Show me your Soft Release

kshapero

kshapero

South Florida Man
Local time
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Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
10,044
I love those little buttons both regular and mini. Some hate them but I am a big fan.

Let's start with a unique one.
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Heh. Guess I'm not amongst the soft-release fans. I've tried using them several times, over the many years, and always found they made it harder to release the shutter without inducing more camera shake.

G
 
Godfrey said:
Heh. Guess I'm not amongst the soft-release fans. I've tried using them several times, over the many years, and always found they made it harder to release the shutter without inducing more camera shake.

G
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I agree. If they were so effective, manufacturers would have long ago designed shutter releases to incorporate that design.
 
Though I had pix, I don't actually use one. They work fine but film is expensive and I already have too many accidental photos of the back of my lens cap, the inside of the case, the inside of my elbow, etc, fired by soft releases. Soft releases are film wasters.
 
mdarnton said:
They work fine but film is expensive and I already have too many accidental photos of the back of my lens cap, the inside of the case, the inside of my elbow, etc, fired by soft releases.
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Sounds like a very interesting conceptual work. You could do a show. Publish a book. The possibilities are endless; you just have to know how to work it.
 
I can’t say that I hate them (I’ve honestly never given these devices much thought). But I can say that the next time I see a car making its way down the street just a few millimeters off of the ground with excessively wide tires rubbing against the fender flares, I will likely look back upon this thread with a grin on my face.
 
Interesting comments by @Tom A re: soft-releases:
The Softrelease is now getting on to 10 years in production! When I made the first batch ii wasen't shure if Ii was going to end up with a lot of weird looking thumbtacks or sell any. Well I was wrong - they are selling well.
My initial design concept was a flat top softie, but after some trial and errors I decided on the current version. There was a lot of filing and grinding until the "apex" of the top was right.
I find that with the Classic Sofr-release I can get a consistent 1 stop slower speed, which turns your 50/1,4 into a f1. With some training you can get 1/4 sec, handheld shots repeatedly and sharp enough to print 16x20's. If you shoot a lot in crowded and situations that require a "fast finger" many of my pro customers like the fact that you dont have to "hunt" for the release, you just hit the Softie anywhere and it will trigger the shutter.
For very slow speeds, hook your finger across the Softie and use the "pad" on the second joint of your finger to judge the release point. You can always entertain the family by doing this with an empty camera while watching a DVD! After a while it becomes a natural process.
I did try some of the chinese made releases. They are cheap and plentiful, but they suffer from being made from low grade alloy and they are mostly "pressed" - the thread is coarse and they are prone to snapping off (which leaves you with a threaded "plug" in the release). There was a long and careful selection of material when I started this. I tried stainless steel, but my problem was that the threaded part of the cameras release is plated brass and the thread on the stainless softie becomes very sharp and can easily 'cut" the plating and either promote corrosion in the release part of the camera, or-worst case scenario- jam the threads and make it difficult to unscrew. If you force the softie when it is locked in place, you can actuallty unscrew the whole rlease shaft! The alloy I use is an aerospace alloy with a high tensile strength, but sufficient "give" to avoid cutting through the plating. The alloy also allows me to make them in different colors. I and many other shooters use it to indicate what film is in the camera (in my case -green for TriX, blue for 100 ASA, red for "pushed" film etc) as cameras like the M2 does not have a "indicator" like a meter, or a window showing the cassette marking.
Nothing is perfect of course and there are many a negative of mine (and others) that show the inside of a camera bag or strange views of side walks with fuzzy feet. My feeling is that these "extra" shots are a small price to pay for an added stop or stop and a half (the latter if you stay off coffee for a while before shooting).
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Is there a benefit to having a soft release?

What's the deal with these soft releases, do they make the shutter whisper even more quietly or prevent damage to the delicate tip of your index finger? Seriously I've no idea what these things do but plenty of people seem to have them fixed to their cameras. :confused:
rangefinderforum.com rangefinderforum.com
 
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