Fast Box One Shutter Speed Checker Review

Being a camera collector for more than 50 years, I’d like to see the accuracy of the shutter speeds on the cameras I’ve purchased. Many of the shutter speed testers are very expensive and take up quite a bit of space on your workbench or desk where you clean and test the older cameras you have.

Looking online recently, I came across a person n Poland that makes and sells the Fast Box One shutter tester which he sells on eBay. The price seemed reasonable and the item looked very compact, so I threw caution to the wind and decided to purchase one to see how it did.

Since the manufacturer was in Poland, and I live in the United States, it took a couple of weeks to arrive. To my surprise, the Fast Box One shutter tester was even smaller than anticipated and came with a wonderful drawstring pouch to keep the shutter tester in when not in use. It also comes with a detailed instruction manual, along with a QR code which takes you to a Youtube instructional video on the tester

Since the Fast Box One arrived, I wanted to see how it did. Granted, I don’t have anything to test it against so I’m going strictly on the results I’m seeing on the Fast Box, but according to the included instruction manual, it will do 35mm, and Medium Format cameras with both focal plane or Leaf shutters. The other thing I liked about the Fast Box over the other testers I saw was this shutter tester works on 2-AAA batteries.

Having a couple of 35mm cameras close, I put the 2-AAA batteries in the tester and turned it on. To test the shutter speeds all you need is a light pointing into the camera with the lens off. You can use any bright light source, from a mall flashlight, to even the light on you cell phone. Then place the shutter speed tester behind the shutter. Of course you’ll need to open the back of the camera so light can pass through the shutter into the Fast Box One to read the timing.Here’s how I set up the Fast Box one to test the shutter speed on my older Olympus Pen-F camera body.

Click when the shutter and it read very close to the shutter speed I had on my camera. I put the camera to 1/250 of a sec. shutter speed and the Fast Box One read 1/291, so my guess is the tester is accurate and the shutter on my un-serviced Olympus Pen-F is a little fast, which makes perfect sense.

Let’s try the Fast Box one at 1/60 of a shutter speed and see what it says about my camera. To may surprise, the shutters speeds were very close to the shutter speed picked on the camera.

I have to say, for the price spent, the service from the company and how well the Fast Box One shutter tester works, I’m very happy with my purchase. If you’re looking to find an inexpensive, well made and accurate shutter tester, my recommendation would be to get one of these. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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