Looking for Soft Shutter Buttons

[nowel_g]

Hi!

I am new to this site and to collecting rangefinders. I am trying to locate some soft shutter buttons for my rangefinders. I currently own a Yashica Electro 35, 2 Konica C35, Canonet QL17 & QL25. I recently purchased a pair from an ebay source and they dont thread properly. I also dropped one and the paint chipped off really easily. The only camera that the buttons fit on was the Yashica. I am looking for some quality built buttons and possibly in different colors, such as red, black, and silver. Any ideas?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Tom Abrahamson make machined Aluminum soft releases and mini-soft releases that are VERY well made. Cameraquest.com, popflash.com, and photovillage.com all sell them. Tom's soft releases are made in Canada. Most of them sold on ebay and other sites, like the rather costly Match Technical soft releases, are made in China.

 

[t.s.k.]

I'm no metallurgist but I do know softer is generally considered a bit safer on the threads and reduces the chance the post will crack.
Bronze would be particularly nice.
How hard/brittle is titanium anyway?
I'm sure Tom A. will show up and give us a(nother) lesson.

 

[Clickie McPete]

I'm glad to hear that there are some good ones out there. The ones I bought off Ebay recently and the one that is marked Leica that came on my used M8 last year were both made of chrome plated brass and are just terrible. We put them on an optical comparator and took a good look. The threads are so poorly turned that it's amazing that they actually held.

Titanium or 303 stainless steel would be the absolute best materials for this purpose. Brass or bronze are OK but they tarnish which is one reason why the ones I saw were chromed. Being softer they won't last a long time if taken on and off a lot and the danger of cross threading is actually greater with softer threads. Chrome plating brass is so 1950 and not necessary in this day and age. Certainly it is as easy to do the job with a higher quality material and less steps as well. And while titanium does cost more, stainless is very inexpensive, it does not rust or tarnish and it takes threads of very high quaility.

As far as a danger of cracking the post, that seems kind of far fetched to me.

 

[dll927]

Those "soft shutter" buttons pretty much date back to when cameras had cable release threads in the shutter buttons. I have a couple of them for cameras that are eons old, but I haven't heard of a digital that has such a thing -- the DSLRs tend to use electronic buttons -- that cost a heck of a lot more than cable releases ever did. I have such an animal for my DSLR, and it would seem to be for use when the camera is on a tripod -- which is something I don't do very much.

The old "soft" buttons were largely an extension of the shutter button and the surface was usually somewhat larger to get a better grip on. I don't know if they are still available -- might check with a store that sells a lot of used equiipment.

 

[CameraQuest]

Hi!

I am new to this site and to collecting rangefinders. I am trying to locate some soft shutter buttons for my rangefinders. I currently own a Yashica Electro 35, 2 Konica C35, Canonet QL17 & QL25. I recently purchased a pair from an ebay source and they dont thread properly. I also dropped one and the paint chipped off really easily. The only camera that the buttons fit on was the Yashica. I am looking for some quality built buttons and possibly in different colors, such as red, black, and silver. Any ideas?

Tom A's at www.Rapidwinder.com are far and away the best.

Stephen

 

[Rob-F]

I'm no metallurgist but I do know softer is generally considered a bit safer on the threads and reduces the chance the post will crack.
Bronze would be particularly nice.

I don't think you would want bronze if the goal is a soft metal. Bronze is pretty hard; they used to make swords out of it (you know, back in the bronze age). I believe brass is usually softer, with aluminum usually softer than that. I think it matters whether it is aircraft aluminum, as there are various alloys, some harder than others.

Aluminum and brass have a natural lubricating property that keeps the threads from galling when parts made of these two metals are screwed together. That might explain Tom's choice of aluminum for his softies.

 

[meanstreetshooter]

Soft Shutter Button(s)

Soft Shutter Button(s)

I like, and use, the Tom A. release buttons on my Leica M4 and Mamiya C330f (and my, um, Canon F-1). But I think the most important thing is to screw it in VERY CAREFULLY to avoid cross-threading. I do this when using cable releases, also. Let's treat our gear with respect. Haste makes Waste.

 

[bgb]

check out this thread and get one of only 100 being made 🙂

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67504&page=5

Check T&T's site first to make sure they fit your camera

http://www.rapidwinder.com/