Tips and Tricks

I realize that my last Tips and Tricks article was a bit on the complicated and technical side.  I do hope that I provided some useful information to some of you about the differences in sensor sizes.  However, I have chosen to simplify things for this month and discuss an often overlooked (and cheap) piece of equipment that will help you to achieve consistently sharp images.  We are going to be discussing the remote release and to a lesser extent a cable release.

What you see here are two examples of remote shutter releases.  They are pretty simple in design and are just plugged in to a jack on the camera body.  SLR cameras should all have this remote release facility, and many advanced point and shoot cameras do as well.  The actual remote is not included with the camera, however, and is thus usually forgotten about.  So why is it needed?  Quite simply, this is one of the best things that you can do to ensure that your camera stays steady during the exposure, no matter how long.  Hey, you said that about a tripod not to long ago.  Good memory if you caught this.  Yes the tripod is the first step to a nice and sharp image, but there are a few other steps that you can take to see the full advantage of that tripod.

What the remote release does is provides an off-camera shutter release.  This is beneficial  because after spending the money on a nice tripod and using it correctly, you can still shake the camera when you press the shutter release button....I see some of you nodding your head in agreement.  There is no way to avoid a slight bit of camera shake when pressing the shutter release button on the camera...no matter how sturdy the tripod is.  Now will the camera shake ruin the picture?  You probably won't notice it until you start printing larger images and then what you thought was tack sharp at5x7 will actuallystart to soften and become a bit fuzzy.

By using a remote release you avoid actually touching the camera during the exposure.  The remote works the same way as the camera shutter button.  There is a detent half way in its travel to lock the auto focus, and a full press will release the shutter.  Some remote releases will also have a facility allowing for a bulb exposure (longer than 30 seconds and will hold the shutter open until you tell it to close).  These are quite handy little gadgets to have.

Another type of remote release is the cable release.  This version is a mechanical device that works on the same principle as a bicycle brake line.  By pressing the hand held end of the release you are moving the core of the cable which mechanically activates the shutter release on the camera (where it attaches).  While a bit more disturbing than an electronic release, it was a good deal better than having your hand on the camera at the time of the exposure.  For the most part these are now defunct, but can still be found for the older SLR body film cameras.

You can find remote releases from $25.00 up to several hundred dollars.  The higher the cost, the more features and you will also find wireless versions of them as well.  Both of the versions above can be had for less than $50.00 and are worth every penny.

It should also be noted that there is another small step (relating to SLR cameras only) that will ensure ultimate sharpness when used with a tripod and remote release.  This is the mirror lock-up.  In an SLR camera, before the exposure can be made, the mirror (what gives the view in the viewfinder) has to swing up and out of the way.  This movement will create a vibration for about 1/15 sec and will cause a bit of camera shake for that amount of time during the exposure.  Again, this will only be an issue if the print size is expected to be a large one. 

You will have to refer to your owner's manual to determine how to activate this feature.  On the Canon bodies, it is a menu feature under custom functions and can be turned on or off.  To swing the mirror up, you would press the shutter as normal, but when pressed all the way, the shutter will not release.  Instead, the mirror will swing out of the way, and a second full press releases the shutter.  When used in conjunction with a steady platform with no motion introduced from the photographer's hand, you can see just how steady the camera can become.

Time for the cheap trick

I promised a cheap trick for this installment, so here it goes.  If you refer to the picture above, the remote release on the right goes to my Sony F828 and is very well designed.  You will notice on the right of the remote, there is a clip attached.  This clip is great for keeping the remote close at hand.  Over the years that I used the Sony, I became very used to having this remote clipped to the strap or something else close at hand.  Refer to the picture below along the bottom border, and you can see the remote in its normal resting position.

I quickly got aggravated with the Canon setup, as there was no way to secure the remote.  It either dangled from the camera, or you had to hold it up.  Quite frankly, it got in the way while setting up the shot, and often got dragged on the ground...not good.

As you can see in the bottom right, the remote just hung there.  I had to come up with a better solution, and one that protected the remote a bit better.  I happened to have a strip of Velcro out in the garage that was left over from one of my many projects.  I thought that would provide the perfect solution to my problem.  The remote had a nice flat back and the Slik pan/tilt head has a few nice flat areas directly below the base of the mount.  I cut the Velcro to size and placed the soft side on the remote (no sense in roughing up the hands if youdon't have to right?), and the coarse side on the tripod head.

When I am composing the picture and don't need the remote in my hand, I can now secure it to the tripod head keeping it out of my way, and out of harm's way.

Now this is the epitome of a cheap trick costing nothing at all.  Even if I were to have purchased the materials for this, it would have been less than a dollar.  I have used this setup now several times and can say that it works wonderfully, and might be even better than the Sony clip version.  I used to forget what I clipped that remote to occasionally, but since there is only one place to secure it with the Canon, I know to go right there every time.

So this brings us to the end of another Tips and Tricks.  If there is something that you have been wanting to learn more about, please email me at NCPhotoTrekker@aol.com or Radar446@aol.com.  Until next time....

Written by Greg A. Kiser

Photographs © 2007-2008

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• #1 Comment from rbrown6172 
  2/1/08 7:50 AM | Permalink

  i loved this segment of tips and tricks....and the cheap trick is just wonderful!  i've thought several times in the past about a remote, but now i know i must have one.  :) thanks!!
  gina