Prontor-Compur


A Prontor-Compur connection is a standard 3.5 mm electrical connector used in photography to synchronize the shutter to the flash.

Etymology

"Prontor" has its origins in the Italian word "pronto", meaning ready. "Compur" is derived from the word "compound".

History

The term is derived from brands of widely marketed photographic leaf shutters manufactured from the early 1950s by two distinct, but now defunct German companies. and .
Both companies' brands, Prontor and Compur, shared a common 1/8"-inch coaxial connector for shutter–flash synchronization. This convergence of design is not as coincidental as it might first appear, owing to the fact that the Zeiss organisation held a significant shareholding in both of these companies prior to the introduction of the shared connector. By the 1950s, Gauthier were manufacturing up to 10,000 Prontor shutters daily.
The Gauthier company's essence lives on as, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of. The Deckel company went bankrupt in 1994.