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Photo Forum / Film Photography / Other Equipment / November 2003The Extinct Cable Release Socket
I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. However, this question will greatly interest us old timers, I'm sure. What ever happened to cable release sockets on cameras? I'm all for eliminating useless things and modernizing others, but the cable release was one of the most useful things on a camera. If your hands are little unsteady, as mine are, it was always easier for me to steady the camera by squeezing the cable release than it was to press the shutter. If the camera you preferred did not have a self-timer, Kodak made a handy little gadget that you hooked onto the end of your cable release. You wound it up and it gave you about ten seconds before it would push the cable release and trip the shutter. If you were using your camera on a tripod, it was so much easier, and I think more professional, to push the cable release than to manually push the shutter release, assuring yourself of absolutely no camera movement. I guess the elimination of the very convenient cable release socket was someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of > progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. My EOS bodies have a "cable release socket" of sorts. With today's Auto Everything cameras it is necessary to use a switch rather than a cable to trip the shutter. First the camera meters, then focuses, then it trips the shutter. Kinda tough to use a real cable when you need a progressive switch setup. Bob Actually, Canon managed to use a real cable release on the A-series cameras, which had a progressive switch (first turn on meter, then fire the shutter.) Bob Sull <w8imo@arrl.net> apparently said: >Kinda tough to use a real cable >when you need a progressive switch setup. It's not really necessary to discard the cable release with today's auto-everything cameras - you just have to make the cable release actuate an electrical switch. A few cameras do it (e.g. Pentax 645), and the cable release socket can easily be incorporated into the normal shutter release to keep down the cost. > > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > Bob > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because > today's photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. > However, this question will greatly interest us old timers, I'm sure. > What ever happened to cable release sockets on cameras? They were replaced with electrical equivalents. At least on some cameras. Paul  Signature/********************** Running Debian Linux ************************ * For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, * * that whoever believes in Him should not perish... John 3:16 * * W. Paul Mills * mailto:Paul@Mills-USA.com * http://Mills-USA.com/ * * GnuPGPrint = 09BB FDEA 69E5 0E55 3843 B063 BB8B 518A B293 3D8C * ********************************************************************/ If the camera doesn't have a socket for an electrical remote release there might be a Remote control which can be used like a cable release. To keep from shaking the camera while on a tripod, Francis Roy >I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's >photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of >progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. > However, this question will greatly interest us old timers, I'm sure. What > ever happened to cable release sockets on cameras? I think we all know what happened. As electric releases took over designs, the mechanical cable release, which was and is easy to design into and electruc system, was eliminated as being either not stylish or a penny saved. I first ran into this issue in 1976 when I added a MD-11 power drive to a nikon FM - no mechanical release on the drive. I lost all direct cable release when I later moved to a nikon 8008S. Nikon's provides electrical equivalents of a cable release. It also sells a more traditionally styled mechanical release switch whihc plugs into an accessory electrical release socket and which will take a cable relase as well, thereby coming "full circle" if you want to put out for the accessory switch. The best thing about the mechanical cable release socket is that it was a standard adopted by nearly all camera makers. Electrical and other modern remote releases are far superior in range and flexibility. In addition, they introduce far less vibration. Too bad they too are not standardized... Excelsior, you fatheads! -Chris- > I think we all know what happened. As electric releases took over designs, > the mechanical cable release, which was and is easy to design into and > electruc system, was eliminated as being either not stylish or a penny > saved. I don't know that happened. I do think that it wasn't a "stylish or penny saved" matter. As we moved on to more sophisticated and in some cases, smaller, camera bodies the mechanical arrangement became more difficult to incorporate in the body. Now when we push the button on the "electrical cable release" the camera meters the exposure, focuses the lens, then trips the shutter. Sometimes we want to meter and focus but not fire. Easy with electronics but more difficult with mechanics and a $1 cable release. I just bought a multi function remote for my EOS-3 that did not fit in the "penny saved" category. It does more than any cable release could ever think of doing, from the basic time exposure to an intervalometer function. And a whole lot in between. Bob <<Sometimes we want to meter and focus but not fire. Easy with electronics but more difficult with mechanics and a $1 cable release.>> Sorry, but that argument does not fly. All the designer would have to do is to have a mechanical socket for the traditional cable release, that depresses a two-stage electrical switch, so that it mimics the normal electrical switch that you press on the body. Why didn't they do that...because it cost them less money to do away with a second two-stage switch and a socket for the cable release! --Wilton > <<Sometimes we want to meter and focus but not fire. Easy with > electronics but more difficult with mechanics and a $1 cable release.>> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > --Wilton Yeah, I guess they would be able to make it small enough and fit it into the body. But then the shooter would have to be very careful as to how far the plunger was depressed. Then on the other hand, a second socket would be required for things like my Canon TC-80N3. It is an electronic Timer/Remote cable kind of thing that works with the electronics in the body. But I would still have the $1 cable to carry around. And lose. Bob Not only that but a lot of today's cameras are pretty well sealed and the idea was to eliminate a big intrusive HOLE in the camera's top plate. -- darkroommike ---------- > > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because > today's [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > socket and which will take a cable relase as well, thereby coming "full > circle" if you want to put out for the accessory switch. I agree with your gripe, particularly since there is no really good reason to abandon the standard cable release socket. My Pentax 645 has an electrical release, but it still accepts the standard cable release, and the button is still well sealed against moisture and gunk. The cable just pushes down the internal plunger to make the electrical switch contact. I think the manufacturers may be trying to differentiate their products and create brand loyalty by making proprietary release cables. One real gripe is that there is no standardization and no readily available documentation for the releases. Therefore there are no secondary suppliers, and there is no innovation from outside the maker. I admit that the purely electrical releases allow some additional functionality, such as wireless remote and electronic timing. But a standard release socket could still be provided, or the electrical socket could be standardized. > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because > today's photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of > progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of > progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. On my Konica Hexar RF bodies, the shutter release is ineed electronic. However, on the left side of the camera, above the release latch for the back, is a soccket for a conventional cable release. And, since it's also an electronic release under the skin, it allows for the smoothest release action I've experienced using such a release with a camera. SignatureBWB _______________________ Impatience is virtual That's one of the reasons I'm getting a new body (and, in specific am Elan) is because my Rebel S doesn't have a cable release. > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of > progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. My 8008s uses a switch rather than a mechanical cable release but guess what? Nikon makes a cable release adapter that screws into the same port so I can use a mechanical cable release. The little windup self timers are still available from Prontor and now cost more than some new cameras--about $150 last time I looked. The thing I really miss? Mirror lockup. Can't think of an electronic work around for that one. -- darkroommike ---------- > I have a question that no one seems to ask. I guess that's because today's > photographers don't even know that there was such a thing. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > someone's convoluted idea of progress. I can only hope that that kind of > progress doesn't kill us all some day soon. Cable release sockets are still there so is the morror lockup function .... just not on the lower priced cameras. Ted Harris Resource Strategy Henniker, New Hampshire |
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