk) 18:00, 14 February 2016 (CST)