Cable Releases (what works?)

I know there have been alot of different things that have been used as a cable release (remote release) for Pentax DSLR's, but some of them do not have three positions (meaning they leave out the middle "focusing" position).

My Pentax copy is a DL.

Anyone found a good cable release that actually works like the Pentax brand release, but costs less, and longer. I'd like to have something in the range of 20 - 30 feet.

2nd question - What if you set it up on tripod, connect up a cable release, turn on the camera, pre-focus, set your exposure etc. and then were to

sit and wait anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes for an animal to come along right in your viewfinder. Would the cable release fire the camera? or would the camera have shut off (time out shutoff), or would it "wake back up" and fire? Or would you have to go into menu turn off the shutoff timer so that the camera stays on and leave it sitting there turned on for 30 minutes or however long it takes?

Sorry for the long question.

Tracy

Tracy - I think that if you check into it, even the cheapie remotes have focus and shutter as the 2 operations. What they don't all have is a lock down to use the "B" Bulb function for a long time exposure so that you don't have to keep your finger on the button. And none of these is a "Cable Release" - that was a mechanical device used on film cameras.
--
Tom, http://tswill2.smugmug.com/

Try this;

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Remote-Switch-4-Pentax-ist-D-K100d-K110d-Samsung-CS205_W0QQitemZ220050850500QQihZ012QQcategoryZ64345QQcmdZViewItem

I purchased my cable relaese and remote from him and had no problems. He is cheep and has 3, 5, and 10 meter versions.

You my friend need to look at this:

http://www.digicaminfo.btinternet.co.uk/hmcablerelease.htm

CAUTION: I haven't tried it (yet), and this might fry your camera, void your warranty, and bring other disaster to earth. But I think it make sense, and I certainly intend to build one with a flip-flop for the "B" mod and do long exposure with pinholes etc...

Hi Tracy,
Get Canon remote release (lower price than Pentax and works fine).

With manual lens you can lock exposure with remote and use focus trap to triger the camera.
Wojtek

to address your waking the camera back up question, make sure to press the button for autofocus first, or the camera will do nothing. Construction of the remote is quite simple. All it is is a submini stereo plug(2.5mm I think) and some way to touch the three wires together. One wire is the ground, which you touch to either of the other two wires, one is AF and one shutter... touch them to the ground to find out which is which, touching them to each other does nothing. And whatever you do dont use a mono plug. You can see what I did for a remote by going to my flickr page, basicly it shows you what not to do, but it does give an idea of how simple it is.
http://flickr.com/photos/selrahcharles/tags/cablerelease/

--



Technical Info: Roseart U.S.A. Gold #2 pencil, Pentel High Polymer eraser, Academie sketch pad drawing paper. Drawn clumsily under relatively poor light.

http://www.geocities.com/wild_tiger_1

http://flickr.com/photos/selrahcharles/

The Pentax DSLR's are compatible with the Canon E3 series remotes for the Rebel's (Film and Digital). So just hit eBay and grab a remote of the correct specs for the Canons.

Or use the IR Remote F if you're going to be in front of the camera.

Obviously I have no idea of your ability but its a simple build. All you need is some 2 core sheilded cable, 2.5mm stereo jack and some switches. As far as the connections go, the sleeve is common, ring is focus and tip is trigger as far as I remember. Worst case is the tip and ring are the other way around. Sleeve is definately common.

I built mine with 2 switches, one for focus, one for trigger. If you intended to do long exposures you could wire in a toggle switch is parallel with the trigger to keep the circuit closed as long as you need.



As far as waking up your camera from sleep mode, all I have to do is tap the focus button and it's ready to go. I have a DS but would assume it's the same on a DL. Hope this is of some help

--
Gazza
http://www.pbase.com/gvrb



Smokey: October 1984 - 15 February 2005
'You only stop learning when you stop breathing'

GMT +13

GVRB said:

Obviously I have no idea of your ability but its a simple build.
All you need is some 2 core sheilded cable, 2.5mm stereo jack and
some switches.

Click to expand...

The one drawback of this route is that no one seems to make a "push to focus", "push further to fire" switch.

I'm giving serious thought to cutting my Cable release F (



) in 2, and putting a 2.5 mm plug on the switch end and a 2.5mm socket on the plug end so that I can still use it with the Z1 ...
I can also make or buy a 2.5mm (headphone) extension cable.

I'm not sure of the DL supports the remote assistant software, but if you have a camera which does, then you can use a long USB cable.