'T' modification of the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim

There is already, on the internet, information on modifying the Viv for a 'B' shutter setting but I wanted to give one of mine a true 'T' setting - or, at least, as near as I could. What follows is my modification.

Remove the front cover by undoing the screws shown labeled with green arrows in the following pictures. First are two inside the film chamber,

then the one in the middle of the rewind crank (and then remove the crank),

and then the one in the end of the camera near the hinge for the camera back.

Now separate the cover from the camera by depressing the shutter release and pulling that end of the cover away from the camera. Next depress the rewind button (labelled with a red arrow in the picture above and pull the cover away. Note that the cover is attached by two 'hooks' at the hinge end of the camera and these need to be disengaged to release the cover completely.

Next remove the plate which covers the shutter mechanism by undoing the three screws labeled with blue arrows in the picture below.

Note that the shutter release button and arm is also held on by the two screws on the left so this will also come away. There is also a spring attached to the plate covering the shutter and to the shutter release. Make sure it doesn't come off and get lost.

Also note that the shutter under the plate also has a small spring attached and this may come off when the plate is removed. Again, make sure it isn't lost.

Here's the shutter after the modification has been made.

The modification involves the addition of a piece of stiff wire in the position shown. A small hole is made in the body of the camera (note that this hole does not penetrate the film chamber) which the bent end of the wire is positioned in. This provides a hinge point. The wire is bent and cut as shown such that, when the shutter opens, the wire drops behind the shutter and keeps it wedged open as in the picture below. (The shutter spring has been removed in this picture as it wouldn't stay in place while I photographed it).

The shape and length of the wire may need some playing with. I initially used a straight piece but this only worked occasionally. Putting the bend in the wire and increasing the length a little made a huge difference. A piece of cotton is tied to the wire to release the shutter. A short section of the edging around the shutter chamber needs removing to allow the attached piece of cotton to exit towards the top of the camera. (Note that these pictures show some other sections removed as a consequence of other experiments that were less succesful).

The piece of wire needs to move freely once the shutter cover has been replaced. For this reason, the size of wire must be such that, even with the cotton tied around it, it doesn't bind with the camera body or the shutter cover. I used a piece of garden wire - the sort normally covered in green plastic. I stripped off the covering. The wire can be cut with wire cutters but make sure any rough edges are removed to stop it catching.

Once you are sure the wire moves freely, replace the shutter cover and test the mechanism by cocking the shutter (open the back of the camera and roll the lower sprocket towards the door hinge a few turns) and then firing it. If all is well, the wire catch should drop into place and keep the shutter open. Pull on the cotton to release the shutter. If it doesn't work then some adjustment of the catch will be needed.

Once everything is working, drill a small hole in the top of the camera cover, thread the cotton through it and refit the cover as shown here.

As the Viv doesn't have a tripod socket, I used double sided sticky tape to stick it to the top of a mini tripod which had proven to be useless for any other camera.

And just to prove it works, I made a couple of videos of the shutter working. Note that, despite the fact it shouldn't, the catch seems to work in any orientation of the camera except with the camera completely upside down.

Click here for the videos.

Update

Now I've had chance to use the 'Viv-T' (as I'm now calling it) I can pass on some user tips. It seems, the latch mechanism doesn't work as I intended. I thought that gravity would drop the catch into position in front of the shutter to keep it open - hence my surprise that it seems to work in most orientations of the camera. In fact, what I think happens is that the shutter, while opening, hits the catch and swings it up out of the way. The catch then hits the edge of the shutter chamber and 'bounces' back into the path of the shutter. Because of this, it's essential that the catch starts off in the correct 'resting' position.

If using the camera in a normal level, landscape, mode, the catch normally drops back into it's resting position, after closing the shutter, and will work reliably every shot. If the camera is used in any other position, it's essential to set the camera 'right way up' between shots and either jiggle (that's a technical term) the cotton to make the catch fall back into place, or, give the camera a tap on it's base to achieve the same effect. Even if using the camera in landscape mode, it's still worth checking the catch has dropped back into position.

To better accomodate the long exposures this camera is obviously intended for, I've fitted two, 3 stop, neutral density filters to the front. This gives me an effective aperture of f/90 which, with ISO50 film will give exposure times in the range of 1/2 to 4 seconds in daylight which, with reciprocity failure taken into account gives exposures of 1/2 to 10 seconds. This could still be usefully extended as there's no way a 1/2 second exposure can be done accurately and I'm mostly looking for exposures in the 5 to 30 second range. I need to get another 2 stop neutral density filter to add to the others I think. I've considered reducing the real aperture, or even turning the camera into a pinhole, but, however it's done, you need some way of extending the exposure times.

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